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Most depressing song you know?

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
Oh gosh. Most depressing song for me is "Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers, though I heard the Pearl Jam remake in 2000.

I hate it for two reasons: 1) it's utterly depressing and 2) I was pregnant at the time and enduring morning sickness and generally feeling like crap. So whenever I hear that song on the radio, I immediately remember feeling horrible.
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,228
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
"The End of the Rainbow"

A musician I really admire is the venerable British folk-rocker Richard Thompson, and yeah, he's written a lot of downbeat songs. (He's also written some positive ones.)

But this one - where he tells an infant that there's nothing worth growing up for - has got to be one of the most depressing things I've ever heard. I wonder what personal pain he was drawing on when he wrote this song!?! Lyrics are here:

http://www.richardthompson-music.com/song_o_matic.asp?id=52
 

Undertow

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,126
Location
Des Moines, IA, US
When I was in kindergarten, one of my classmates had leukemia and died that year; I think he was 5 when he passed. His favorite song was Puff the Magic Dragon, and so the whole class sang the song at his funeral. It actually chokes me a little to think about it. Definitely depressing.
 
Last edited:

Undertow

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,126
Location
Des Moines, IA, US
Small - Portishead
[video=youtube_share;9YAmL8W7YsM]http://youtu.be/9YAmL8W7YsM[/video]

The Best Is Yet To Come, with translation
[video=youtube_share;yWGVRxJOKw8]http://youtu.be/yWGVRxJOKw8[/video]

The Great Below - Nine Inch Nails
[video=youtube_share;pev0dINRaok]http://youtu.be/pev0dINRaok[/video]

Big Long Now - Nirvana
[video=youtube_share;djMThgIVqxI]http://youtu.be/djMThgIVqxI[/video]

Pushit (Live, Salival) - Tool
[video=youtube_share;EgDwkSlCwHw]http://youtu.be/EgDwkSlCwHw?t=1m19s[/video]

Trent Reznor and Kurt Cobain created depressing songs quite well. Perhaps it had something to do with their miserable addictions? :rolleyes:
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
[video=youtube;sTrPJvEzmwQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTrPJvEzmwQ[/video]


Artist: Vern Gosdin
Song: Chiseled In Stone
Album: Very Best of the Voice

You ran cryin' to the bedroom
I ran off to the bar,
Another piece of heaven gone to hell,
the words we spoke in anger
just tore my world apart,
And I sat there feeling sorry for myself.

Then that old man sat down beside me
and looked me in the eye,
and said "Son, I know what you're going through,
You ought to get down on your knees
and thank your lucky stars that you got someone to go home to."

(Chorus)
You don't know about lonely,
Or how long nights can be,
Till you lived through the story
That's still livin' in me,
And you don't know about sadness
'til you faced life alone,
You don't know about lonely
'til it's chiseled in stone.

So I brought these pretty flowers
hoping you would understand
sometimes a man is such a fool,
Those golden words of wisdom
from the heart of that old man,
showed me I ain't nothing without you.

You don't know about lonely,
Or how long nights can be,
Till you lived through the story
that old man just told me,
And you don't know about sadness
'til you faced life alone,
You don't know about lonely
'til it's chiseled in stone.
You don't know about lonely,
'til it's chiseled in stone.
 

TomS

One Too Many
Messages
1,199
Location
USA.
Leaving On A Jet Plane by Peter, Paul and Mary. It came immediately to mind for me.
 

alsendk

A-List Customer
Messages
427
Location
Zealand Denmark
One song that always make me moody is when british Julie London sings ` CRY ME A RIVER`
She sings it so well, and the guitar orchestration is suberb.
This is a song that I always come back to listen to.
The lyrics suits the mood of this song brilliantly I think.

http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...1.888.5648.2j2j7j7j6-1.19.0...0.0.RwSQKxKVT-M

AND THE LYRICS

Now you say you're lonely
You cry the whole night through
Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river
I cried a river over you

Now you say you're sorry
For bein' so untrue
Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river
I cried a river over you

You drove me, nearly drove me out of my head
While you never shed a tear
Remember, I remember all that you said
Told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me and
Now you say you love me
Well, just to prove you do
Come on and cry me a river, cry me a river
I cried a river over you

I cried a river over you
I cried a river over you
I cried a river over you

JulieLondon.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Messages
13,376
Location
Orange County, CA
John Conlee -- I Don't Remember Loving You

[video=youtube;cHEiv0q_26I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHEiv0q_26I[/video]

I don't remember loving you
And I don't recall the things
You say you put me through
You tell me that you've had
A guilty conscience for so long
You say that you walked out on me
You say you did me wrong
Well I just don't see how that could be true
Because I don't remember loving you

I don't remember loving you
You might talk to my doctor
He drops by each day at two
I get a funny feeling
When I look into your eyes
There's something in your smile
That gives my stomach butterflies
You must look like someone I once knew
But I don't remember loving you

I don't remember loving you
I heard you mention children
Did you say there's one or two?
You say I quit my job
And then I drank myself insane
You say that I ran down the highway
Screaming out your name
Now that's not the sort of thing that I would do
No, I don't remember loving you

I don't remember loving you
I absolutely, positively
Know that can't be true
But everyone I know here
In this place is very strange
If you'll hand me my crayons
I'd be glad to take your name
In case I run across the guy you knew
But I don't remember loving you
 

McMurdo

One of the Regulars
Messages
202
Location
Toronto
As a whole bunch of really depressing songs have already been mentioned I thought I'd add these

Sunday Morning Coming Down
[video=youtube_share;_RLiuPRMJy8]http://youtu.be/_RLiuPRMJy8[/video]

God's Gonna Cut You Down
[video=youtube_share;IStlBOX9F4o]http://youtu.be/IStlBOX9F4o[/video]

I was lucky enough to see Johnny at Massey Hall in the early 90's it was a great show.
 

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