There were times when my college dorm mates would have people over just a little too late to suit my tastes, so a good friend of mine created the “depression” tape to drive them out.
The first two songs on the tape were “Patches” by Clarence Carter (about a poor sharecropper’s boy who daddy dies, if i remember correctly) and “The Wreck of the Edumund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot…I forget the rest because they usually cleared out by the beginning of the second song…lol…
I have a friend who is a professional musician who uses Frank Zappa albums for the same purpose
I can’t add to “most depressing”. I am clearly not listening to the right music. For runners up I concur w/ Cat’s in the Craddle and add:
One Tin Soldier
Rainy Day’s on Monday’s (right name?)
Killing Me Softly (preferably sung by Roberta Flack)
I tried to pick a particular Joy Division song to quote lyrics from, but I couldn’t settle on one - they’re all the most depressing song I’ve ever heard!
I totally think that NIN have performed some of the saddest songs I’ve heard, “Hurt” and “In the Great Below” come to mind…but that new one from Everlast, “Wonderful”, made me cry the first, second, and third times hearing it! Anyone from a divorced family will probably agree w/me
As I’ve been trying to find a song for my upcoming wedding I’ve been poring over my huge collection of CDs, vinyl, and cassettes to find one song that works without a negative or depressing message. I’m not finding one that isn’t depressing or drivel. Some of the rejects for depression are:
All The Man I Need by Whiney Houston
My god … this is a co-dependant anthem only equaled by the Wind Beneath My Wings.
Missing by everything but the kitchen sink
Yes, love lost and unrequited … what a lovely message.
Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This… Eurythmics
Not an up tune.
Kissing A Fool by Gorge Michael
More unrequited love and bitterness.
You Light Up My Life by Dippy Boonedoggle
A sacharine and drippy co-dependant piece of drivel.
Save A Prayer - Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran
A one night stand ditty — sort of pointless when you’ve done your future spouse more times than you can count.
I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight - Cutting Crew
Necro love, woah-oh-oh, necro love.
Any song by Celine Dion or Barbra Streisand
Bleh, bleh, bleh. All of their songs depress me either for the lyrics or that they are popular
How Soon Is Now by The Smiths
Unrequited love, loneliness, and disaffection. My fiancee actually thought that this could work.
Someone To Watch Over Me - Sting
Co-dependant. And a bit creepy. I don’t want someone to watch over me. I want and have someone to be with me.
At this point, I’m just thinking of going for irony and choosing ‘A Fine Romance.’ At least our sense of humor about the relationship would be there.
I just thought of another. Last Kiss, by Pearl Jam. I know it’s a cover of a song done by someone else, but I’m not sure who. It’s about this guy who is driving with his girlfriend and they get into a car crash and she dies. And he spends the rest of his life loving her and trying to be good so he can be with her after he dies because she has gone to heaven. I have major issues with this song. But that’s another story altogether.
Bob Seger’s original version of “Turn the Page” (not the metallica thinger)
-or-
The final track of the “Conan the Barbarian” soundtrack, which plays during the movie after conan cuts off JEJ’s head, and the people are filing by tossing their torches into the large pool below him. He just sits there, and the music is in this minor key…messes me up
“Last Kiss” was written and originally recorded by Wayne Cochran, but the most famous version was recorded by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. It was covered again in the 70’s by a band called Wednesday (I think).
If you find the Pearl Jam version disturbing, you should hear Frank Wilson sing it. At least Eddie Vedder manages to sound sad, ol’ Frank sounds creepily chipper about the whole thing. He also does this irritating pseudo-Buddy Holly hiccup, and the backup vocals sound like they were performed by Munchkins.
Peter Gabriel’s “I Grieve” is up there on my list. You grow up associating him with “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time”, and not to mention the videos for those songs, and then you hear that song… I had shivers the first time I heard it.
Fade to Black by Metallica
Emptiness is filing me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness taking dawn
I was me, but now He’s gone
Momma Said by Metallica
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone’s all I see
Nothing Else Matters by Metallica
so close no matter how far
couldn’t be much more from the heart
forever trusting who we are
and nothing else matters
Unforgiven II by Metallica
Lay beside me, under wicked sky
The black of day, dark of night, we share this paralyze
The door cracks open, but there’s no sun shining through
Black heart scarring darker still, but there’s no sun shining through
Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town by Pearl Jam
my god it’s been too long
never dreamed you’d return
My Life in the Knife Trade by Boy Sets Fire
trade my life for a barrel of gold
find someone else before i get too old
Glycerine by Bush
i treated you bad
you bruised my face
couldn’t love you more
you’ve got a beautiful taste
Good Riddance by Green Day
it’s something unpredictable
but in the end it’s right
I hope you had the time of your life
I heard a song on the radio a few months ago that very nearly made me cry at work. This is “The Wild Blue” by Christine Lavin, who’s a pretty popular folk singer. Usually she does (REALLY) funny stuff, but this is a major departure. It’s a song about a kamikaze pilot, which I assume to be true, because it’s complete with names. I searched for way too long to find the lyrics, and finally gave up, but I did find a site where you can listen to part of the song. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty long song, and the RealPlayer ends before the really depressing part. The worst is a verse about how a kamikaze pilot crashed into an American ship, causing a lot of damage but not sinking it, and as a souvenier, an American sailor takes a bone from the Japanese pilot to take home. The chorus goes: “This was war, this is what men do.” It is just incredibly depressing.
At the end, it’s revealed that the soldier who came up with the idea of the kamikaze ran away and changed his name so that he wouldn’t have to sacrifice his life as well. On his deathbed, he reveals to his children that it was his fault that so many young men killed themselves in the war, and the immense guilt he felt for causing this, and for not joining them.
Yes, I liten to folk music.
Except for Stan Rodgers’ “First Christmas” - 3 verses of people spending Christmas alone for different reasons. I have to fast-forward the tape every time.
I love Christine Lavin! Which album is that song off of, do you know? Because I’d never heard it before. Her song about driving past the hotel where Lennon was killed was pretty depressing too.
I remember Patches.
My choice is undoubtedly D.O.A. by Bloodrock.
I first heard it on Dr. Demneto’s radio show, a show of supposedly silly songs.
Its a bout a plane crash, where the guy describes the horror, He looks over and his arm is gone.
His voice is so creepy and the music so durgelike, I freaked out.
I dont ever want to hear it again!
Hmmm…I think you may have disillusioned a bunch of kids, or at best, Jackie Paper is jerk who won’t even visit one of his supposedly best friends. Is that any better? At least if he died it wouldn’t have been the kid’s fault. Either way this song reeks of pain.