# Songs about losers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272 "2005-10-21T16:15:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/41 "2005-10-24T10:43:36Z")
**Poor Poor Pitiful Me** by Warren Zevon _I lay my head on the railroad tracks, and wait for the Double E. The railroad don’t run no more. Poor poor pitiful me._ Zevon has more than a few songs about losers. Perhaps that’s why he’s so well loved. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/42 "2005-10-24T12:40:08Z")
> [@MrJackboots](#): > > I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned anything by Green Day yet. I mean, c’mon, this thread was _made_ for them. Yeah, geez. At the very least, there’s _Longview_ off of Dookie (“I sit around and watch the tube but nothing’s playing; change the channels for an hour or two”); the recurring thread throughout American Idiot’s _Homecoming_ (“Nobody loves you; everyone left you; they’re all out without you; having fun”); and the off-the-wagon-again _Hitchin’ A Ride_ from Nimrod (“Cold turkey’s getting stale; Tonight I’m eating crow”)… Cripes, it’s hard to find a Green Day song that _isn’t_ about losers. I mean, even the song everyone calls “Time of Your Life” is actually titled “Good Riddance”. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/43 "2005-11-04T03:28:44Z")
How about Billy Joel’s “Captain Jack?” The subject is a guy who’s wasting his life, still living with his mother, and whose entire existence seems to revolve around drugs and masturbation. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/44 "2005-11-04T03:39:43Z")
How about “Talulah Gosh” by Talulah Gosh? _Every day she wakes up, her life will be a movie All the things she does, written in her diary But when the day is done, she cannot tell the truth Pretend her life’s exciting, pretend she’ll never lose_ ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/45 "2005-11-04T10:18:15Z")
“People Who Need People” by Barbra Streisand That Butthole Surfers song about all the kids in love with dying and doing it in Texas “Bobby Brown” by Frank Zappa “Willing to Wait” by Sebadoh “Summertime” by Sublime “Cecilia” by Simon and Garfunkel “Lump” by the Presidents of the United States “Marie” by Sheryl Crow ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/46 "2005-11-04T17:15:07Z")
_Sam Stone_ by John Prine. This might also be the most depressing song ever. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/47 "2005-11-04T18:59:23Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > \That Butthole Surfers song about all the kids in love with dying and doing it in Texas.\ “Pepper” by the Butthole Surfers on the Electric LadyLand album. I’m such a :wally for knowing that. ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/48 "2005-11-04T19:00:49Z")
I always thought that “Going the Distance” by Cake was about a loser, of sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/49 "2005-11-04T19:08:48Z")
Not really known at all, but [this song, Manificent Loser](http://johnvoorhees.com/mp3/swing/John_Voorhees-The_Swing-05-Magnificent_Loser.mp3) by a one time local (he was the computer lab guy in my high school for two years) musician is great. It’s a more humorous view of being a loser: \Now that I’ve learned to be a loser I have no fear of better men I can look the victor in the eyeball And ask him, “do you want to play again?” I’m the king of all good sports, it’s a victory of sorts to say that I’m a magnificent loser I can take embarasment with glee I’m a magnificent loser and now everybody wants to play with me!\ ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/50 "2005-11-04T19:09:58Z")
Not really known at all, but [this song, Manificent Loser](http://johnvoorhees.com/mp3/swing/John_Voorhees-The_Swing-05-Magnificent_Loser.mp3) by a one time local (he was the computer lab guy in my high school for two years) musician is great. It’s a more humorous view of being a loser: \*Now that I’ve learned to be a loser I have no fear of better men I can look the victor in the eyeball And ask him, “do you want to play again?” I’m the king of all good sports, it’s a victory of sorts to say that I’m a magnificent loser I can take embarasment with glee I’m a magnificent loser and now everybody wants to play with me!\* I should also add that that link goes right to the mp3 available on his site. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/51 "2005-11-04T19:16:39Z")
“Dumb” by Nirvana. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/52 "2005-11-04T23:56:51Z")
> [@Engineer Dude](#): > > Pretty much the entire **Quadrophenia** album by The Who. Perhaps…I don’t think of Jimmy as a loser, though–just a kid torn up inside, trying to make sense of things in the proto-punk mod days. Remember, he survives in the end. It was really the next album(_The Who By Numbers_) where Pete bared his tortured soul, in “However Much I Booze”: I see myself on T.V., I’m a faker, a paper clown It’s clear to all my friends that I habitually lie; I just bring them down I claim proneness to exaggeration But the truth lies in my frustration The children of the night, they all pass me by Have to drench myself in brandy In sleep I’ll hide But however much I booze There ain’t no way out Now the walls are all clawed and scratched Like by some soul insane In the morning I humbly detach myself I take no blame I just can’t face my failure I’m nothing but a well f\*\*ked sailor You at home can easily decide what’s right By glancing very briefly at the songs I write But it don’t help me that you know This ain’t no way out ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/53 "2005-11-05T03:42:50Z")
A lot of the songs by Harry Chapin. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/54 "2005-11-05T03:48:29Z")
> [@Waterman](#): > > \ > Or how about Townes Van Zandt’s _Tecumseh Valley_? Van Zandt’s [Waiting Round To Die](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/van-zandt-townes/waiting-around-to-die-12440.html) works, too: Now I’m out of prison, I got me a friend at last He don’t steal or cheat or drink or lie His name’s codeine, he’s the nicest thing I’ve seen Together we’re gonna wait around and die. Also, Atlanta Rhythm Section’s **Cocaine Charlie** , “a victim of the '70s…who is nothing but a memory.” Come to think of it, the unnamed unclIe in The Grateful Dead’s [Me and My Uncle](http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/MEANDMYU.HTM) (which I just learned was written by John Phillips) ended up with the short end of the stick: I love my uncle, God rest his soul Taught me good, Lord, taught me all I know Taught me so well, I grabbed that gold And I left his dead ass there by the side of the road (note 4) ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/55 "2005-11-05T05:48:29Z")
'Loser" by **Z** , Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa’s band. “I know I’m a loser, the Lord He treats me like a king, I know I’m a loser, I’m gonna ride an angel’s wings” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/56 "2005-11-05T07:42:23Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Pretty much the whole genre of the blues. And a substantial part of country music as well. Yeah. “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” is a good pick. And there’s “Trouble In Mind,” which I know as a Nina Simone song. The last verse is something like > [@](#): > > I think I’ll lay my head > On some lonesome highway line > And let the two-nineteen > Ease my worried mind ---
**Author:** ![Tazmanian\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@Tazmanian\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tazmanian_Devil)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/57 "2005-11-05T18:31:10Z")
My Melancholy Blues by Queen [http://www.queenwords.com/lyrics/songs/sng99\_06.shtml](http://www.queenwords.com/lyrics/songs/sng99_06.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/58 "2005-11-05T18:55:32Z")
Quite a few songs by 3 Doors Down. “Loser”, off of _The Better Life_ > [@](#): > > You’re getting closer to pushing me > Off of life’s little edge > Cause I’m a loser > And sooner or later > You know I’ll be dead > You’re getting closer, > You’re holding the rope, > I’m taking the fall > Cause I’m a loser, I’m a loser, yeah “Running Out of Days”, off of _Away from the Sun_ > [@](#): > > There’s too much work and I’m spent > There’s too much pressure and I’m bent > I got no time to move ahead > Have you heard one thing that I’ve said > > And all these little things in life they all create this haze > There’s too many things to get done, and I’m running out of days Why do we _like_ songs about losers? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/59 "2005-11-05T19:37:18Z")
“The Battle of Who Could Care Less” by Ben Folds Five. \Do you not hear me anymore I know it’s not your thing to care I know it’s cool to be so bored But it sucks me in when you’re aloof It sucks me in, it sucks, it works I guess it’s cool to be alone \ Reminds me of a lot of people I went to high school with. Who are probably all still sitting around in the plaza in the middle of town bumming cigarettes off each other. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/60 "2005-11-05T19:38:29Z")
Ah shit, you’d think after six and a half years I’d know that you can’t use HTML on the SDMB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272.md?page=4)