# What are some of the most depressing songs you've ever heard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032 "2007-04-21T03:09:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/61 "2007-04-21T18:59:31Z")
Someone mentioned _Les Miz_ - the song that makes me cry, ever since I first saw the play in high school, is “On My Own.” Others that make me cry: “Goodbye My Lover” by James Blunt “Where’d You Go” by Fort Minor “Whiskey Lullaby” - I forgot who sings it ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/62 "2007-04-21T19:35:22Z")
As another Leonard Cohen fan, I’m suprised he’s not getting more mentions. He’s been the standard for depressing music for years. The last review of his album I saw in a mainstream paper carried a health warning, and I saw a satire article from years ago linking a spate of suicides to his album making it onto a morning radio playlist while people were shaving… Outside Cohen’s library, Joan Baez has done some decidedly downbeat songs and Richard Marx’s “Hazard” isn’t the cheeriest of lyrics. “St James Infirmary” tends to get me, depending on the version. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/63 "2007-04-21T19:43:12Z")
Tom Paxton has a few Leaving London About the Children Cindy’s Crying Mister Blue Crazy John But his topper is [Jimmy Newman](http://www.pcplanets.com/lyrics-text-203611-.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/64 "2007-04-21T21:07:36Z")
[QUOTE=tirial] As another Leonard Cohen fan, I’m suprised he’s not getting more mentions. He’s been the standard for depressing music for years. The last review of his album I saw in a mainstream paper carried a health warning, and I saw a satire article from years ago linking a spate of suicides to his album making it onto a morning radio playlist while people were shaving… [/QUOTE] He was the first person that came to mind but I basically thought, what do I do, write down his entire library? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/65 "2007-04-21T22:26:36Z")
\*\*Solitude \*\* by Black Sabbath **Pale Blue Eyes** by The Velvet Underground ---
**Author:** ![Redfrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@Redfrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redfrost)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/66 "2007-04-21T22:37:11Z")
A thread on sad music and no mention of Radiohead. I find High and Dry and Fake Plastic Trees to be particularly depressing. Smashing Pumkins Mellon Colly and the Infinite Sadnes album is full of depressing songs. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/67 "2007-04-21T22:50:19Z")
I’m gonna have to go with Josh Radin’s _Winter_. But I probably only find it sad because I associate it with the final appearance of Ben Sullivan in Scrubs, which was the saddest television moment ever. Quite a lot of Everclear’s stuff is pretty damn depressing. For example, _Strawberry_, which is about the relapse of a former heroin addict. The end of the last verse coupled with the chorus really gets to me: \*Ten long years in a straight line They fall like water Yes I guess I fucked up again Don’t fall down now You will never get up Don’t fall down now Don’t fall down now\* ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/68 "2007-04-21T22:55:54Z")
[QUOTE=Hazle Weatherfield] Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve [/QUOTE] Wondered when anyone was going to mention this. _“It’s a bittersweet symphony, this life You work all day, you’re a slave to money then you die.”_ Also, Tracey Chapman - “Fast Car.” The song starts with the narrator leaving a bad home life in her lover’s fast car with a sense of hope, and her hopes are slowly crushed by life and a man that lets her down: _“You got a fast car And I got a job that pays all our bills You stay out drinking late at the bar See more of your friends than you do your kids I always hoped for better Thought maybe together, You and me, we’d find it I got no plans, I ain’t going nowhere So take your fast car and keep on driving.”_ And Bruce Springsteen, “One Step Up,” also about a failed marriage and dashed hopes: _“Its the same thing night on night Who’s wrong baby, who’s right? Another fight and I slam the door on Another battle in our dirty little war When I look at myself I dont see The man I wanted to be Somewhere along the line I slipped off track I’m caught moving one step up and two steps back.”_ I find these songs so sad because I know real people who suffered through essentially the same events. It doesn’t make me eager to get married. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/69 "2007-04-21T23:38:09Z")
I’ve got another one: Cake- The Palm of Your Hand. The line about Turtle Wax shreds my heart every time. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/70 "2007-04-21T23:40:59Z")
Oops!! I meant to say She’ll Hang the Baskets on the Walls! (Just woke up and too stupid to know how to edit. _sheepish grin_) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/71 "2007-04-22T00:02:48Z")
Paul Kelly _How To Make Gravy_ - a Christmas song from a brother in jail And later in the evening, I can just imagine, You’ll put on Junior Murvin and push the tables back And you’ll dance with Rita, I know you really like her, Just don’t hold her too close, oh brother please don’t stab me in the back I didn’t mean to say that, it’s just my mind it plays up, Multiplies each matter, turns imagination into fact Andy Prieboy _Tomorrow Wendy_ - pretty straight forward It is complete now the two ends of time are neatly tied A one-way street, she’s walking to end of the line And there she meets the faces she keeps in her heart and mind They say ‘good bye’ Tomorrow, Wendy, is going to die, They say ‘good bye’ Tomorrow, Wendy, is going to die, ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/72 "2007-04-22T00:04:20Z")
Most of Nick Drake’s catalog Samuel Barber’s “_Adagio for Strings_” The Flaming Lips have a bunch of good ones: “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain” “You Have To Be Joking (Autopsy Of The Devil’s Brain)” “Suddenly Everything Has Changed (Moments of routine and boredom that cause you to daydream or reflect on the nature of reality sometimes with maddeningly melancholy results)” All come to mind. Their song “Do you realize” is both depressing and life-affirming. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/73 "2007-04-22T02:07:00Z")
“This Used to Be My Playground,” Madonna. “All By Myself,” Eric Carmen ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/74 "2007-04-22T02:10:08Z")
Brian’s Song by Blink-182 _I never thought I’d die alone Another six months I’ll be unknown Give all my things to all my friends You’ll never step foot in my room again You’ll close it off, board it up Remember the time that I spilled the cup Of apple juice in the hall Please tell mom this is not her fault._ Argh, makes me want to commit suicide myself. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/75 "2007-04-22T02:28:39Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] **Marty Robbins** - _They’re Hanging Me Tonight_ I took my pistol from my hip and with a trembling hand I took the life of pretty Flo and that good for nothin’ man That good for nothin’ man! I think about the thing I’ve done I know it wasn’t right They’ll bury Flo tomorrow, but they’re hanging me tonight [/QUOTE] _heh_ I used to listen to that whole album (good stuff) over and over when I was a kid. There was a skip in this part of this song, so it said, “I took the life of pretty Flo of pretty Flo of pretty Flo of pretty Flo …” > [@Ferd Burfel](#): > > “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones Damn, you took mine! So I’ll just quote from Wikipedia: “Jones stated in a 2002 CMT interview that he told the producer he “…would record the song,” but did not think it would sell “because it’s too damn sad.” Jones also bet the record producer that it would do poorly. Jones gladly lost his bet, for it would be the biggest hit of his career and for nearly three decades would be his trademark song.” Anyway, I would also like to nominate everything in Pink Floyd’s catalog (at least the hits, which is pretty much all I’ve heard), though I can’t say that it’s the lyrics. I’ve just always found their music to be very depressing for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/76 "2007-04-22T02:33:29Z")
Bob Dylan “Don’t Think Twice” It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe It don’t matter, anyhow An’ it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe If you don’t know by now When your rooster crows at the break of dawn Look out your window and I’ll be gone You’re the reason I’m trav’lin’ on Don’t think twice, it’s all right “Desolation Row” They’re selling postcards of the hanging They’re painting the passports brown The beauty parlor is filled with sailors The circus is in town Here comes the blind commissioner They’ve got him in a trance One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker The other is in his pants And the riot squad they’re restless They need somewhere to go As Lady and I look out tonight From Desolation Row ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/77 "2007-04-22T02:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=tirial] As another Leonard Cohen fan, I’m suprised he’s not getting more mentions. He’s been the standard for depressing music for years. The last review of his album I saw in a mainstream paper carried a health warning, and I saw a satire article from years ago linking a spate of suicides to his album making it onto a morning radio playlist while people were shaving… [/QUOTE] LOL. I don’t find anything by Laughing Lenny truly depressing, because there’s always that element of sour gallows humor, or at least amused detachment, in even his darkest material. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/78 "2007-04-22T04:16:35Z")
[Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction Lyrics | LetsSingIt](http://artists.letssingit.com/barry-mcguire-eve-of-destruction-s1m88lj) Eve od Destruction …merely about the end of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/79 "2007-04-22T04:23:34Z")
[QUOTE=Pyper] Brian’s Song by Blink-182 _I never thought I’d die alone Another six months I’ll be unknown Give all my things to all my friends You’ll never step foot in my room again You’ll close it off, board it up Remember the time that I spilled the cup Of apple juice in the hall Please tell mom this is not her fault._ Argh, makes me want to commit suicide myself. [/QUOTE] It’s _Adam’s Song._ Brian’s song is a movie. There’s also another song about suicide called _Song for Adam_ by Jackson Browne. ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/80 "2007-04-22T04:53:44Z")
_Fancy_, by Rebe McIntyre. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032.md?page=5)