# Songs that bring you down... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952 "2012-10-17T01:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952/21 "2012-10-18T18:41:04Z")
Carrickfergus > [@](#): > > And in Kilkenny it is reported there are marble stones as black as ink > With gold and silver I would support her, but I’ll sing no more now till I get a drink > I’m drunk today and I’m seldom sober, a handsome rover from town to town > Ah, but I’m sick now, my days are numbered so come all ye young men and lay me down And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda > [@](#): > > And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay > I looked at the place where me legs used to be > And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me > To grieve and to mourn and to pity > > And the Band played Waltzing Matilda > When they carried us down the gangway > Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared > Then they turned all their faces away ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952/22 "2012-10-18T19:12:41Z")
‘My House on Mars’ by Ayreon. It’s the last human alive, who has never known another person, reliving his childhood and knowing that he will die alone. It’s so sad and lonely. It make my eyes water whenever I listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952/23 "2012-10-18T19:49:59Z")
“Christmas 1915” makes me sad, even if it’s a bit sappy. And while not technically a song - although “Ashokan Farewell” is playing in the background - Sullivan Ballou’s letter to his wife Sarah, from Ken Burns’ The Civil War [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3F5RT0\_K5M](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3F5RT0_K5M) tears me up every time. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952/24 "2012-10-18T20:03:06Z")
‘At 17’ by Janis Ian. It came out when I was about 17 and was the story of my life, pretty much. Right down to the line that says ‘the boys that call to say come dance with me, then murmur vague obsenities’… I had a boy in my homeroom class call and ask what I was doing on Friday night, then say ‘go stick your head in the mud, bitch’. So yeah. That’s the song. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952/25 "2012-10-18T20:10:24Z")
Since _And The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda_ has already been mentioned, I will add _Alexandra Leaving_ by Leonard Cohen. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952/26 "2012-10-18T20:35:28Z")
\*\*Joey by Concrete Blonde \*\*. Sung from POV of a woman who had a fight with her guy because he is a drugged-out loser, but now she is ready to make up and is afraid he’s out somewhere drunk and passed out and she wishes he’d come back… The vocal by Johnette Napolitano is powerful and excruciating…[youtube link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM4-V7HvbPk). ETA: oh, and thinking about the lyrics of Joey reminded me of another powerful-and-sad song about the delusion of drugs: [I’m Not an Addict by K’s Choice](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MbbBYalam8)… ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952/27 "2012-10-18T21:15:57Z")
Peggy Lee’s (and no other cover version) [Is That All There Is?](http://youtu.be/3VscVP_Gt_s). None of the usual self-pity, or “but I’m a good person wronged,” “[I’m a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch](http://youtu.be/J7nO9n6Ez64)” bullshit. Just bitterness, with sardonic contempt as life’s only consolation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-bring-you-down/637952.md?page=1)