# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/81 "2007-04-22T05:26:46Z")
Gloomy Sunday by Billie Holiday must be impossible to equal. Hallelujah, the Jeff Buckley version ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/82 "2007-04-22T05:50:08Z")
BTW, Diamanda Galas does it well, but I still think Lady Day has the most gripping version.[Billie Holiday: Gloomy Sunday](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48cTUnUtzx4&mode=related&search=) Her voice just tears at my heart. She also sings “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”, a Irving Berlin tune, and makes you feel all the loneliness in the world. She sings about having that love, and you sense that it’s like the wishful thinking of a child, and that she’s all alone, out in the cold winter, dreaming of such a love. When I listen to this song, I invariably pour myself a tumbler of scotch and dilute it with my tears. ---
**Author:** ![Layla01](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/layla01/32/15552_2.png) [@Layla01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Layla01)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/83 "2007-04-22T07:42:49Z")
Ben Folds’ [Brick](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Brick-lyrics-Ben-Folds/07EE220659B6F4A548256DE9002E3913) is about as sad a song as I’ve ever heard, especially when you know the background of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/84 "2007-04-22T09:34:48Z")
I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds “Happy Birthday” a little more depressing every year. ---
**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, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/85 "2007-04-22T11:06:03Z")
The eight-minute song _California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade_ by The Decemberists is considered by many to be their best ballad. But few realize what the song is actually about. (Note: these lyrics are not the full song, just a portion of it. Full lyrics [here.](http://www.lyricsdomain.com/20/the_decemberists/california_one_youth_and_beauty_brigade.html) )It starts off with the narrator inviting the love interest of the song to take a drive with him on California One and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings: _And the road a-winding goes From golden gate to roaring cliff-side And the light is softly low as our hearts Become sweetly untied Beneath the sun of California one_ Later there is a chord change and the song subtly segues into a second part, with these lyrics: \* Annabelle lies, sleeps with quiet eyes On this sea-drift sun What can you do? **And if I said, O it’s in your head** On this sea-drift sun What can you do?\* It seems like this has nothing to do with the rest of the song. Who is Annabelle? And what does the bit about “it’s in your head” mean? But then the song goes in yet another direction, as the tempo slows down and a heartbeat-like bass-drum line takes over. If you listen very carefully, you can hear a female voice speak the following: _I’ve heard of ghosts…good ghosts who wander the battlefield at night, guiding soldiers out of danger. You can see them almost everywhere. [Unintelligible.] …A stray bullet…if I were such a ghost, I would stay so close to you, you could feel my breath on your cheek._ Hmm…now what does _this_ have to do with anything? It’s not until the final portion of the song, when he talks about the “youth and beauty brigade” that makes up part of the title, that we get a clue: \* We’re lining up the light-loafere’d And the bored bench warmers Castaways and cutouts, fill it up Come join the youth and beauty brigade \* Knowing this, the parts of the song all come together and tell a story. There is obviously some kind of war going on. Given the information in the song, I’m going to assume that it’s some kind of civil war involving California - maybe the state has seceded from the union, or something. We can surmise that it’s set in the future. There was a call to arms, and the military needed more manpower so it had do accept anyone who could fight: young men who were accustomed to idle and passive lives (bored bench warmers) gay (light-loafered) or social outcasts (castaways and cutouts). We can assume that the narrator was one of these recruits who would not ordinarily be interested in fighting, but was coerced into it. Presumably, he had a girlfriend back home (Anabelle,) and the cryptic line about the ghosts on the battlefield protecting the soldiers, spoken by a female voice, is supposed to represent the narrator’s conception of Anabelle as his guardian - his imagining that she is there, watching over him, when he goes into combat. When he says, “it’s in your head,” after the first verses of the song, to me this is an indication that the scenario of driving through the California countryside with his lover, drinking wine, etc, is a hallucination, and that the narrator is actually dead, and was dead from the very beginning of the song. He was killed in battle, suffering an unceremonious death after being lured into the “youth and beauty brigade” with promises of glory. As he is dying, he’s thinking about Anabelle, about the idealized trip that he wanted to take with her on California One, and then in the final portion of the song, cynically recounting how he was lead to his death by government propaganda. Awful, just awful. This may seem like an overinterpretation, but it makes sense when you consider the Decemberists’ obsession with war, and their many songs about historical battles from World War I to the Civil War to Iraq. It seems to me they’re trying to make a statement about how war is not glorious but tragic, and steals the lives of idealistic young men who believed the recruiting propaganda. Knowing this, the song becomes much deeper, but also more depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/86 "2007-04-22T14:22:06Z")
**Send In the Clowns.** Sinatra did a nice version of this. **Rainy Days and Mondays.** Karen Carpenter **Ol’ Man River.** Paul Robeson \*\*Is That All There Is? \*\* Peggy Lee ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/87 "2007-04-22T16:35:05Z")
[Woods of Darney](http://www.richardthompson-music.com/song_o_matic.asp?id=290) - Richard Thompson [We Could Leave Right Now](http://bob.bob.bofh.org/~giolla/oysterband/WCLRN.html) - Oysterband ‘Given Time’ - Rainbow Chasers (Written by Ashley Hutchings, it’s about his meeting with Nick Drake who wasn’t given any time at all…) ‘The Reaper/My Bonny Boy/Scarecrow/Battle of the Somme’ - The Home Service. A folk-rock medley about World War One: See the barbed wire growing like a bramble on the land See a farm turned to a fortress, a future turned to sand See a meadow turned to mud and from it grows a hand… ---
**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, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/88 "2007-04-22T17:04:56Z")
I think the most depressing song I’ve ever heard is “Down from Dover” by Dolly Parton. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/89 "2007-04-22T19:05:51Z")
Oh!! Oh!! How could I forget one that was mixed by one of my dad’s best friends?! Pirates of the Mississippi- Feed Jake ---
**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/90 "2007-04-22T23:23:12Z")
[QUOTE=Lucky 13] Others that make me cry: … … “Whiskey Lullaby” - I forgot who sings it [/QUOTE] That’s a duet with Allison Krauss and Brad Paisley. I’d have to agree with **Lucky** on it, too. Ditto with earlier posters on Lady Day’s version of Gloomy Sunday. Others on my list: **I Can’t Make You Love Me** - Bonnie Raitt **Molly Ban** - The Chieftains and Allison Krauss Diana Krall’s version of **Danny Boy** **There were Roses** - Tommy Sands And, frankly, despite the upbeat tune, I think the words to **Born to Run** are really pretty morose. And just checking - \*\*Willie McBride \*\* and **The Green Fields of France** have both been mentioned. I think they’re different titles for the same song. 😕 (Which is awfully depressing, btw) ---
**Author:** ![Squonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squonk)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/91 "2007-04-22T23:35:09Z")
Two I didn’t notice mentioned (though I scanned this thread rather quickly): Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris Keep Me in Your Heart - Warren Zevon ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/92 "2007-04-23T00:20:37Z")
[Love, Me](http://www.lyricsdomain.com/3/collin_raye/love_me.html) by Collin Raye [Alyssa Lies](http://www.onlylyrics.com/song.php?id=1002823) by Jason Michael Carroll Someone already mentioned [Whiskey Lullaby](http://www.lyrics007.com/Brad%20Paisley%20Lyrics/Whiskey%20Lullaby%20(Featuring%20Alison%20Krauss)%20Lyrics.html), so Hi Opal! [Concrete Angel](http://www.elyrics.net/read/m/martina-mcBride-lyrics/concrete-angel-lyrics.html) by Martina McBride. [The 8th of November](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/big-&-rich/8th-of-november-16645.html) by Big & Rich Depressed enough yet? ---
**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:** [April 23, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/93 "2007-04-23T02:36:33Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Oh, and [Ne me quitte pas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEAGoLHMMoA). In English this has been badly translated as “If you go away” and performed by people like The Seekers. The original is not a proposition, though: he’s begging her to stay. "Do not leave me! Do not leave me! Do not leave me. Do not leave me. Do not leave me." It’s so hard to watch. It was written from his own life, and he wept with genuine emotion every time he performed it. The desperation and glimmer of false hope in the song is almost unbearable. And another one that is beautifully observed, [Madeleine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRCBpMmhrgg) - his performance always gives me a lump in my throat. The strength of these songs is that they don’t even need you to understand French to get what they’re about, and to be profoundly moved by them. Now excuse me while I go and have a little cry. ☹ [/QUOTE] Good call, **jjimm**. I play piano in a French cabaret/music hall group, and we do _Ne me quitte pas_. Perhaps the saddest song ever. Part of the lyrics, as translated by our singer: \*We’ve often seen erupting the fire of the ancient volcano We believed to be too old There are, I was told, burnt fields that produce more corn Than the best April And at dusk, for a flamboyant sky, doesn’t red Blend perfectly with black? Don’t leave me, don’t leave me, don’t leave me Don’t leave me, I’ll stop crying, I’ll stop talking I’ll hide here and watch you dancing, and smiling, and listen To you singing and laughing. Let me become the shadow of your Shadow, the shadow of your hand, the shadow of your dog, but Don’t leave me, don’t leave me, don’t leave me\* (The rest of the lyrics, in English and French, [here](http://www.theromanceofparis.com/pages/lyrics/ne%2520me%2520quitte%2520pas.htm). I don’t speak French, and think Brel is one of the greats for raw emotion. Other songs that rate “most depressing”: **Bruce Springsteen** Racing in the Street Atlantic City Highway Patrolman One Step Up **Paul Simon** American Tune **The Band** It Makes No Difference **Bill Morrissey** (folk guitar/singer/songwriter) Man From Out of Town Casey, Illinois **Crash Test Dummies** Superman’s Song **Dire Straits** Brothers in Arms **Don Henley** A Month of Sundays **Joe Jackson** Trying to Cry Drowning . . . are a few others, to add to the great list we’ve got already. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/94 "2007-04-23T03:55:29Z")
[QUOTE=buns3000] Most of the first three or four Red House Painters albums. [/QUOTE] I’ve only heard one of their songs and that was depressing enough for me (Have You Forgotten from the Vanilla Sky soundtrack) Also depressing: Walk on the Ocean - Toad the Wet Sprocket Landslide - Fleetwood Mac (also covers by Tori Amos, Smashing Pumpkins, and Sheryl Crow) Fair - Remy Zero You’re Beautiful - James Blunt Fade into You - Mazzy Star Nothingman - Pearl Jam ---
**Author:** ![pprgrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@pprgrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pprgrl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/95 "2007-04-23T06:44:54Z")
**Nobody Home** - Pink Floyd **My Friends** - Dar Williams **Independence Day** - Ani DiFranco **If I Lived Right** - Tracy Chapman **I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You** and **Waiting For My Real Life to Begin** - Colin Hay ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/96 "2007-04-23T07:37:42Z")
[“Full of Grace” – Sarah McLachlan](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sarahmclachlan.com%2Fdiscography%2Flyrics.jsp%3Fsong_id%3D42&ei=HV0sRuaZFpKajgGR67mGAw&usg=AFrqEzfVGxl0p7x20KY_wZCvQQPFNn64Hw&sig2=1XpBBBX0K_L3r3RnLVeHrA) Lyrics sample: _The winter here’s cold, and bitter It’s chilled us to the bone We haven’t seen the sun for weeks Too long, too far from home I feel just like I’m sinking And I claw for solid ground I’m pulled down by the undertow I never thought I could feel so low Oh, darkness, I feel like letting go_ Ugh. Always makes me want to crawl into bed and stick my head under the covers and cry. [“Emyli”](http://www.prettybalanced.com/emyli.html) – Pretty Balanced _emyli everybody wants to be you they don’t know the shit that you’ve been through they just like the way you look the way you dress the way you walk they couldn’t care less about the way you took a beating_ Nothing like a song about domestic abuse and covering it up to be a real downer. But it’s still a great song. Actually, come to think of it, a lot of Pretty Balanced songs are mega-depressing. Take [Mel and Colin](http://www.prettybalanced.com/melandcolin.html) or [Spring Cleaning](http://www.prettybalanced.com/springcleaning.html). ---
**Author:** ![sweepkick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@sweepkick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweepkick)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/97 "2007-04-23T08:32:32Z")
Wow, can’t believe no one’s mentioned Tears for Fears “The Hurting”. With wonderfully uplifting vignettes such as these you can’t go wrong: Mad World Memories Fade Suffer the Children Watch Me Bleed Start of the Breakdown Good stuff! ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/98 "2007-04-23T15:10:33Z")
Lots of songs by the Smiths and Morrissey, particularly “Every day is like Sunday” and “There is a light that never goes out.” ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/99 "2007-04-23T15:20:42Z")
No Tom Waits yet? I can’t listen to “Invitation to the Blues” or “San Deigo Serenade” without several shots of whiskey and a hanky. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032/100 "2007-04-23T16:09:45Z")
[QUOTE=Malienation] _Fancy_, by Rebe McIntyre. [/QUOTE] Not to mention the [original](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_%28song%29) by Bobbie Gentry [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-most-depressing-songs-youve-ever-heard/401032.md?page=6)