Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[zro]

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!????
WHY DON'T YOU LIKE MEEEEEEEE!!!!???

screamed bloodcurdlingly over and over again by Lou Barlow for almost 6 minutes on "Don't" by Dino Jr. Most pure "emo" song ever?

[Near Lurker]

Wait...I can't believe I (and everyone else) forgot...

Oh, take this badge off of me.
I can't use it anymore.
It's getting dark, too dark to see.
Feels like I'm knocking on Heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door.

Oh, put my guns in the ground.
I can't shoot them anymore.
That long black cloud is coming down.
Feels like I'm knocking on Heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door.

...oh, you know damn well who wrote that.

[Mobius_Logic]

so I just got Etiquette today. Casiotone for The Painfully Alone= Depressing.
super duper depressing.

Name- I Love Creedence

I'm Creedence Clearwater Wright
best friend of Elodie Eye
we've been tight since Percy Elementary
class of 1985
we moved together out to Philly after college
took a two bedroom at South & 9th
I sold my violin so we could have it easy
El got her grandmother's money when she died

we laughed like we were queens
& split our ballgowns at the seams
& every single time I'd dream
it was only El & me
but then she slipped away from me
she met a boy from New Jersey
& they fell fast in love of course
I swear it felt like a divorce

this September I'll be 26 years old
& El's the only one besides my dad
who's ever said I love you Creedence

took got a job downtown
it's an hour on the bus each way
typing letters for a lawyer in a bad toupee
it's dumb I know but it pays okay

& did I mention I moved out
I got my own place off of South
& I've been living hand to mouth
for going on a year by now
& yes I still see El around
it's different but I can't say how
she cut her hair it's back to brown
she's living with her boyfriend now

& since September I've been 26 years old
she's still the only one besides my dad
who's ever said I love you Creedence

[PassiveTheory]

I wonder if anyone's mentioned "I Know It's Over" by the Smiths yet...

[Uber Ritter]

Man "Nocturnal on St. Lucy's Day" would make a killer doom metal song of the depressing (as opposed to heavy or weird) variety.
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/nocturnal.htm
But it hasn't, that I know of, so this is off topic.
Move along.
-Wilhelm

[sandman263]

Tom McRae - there's a hundred songs you could choose here, but this is a personal favourite:

Bloodless:

This train don't stop at the stations of the cross
No reasons left to believe
Trying to stay awake gave yourself a caffeine headache
To hide the taste of sleep

In choosing to forget you cut away the safety net that holds your heart, holds your heart
And you go in search of youth touching up your empire roots
But these days we don't know how to march
Satisfied with a knife in your spine you're bloodless

So tell me again what am I feeling you know me so well
So what am I feeling and how can you tell
I've got a feeling you don't know

We think that we're the ones we're the bright unconquered suns
Wait a while we'll watch the light grow stale
And we smell so very clean but we're the
Oil in this machine and this machine
This machine is going wrong

So choose your sides when it comes to the fight you're bloodless
So tell me again what am I feeling you know me so well
So what am I feeling and how can you tell
I've got a feeling you don't know

You choose your side but in the fight I see your blood run white, your blood run white
And I've seen it all before and I see it again

And I see it again
So what am I feeling you know me so well
So what am I feeling and how can you tell
I've got a feeling you don't know

So tell me again now what am I feeling you know me so well
So what am I feeling and how can you tell
I've got a feeling

So tell me again now what am I feeling you know me so well
So what am I feeling and how can you tell
I've got a feeling you don't know

[MajinTrunkz]

"My Tiger, My Heart" by the Boy Least Likely To gets me every time.

As sweet as a plum
And lovely as dawn
Rolling its tongue over its gums
Like tiger and me
As happy as could be
Sat out on the porch
As the whole of the sky
Clouds quietly over
And it starts to cry
Softly on my shoulder
We don't want to grow up
But we have to grow up
As sad as I am
I do understand
I do understand,
It just makes me sad

My tiger my heart
We're growing apart
We're trying to be friends
But it's hard sometimes
To be friends with something
That eats butterflies
And pencil sharpeners
And i think it would be
Happier being free

My tiger my friend
My little godsend
I know someday we'll be happy again

[Chad K.]

Tom Waits - "Georgia Lee".  The comparison of finding her body to playing hide and seek with her as a little girl is too much.  I usually can't even listen to it.

Cold was the night, hard was the ground
They found her in a small grove of trees
Lonesome was the place where Georgia was found
She's too young to be out
On the street.

Why wasn't God watching?
Why wasn't God listening?
Why wasn't God there for
Georgia Lee?

Ida said she couldn't keep Georgia
From dropping out of school
I was doing the best that I could
But she kept runnin away from this world
These children are so hard to raise good

Why wasn't God watching?
Why wasn't God listening?
Why wasn't God there for
Georgia Lee?

Close your eyes and count to ten
I will got and hid but then
Be sure to find me. I want you to find me
And we'll play all over
We will play all over again

There's a toad in the witch grass
There's a crow in the corn
Wild flowers on a cross by the road
And somewhere a baby is crying
For her mom
As the hills turn from green back
To gold

Why wasn't God watching?
Why wasn't God listening?
Why wasn't God there for
Georgia Lee?

[Bishop138]

Ok, I know the last post was on the 31st of December, but I saw these guys last night (fucking great gig by the way) and they played this song and I remembered how much emotion went into it. I figure it definately deserves a mention here.

"THE FATE OF NORNS" BY AMON AMARTH

I feel a chill in my heart
Like lingering winter cold
I and my son are torn apart
He was just 6 winters old

My first-born was he
And the last of my kin
The last one to carry my name
Death smiled at him its deadly grin
There is no one for me to blame

The fate of Norns await us all
There is no way to escape
The day to answer Oden's call
Or walk through hel's gate

I carry him to my ship
He seems to be asleep
But the deep blue colour of his lips
Is enough to make me weep

No man should have to bury his child
Yet this has been my share
The tears i shed run bitter and wild
It's a heavy burden to bear

His body feels so light in my arms
His skin is pale as snow
Yet his weight feels heavy in my heart
As my sadness continues to grow

Allfather!
What fate has been given me?
Why must I suffer?
Why must I feel this pain?
Allfather!
LIfe has lost it's meaning to me
I think I'm going insane!

I lay him down on a pyre
A burial worthy a king
And as I lie down by his side
I hear the weaving norns sing

The fate of Norns await us all
There is no way to escape
The day to answer Oden's call
Or walk through hel's gate

The fate of Norns await us all
I know this to be true
It's time to answer Odens's call
My son, he calls for me and you

[Lexington, 125]

Sunny Day Real Estate- Grendel

the rain was there to wash away the tears

I wanted to be them but instead I destroyed myself.

[Nodaisho]

Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here makes me cry when I hear it, even though the lyrics shouldn't be horribly depressing.

How about Alone You Breathe from Savatage?

You were never one for waiting
Still I always thought you'd wait for me
Have you from your dream awakened
And from where you are what do you see

Which of us is now in exile
Which in need of amnesty
Are you now but an illusion
In my mind alone you breathe

You believed in things that I will never know
You were out there drowning but it never showed
Till inside a rain swept night you just let go

You're thrown it all away
And now we'll never see
The ending of the play
The grand design
The final line
And what was meant to be

In the dark a distant runner
Now has disappeared into the night
Leaving us to stand and wonder
Staring from this end into your life

You believed in things that I will never know
You were out there drowning but it never showed
Till inside a rain swept night you just let go

You've thrown it all away
And now we'll never see
The ending of the play
The grand design
The final line
And what was meant to be

And if this is all illusion
Nothing more than pure delusion
Clinging to a fading fantasy

Like Icarus who heeds the calling
Of a sun but now is falling
As the feathers of his life fall free
Can you see
See

Tomorrow
And after
You tell me what am I to do
I stand here
Believing
That in the dark
There is a clue

Perhaps inside
This midnight sky
Perhaps tomorrow's new born eyes
Or then again
We'll never know
And after all
This was the show

What am I to do

Standing on a dream
Isn't what it seems
Could we then reclaim a dream refused
Knowing what we know
Could we let it go
Realizing that all the years are used

Tomorrow and after
You tell me what am I to do
I stand here believing
That in the dark there is a clue
I am the way
I am the light
I am the dark inside the night
I hear your hopes
I feel your dreams
And in the dark I hear your screams

Tomorrow and after
You tell me what am I to do
I stand here believing
That in the dark there is a clue

[Greg Dulli]

Baby, I see you've made yourself all sick again
Didn't I do a good job of pretending?
You're saying that the victim doesn't want it to end
Good. I get to dress up and play the assassin again
It's my favorite
It's got personality

I should have seen this shit coming down the hall
Every night I spent in that bed with you facing the wall
If I could have only once heard you scream
To feel you were alive
Instead of watching you abandoning yourself

Baby you can open your eyes now
And please allow me to present you with a clue
If I inflict the pain
Then baby only I can comfort you.....YEAH!!!

Out of the night we come
And into the night we go
If it starts to hurt you
Then you have to say so

[SevenPinkerton]

Belle and Sebastian - Beautiful

She lay in bed all night watching the colours change
She lay in bed all night watching the morning change
She lay in bed all night watching the morning change into green and gold

The doctor told her years ago that she was ill
The doctor told her years ago to take a pill
The doctor told her years ago that she'd go blind if she wasn't careful

They let Lisa go blind
The world was at her feet and she was looking down
They let Lisa go blind
But everyone she knew thought she was beautiful
Only slightly mental
Beautiful, only temperamental
Beautiful, only slightly mental
Beautiful

She thought it would be fun to try photography
She thought it would be fun to try pornography
She thought it would be fun to try most anything
She was tired of sleeping

They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind
They let Lisa go blind
She's looking like a queen
But if you knew what's going on in her life
There'd be a thousand barren mothers there to talk to her
If you knew what's going on in her life
There'd be two hundred troubled teenagers to sit with her
And to talk to her
If you knew what's going on in her life
What's going on in her life
What's going on in her life
There would be a documentary on Radio 4

She made herself a pair of orthopaedic shoes
She thought it was the answer to the fashion blues
She thought it was an answer to the fashion blues
But she walked with a limp

They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind

[Xyloid]

Defiance, Ohio's "Grandma Song".  I can't listen to this song without breaking down.

Humans can be the cutest of animals
sometimes and I walk out the hospital cursing cars because
all this turnover makes me so tired.
And how are you feeling?
All the white in these hospital walls can't quite wash out your tired weak eyes.

And Grandma tucks you in at night,
says "Never be afraid of anything outside."
Grandma tucks you in at night.
Says "Goodnight, little sweet."

Do you come from a dead people?
These pictures of the past
litter the floor like newsprint -
like cities fell in stacks,
and men jumped from buildings.
The dust was overwhelming.
Do we expect anything to last?

Goodnight, little sweet.
I'll sing you to sleep.
Goodnight, little sweet.
Watch everything recede.

[psyne]

wouldn't just about anything by Bright Eyes or Morrissey do the trick?

Not really... A lot of Morrissey's songs are only facetiously depressing, and even the ones that have serious lyrics I've never found genuinely depressing. At best they make me laugh, at worst they just make me go, "Glad I'm not Morrissey!"
 

On a more serious note, Brick by Ben Folds.
I mean, at first, yeah it seems kind of sad.
Then you find out it's about him taking his girlfriend to have an abortion, and it becomes so much more.
"Can't you see, it's not me you're dying for"

Oh god, agreed. This came out when I was in late elementary school so I didn't think about it much, I liked it and they played it at the skating rink, etc. Then later on I got into all of Ben Folds' stuff, and found out the story behind Brick and listened to it again. Part of what I love about it is that it's not trying to make a statement about abortion, or bemoan "why did this happen to me?" It's just genuine emotions, all the things they felt.

One of the most idiotic things is that this was in a book I looked at in a store once - I don't recall the title, it was something along the lines of "most overdramatic songs ever," and I saw in the index that Brick was in it and got PISSED. I flipped to the chapter on Brick, and saw that it was prefaced with, "This chapter is a lie. I wrote it while thinking that this was a break-up song, but I was informed afterwards that blah blah blah."
And then there was a brief explanation of the song's real meaning, and that it wasn't actually overdramatic. But then it just went on with the stupid rant the guy wrote about the song BEFORE knowing what it was about.

Isn't that just the laziest thing ever? He could have just written a new chapter, or deleted the chapter... why bother leaving complete bullshit in your book? Not to mention, his "research" must have been pretty pathetic, if he read the lyrics of Brick and seriously thought it was a breakup song. It's only possible to think that if you've only paid attention to the lyrics of the chorus.

Anyway, Brick is really sad. When I saw Ben Folds live there was just this melancholy that floated over the audience, it was dead quiet except the song and some people singing along softly.

[Xerostyle]

A song that was overlooked that really gets me down is "End of the Movie" by Cake. I really think the song is telling me to kill myself. It's awful.

People you love
Will turn their backs on you
You'll lose your hair
Your teeth
Your knife will fall out of its sheath
But you still don't like to leave before the end of the movie
People you hate will get their hooks into you
They'll pull you down
You'll frown
They'll tar you and drag you through town
But you still don't like to leave before the end of the movie
No you still don't like to leave before the end of the show
People you hate will get their hooks into you
They'll pull you down
You'll frown
They'll tar you and drag you through town
But you still don't like to leave before the end of the movie
No you still don't like to leave before the end of the show

[Nodaisho]

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ITS LIIIIIIIKE!

Beat out the emo trend by at least a good ten years. twenty, for the newer crap.

[KharBevNor]

Are you suggesting that Breaking The Law is an emo/depressing type song?

The video advocates robbing banks with electric guitars!

[Nodaisho]

Aren't you depressed that you can't actually do that? Except maybe with a BC Rich.

Actually, I just noticed how the you don't know what its like wail sounds like something you would expect from an emo band a couple days ago while trying to learn it. Except a million times more awesome than any emo band I have heard.

[Dizzydes]

To me the most depressing lyrics/songs belong to the whole album of "of Montreal's" hissing fauna album. i don't know what it is but that album always gets me down, but also want to dance

[justinbot]

Rites of Spring's "Drink Deep" where like the whole last minute the vocals are just Guy crying into the mic. Or making sex noises, either way.

[Shrinkydinks]

Usually I don't think of the Bee Gees when I think depressing but this song kinda did that for me

"I started a joke"


I started a joke, which started the whole world crying,
But I didnt see that the joke was on me, oh no.

I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing,
Oh, if Id only seen that the joke was on me.

I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes,
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that Id said.

Til I finally died, which started the whole world living,
Oh, if Id only seen that the joke was on me.

I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes,
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that Id said.

til I finally died, which started the whole world living,
Oh, if Id only seen that the joke was one me.

I prefer the cover by The Wallflowers which unfortunately I am unable to find anywhere online, internet you fail me.

[RallyMonkey]

I'm in the living room
Watching the watergate hearings
While my stepfather yells at my mother
Launches a glass across the room
Straight at her head
And i dash upstairs to take cover
Lean in close to my little record player on the floor
So this is what the volume knob's for
I listen to dance music
Dance music

Dance Music - The Mountain Goats

[Fitz]

Space Oddity by David Bowie... I don't care what anyone says... that is THE saddest song I've ever heard ever.

[Near Lurker]

It took time, took time to develop a concept
A new me
based upon the traits from which I could not flee
It took time, took time to embrace the nature
All my dreams
All this time just turned into a sad long wait

This sad long tale of moments passé
must come to an end before it is too late
Wasn't born to hate, I was made to love
but I never knew it was so hard

It took time, took time to accept the fact
that one must lose
everything except what you do not choose

It's taken time, long time and yet more time
it will take
before my heart is free and brave enough to break

This sad long tale of moments passé
must come to an end before it is too late
Wasn't born to hate, I was made to love
but I never knew it was so hard

This sad bouquet of forget-me-not
that I threw away is growing scars and dots
In this weary heart where there's a bird, so shy
but one of these days that bird will learn to fly

"The Sad Bouquet" by The Ark.

[cgarci21]

Asleep-The Smiths

"Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
Im tired and i
I want to go to bed

Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
And then leave me alone
Dont try to wake me in the morning
cause I will be gone
Dont feel bad for me
I want you to know
Deep in the cell of my heart
I will feel so glad to go

Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
I dont want to wake up
On my own anymore

Sing to me
Sing to me
I dont want to wake up
On my own anymore

Dont feel bad for me
I want you to know
Deep in the cell of my heart
I really want to go

There is another world
There is a better world
Well, there must be
Well, there must be
Well, there must be
Well, there must be
Well ...

Bye bye
Bye bye
Bye ..."

When I found out my aunt had cancer I was really into The Smiths. Since she's died I haven't been able to listen to this song without crying.

[RipTatermen]

My vote for saddest is most of Electro-Shock Blues, by the eels, which I believe is about his mom dying of cancer and his sister committing suicide. These are off the top of my head, so they might not be exact.

Look at all the people with flowers in their hands
They put the flowers on the box that's holding all the sand
that was, that was once, that was once ^youuuuuuuuu

Magic markers tattoo you, and tell them where to aim
and strangers break their promises, you won't feel any, you won't feel any pain

It ends on an upbeat note, but it's a heartbreaking album.

[idiolect]

Wow, I can't believe we've gotten this far and no one's mentioned Gloomy Sunday, what with the whole "banned because it makes people off themselves" urban legend attatched to it.  For some reason, Aqualung's Tongue Tied has always gotten to me.  Also, as far as the Decemberists go, I always found The Bachelor and the Bride really depressing.  "I will box your ears and leave you here stripped bare"?  Come on now.  But that (and most of the other indie hipster shit) on here totally doesn't corner the market on misery.  There's other stuff out there.  E.g:

Wolfsheim's "Heroin, She Said," with lines like this:

the reason why I pretended and lied
is that I don´t want to kill
the poor dream that´s left in the deepest cleft
of the thing that she calls will

Lamb "Gorecki," which you really have to just listen to to get the full emo-ness, but it begins:

If I should die this very moment, I wouldn't fear / for I've never known completeness like being here

Massive Attack "Dissolved Girl":

Shame, such a shame
I think I kind of lost myself again
Day, yesterday
Really should be leaving but I stay

Say, say my name
I need a little love to ease the pain
I need a little love to ease the pain
It's easy to remember when it came

'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You are not my savior
But I still don't go

Feels like something
That I've done before
I could fake it
But I still want more

Fade, made to fade
Passion's overrated anyway
Say, say my name
I need a little love to ease the pain
I need a little love to ease the pain
It's easy to remember when it came

'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You are not my savior
But I still don't go, oh

I feel live something
That I've done before
I could fake it
But I still want more

Really, trip-hop does do "emo" pretty well -- c.f. Portishead "Sour Times" (of "nobody loves me, it's true, not like you do" fame).

Also, pretty much any version of I Am Stretched On Your Grave works. 

To the person who suggested the Dresden Dolls before: do you seriously find "Perfect Fit" to be more emo than, say, "Good Day" or even "Half-Jack"???





And yeah, The Cure (particularly From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, imho).

[Eli]

"Bleed Like Me" by Garbage and pretty much any Eels song I've ever heard has a sad tone.

[muffy]

Dresden Dolls pretty much win at being depressing, as does anything by The Good Life...there are a few Brand New lyrics which represent the emo side a little better, too:

"You can't blame your mother, she's trying not to see you ase her worst mistake"...


Also, I've been away from this forum for two years, I come back and it takes half a page for it to retreat into Oberst-bashing. I love how things never seem to change around here...

[rancidhooligan]

Whoever it was that said Joy Division was spot fucking on.  Pretty much every song they wrote (even as Warsaw and a lot of the ones as New Order) were depressing as hell... even more so when you consider Ian Curtis hung himself in 1980.  Anything else you bring to the table just doesn't hold a candle to Joy Division as far as depressing music.  Amazing music but depressing none the less.

However, if you take Joy Division out of the equation, I'd have to say the Magnetic Fields are pretty god damn depressing in their own right.  And I use the term "their" loosely, since really, it's just Stephin Merritt who writes all the music and lyrics but holy damn is it good.  Someone before mentioned The Saddest Story Ever Told by "Magnetic Field," but that's by The Magnetic Fields from the album The Wayward Bus.

If you really want to get your money's worth on that Prozac prescription get the three compact disk set of
69 Love Songs and a big bottle of cabernet sauvignon.  This set includes some of the most hauntingly beautiful music I've ever heard... and some of the most depressing.

[See also The 6ths, The Gothic Archies, Future Bible Heroes and Stephin Merritt.]

[Mobius_Logic]

yeah but 69 Love Songs also has some of the happiest songs ever. I don't think anyone could say the Lower East Side is depressing.

[rancidhooligan]

The only reason she wants to go on a ride with him is because he's the only one with a car... that's pretty depressing, if you ask me.

The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side
andy would bicycle across town
in the rain to bring you candy
and john would buy the gown
for you to wear to the prom
with tom, the astronomer
who would name a star for you
but im the luckiest guy
on the lower east side
cuz i got wheels
and you want to go for a ride

harry, is the one I think you'll marry
but it's chris that you kissed after school
well im a fool
there's no doubt
but when the sun comes out
and only when the sun comes out
im the luckiest guy
on the lower east side
cuz ive got wheels
and you want to go for a ride
the day is beautiful and so are you
my car is ugly but then, im ugly too
i know you'd never give me a second glance
when the weathers nice all the other guys
don't stand a chance...

[E. Spaceman]

I've often talked about this stuff, some people think a lot of these songs are really happy, when i think most are really sad! It may just be the state of mind of the listener, but as someone who shares a few things with Mr Merritt, I can't help but think of them as sad.

Some of the other "happy" ones that i find horribly sad


Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits

If you knew how I long
For you now that you're gone
You'd grow wings and fly
Home to me
Home tonight
And in the morning sun

Let's pretend we're bunny rabbits
Let's do it all day long
Let abbots, Babbitts and Cabots
Say Mother Nature's wrong
And when we've had a couple'a'beers
We'll put on bunny suits
I long to nibble your ears
And do as bunnies do

Let's pretend we're bunny rabbits
Let's do it all day long
Rapidly becoming rabid
Singing little rabbit songs
I can keep it up all night
I can keep it up all day
Let's pretend we're bunny rabbits
Until we pass away

Let's pretend we're bunny rabbits
Until we pass away

This is a song about really wanting to fuck someone who is gone, anyone familiar with the feeling will tell you it is one of the worst ones. Plus, it is not about wanting to be with him, or love him or whatever, just fucking.


The Book of Love

The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing but

I...
I love it when you read to me and
You...
You can read me anything

The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb but

I...
I love it when you sing to me and
You...
You can sing me anything

The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know but

I...
I love it when you give me things and
You...
You ought to give me wedding rings
I...
I love it when you give me things and
You...
You ought to give me wedding rings

This could be seen as a very sweet "I Love You" song, but i can't help but cringe. Never does it say I love you, it only ever says "I love it when you do things for me"

Nothing Matters When We're Dancing

Dance with me my old friend
once before we go
Let's pretend this song won't end
and we never have to go home
and we'll dance among the chandeliers
And nothing matters when we're dancing
In tat or tatters you're entrancing
Be we in Paris or in Lansing
nothing matters when we're dancing

You've never been more beautiful
your eyes like two full moons
As here in this poor old dancehall
among the dreadful tunes
the awful songs we don't even hear...

Let's pretend this song won't end and we never have to go home but it will

Sweet Loving Man

There's an hour of sunshine,
for a million years of rain
but somehow that always seems to be enough,
When love falls from the sky, nobody ever asks why
You just take it or you leave it where it was
but there's just one kind of love
you can spend your life dreaming of
For the love of a sweet-lovin' man
some have traveled far and wide
some have given up and died
For the love of a sweet-lovin' man
some have broken down and cried
some have turned to dust inside
but I'll stay right here and hide
in the arms of my sweet-lovin' man
Until you've had sweet lovin'
there's no lovin' worth the name
but you can go blind from crying all the time
and who said life was easy
and who said a man was fair
Well I wish you well
but keep your paws off mine
You can't buy one at the mall
but he'll come if you just call...

This is an odd one. It says "I am with a person I love a lot who loves me a lot, but you don't, so fuck off and die"


Plus a ton of obviously sad ones ("All My Little Words", fuck it breaks my heart).

There are a bunch of sad ones elsewhere too, like Take Ecstasy With Me

You used to slide down the carpeted stairs
or down the bannister
you stuttered like a kaleidoscope
'cause you knew too many words
you used to make ginger bread houses
we used to have taffy pulls

Take ecstasy with me, baby
take ecstasy with me.

You had a black snowmobile
we drove out under the northern lights
a vodka bottle gave you those raccoon eyes
we got beat up just for holding hands

Take ecstasy with me, baby
take ecstasy with me.

Can anyone tell me why that one is particularly sad?

[Cartilage Head]

My Body is a Cage - Arcade Fire

One of the few tracks off of Neon Bible I actually like a lot. The song doesn't make me sad, but I have noticed that its lyrics are pretty sad.. do songs have to make you sad to BE sad?

My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key
My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key

I’m standing on the stage
Of fear and self-doubt
It’s a hollow play
But they’ll clap anyway

I’m living in an age
That calls darkness light
Though my language is dead
Still the shapes fill my head

I’m living in an age
Whose name I don’t know
Though the fear keeps me moving
Still my heart beats so slow

My body is a cage
We take what we’re given
Just because you’ve forgotten
Doesn’t mean you’re forgiven

I’m living in an age
Still turning in the night
But when I get to the doorway
There’s no one in sight

I’m living in an age
Realizing I’m dancing
With the one I love
But my mind holds the key

Still next to me
My mind holds the key
Set my spirit free

 The only songs that actually make me sad are "Closer" by Josh Radin and "We're Going to be Friends" by The White Stripes.

[rancidhooligan]

Can anyone tell me why that one is particularly sad?

If I had to guess, I'd say these two lines.

a vodka bottle gave you those raccoon eyes
we got beat up just for holding hands

[E. Spaceman]

so let's take drugs

[rancidhooligan]

so let's take drugs

Well, why do you think so many homosexuals are alcoholics and/or drug addicts?  It's a hard life, many times without even the support of one's family.  I don't know if it's the same for lesbians due to lesbian chic, since I dont' know too many but most of the gay men I know either drink a lot, are full-fledged alcoholics or are recovering alcoholics.

That's fucking depressing, if you ask me.  America the free my ass... but I digress.

Stephen Merritt's music is melancholy, even when it doesn't really sound like it... you just have to listen to the lyrics.

[E. Spaceman]

I've often talked about this stuff, some people think a lot of these songs are really happy, when i think most are really sad! It may just be the state of mind of the listener, but as someone who shares a few things with Mr Merritt, I can't help but think of them as sad.

[rancidhooligan]

...as someone who shares a few things with Mr Merritt...

So... you're saying you wanna go take ecstasy with me?

[E. Spaceman]

sure, i have the stuff and nothing better to do.

[rancidhooligan]

Well, since I'm not acutally there, you'll just have to settle for the witty banter and discussion of Magnetic Fields songs. 

[Inlander]

If you like depressing Stephin Merritt songs, the Pieces of April soundtrack is a must. How about this one:

He put his fist though the window and his foot through the door,
Cause she don't believe in his dreams anymore.
No, she don't believe in his dreams anymore,
And what's more,
She's probably right.
So he drives through the night with his foot to the floor,
Cause she don't believe in his dreams anymore.
Better hopelessly single than hopelessly poor,
And she don't believe in his dreams anymore.
No, she don't believe in his dreams anymore,
And what for?
They just drag you down.
If she's stuck in this town she can work in the store,
But she won't believe any dreams anymore.

Summary: give up, life is hopeless so your best bet is to aim low. Or alternatively: give up, the people you love are irredeemably stuck in their ways and your only hope of escape is to leave them behind.

[Gurkburk]

Any single by Sean Kingston, the only thing that dude ever sings about is suicide and other sad crap I can't recall at the moment.

[Chad K.]

Whoops- forgot about Richard Thompson.

How about "Withered and died"

This cruel country has driven me down
Teased me and lied, teased me and lied
I’ve only sad stories to tell to this town
My dreams have withered and died

Once I was bending the tops of the trees
Kind words in my ear, kind faces to see

Then I struck up with a boy from the west
Played run and hide, played run and hide
Count one to ten and he’s gone with the rest
My dreams have withered and died

Silver moon sail up and silver moon shine
On the waters so wide, waters so wide
Steal from the bed of some good friend of mine
My dreams are withered and died

If I was a butterfly, live for a day
I could be free, just blowing away

This cruel country has driven me down
Teased me and lied, teased me and lied
I’ve only sad stories to tell to this town
My dreams have withered and died

[Inlander]

Have you heard the version of that by the English folk singer Elle Osborne? It's a really good cover.

[PickItUpPutItDown]

Action Action - Eight Grade Summer Romance

Hold your knife against my throat, cut me deeper
Feel the blood drip down your arm, darling
I paint this picture on the back of my mind,
But it's fading quickly like an eighth-grade summer romance

You're a drug, like the gun inside my mouth
I know it's wrong but i just can't spit you out
Happiness is a warm pun
And i love the taste of steel tonight
I know it happens for the rest of your life
Not asking, just doing darling

The sleeping pills are mixing nicely with red wine
Catch them all, before panic hits monday
Trapped like rats, and oh the water is rising
We'd use the life boat, but we gnawed through the tubing

You're a drug, like the gun inside my mouth
I know it's wrong but i just can't spit you out
Happiness is a warm pun
And i love the taste of steel tonight
I know it happens for the rest of your life
Not asking, just doing darling

I know it happens for the rest of your life

I paint this picture on the back of my mind,
But it's fading quickly like an eighth-grade summer romance

[E. Spaceman]

Happiness is a warm pun

This is my favourite line ever


TV Movie by Pulp is a song I can relate to and it makes me quite blue at times. it has what i rank hands down as the best metaphor for the post-breakup life


"TV Movie"

Without you my life has become a hangover without end.
A movie made for TV: bad dialogue,
bad acting, no interest.
Too long with no story & no sex.
Is it a kind of weakness
to miss someone so much?
To wish the day would go away?
Like you did yesterday.
Just like you did yesterday.

& I can't think of a way to get through this pain:
To be happy again to make it all alright & I know it must be bad
'cos sitting here right now,
all I know is I can't even think,
I can't even think of anything clever to
say, to say
So I say why pretend any longer?
'Cos I need you here with me.
It's obvious that I miss you so much
so please say you're gonna stay.
So please say you're gonna stay.
So please say you're gonna stay.

The night is getting darker
now and there's nothing on TV
but I'll sit tight 'til morning light.
Yeah, I'll wait until the day.
Until the day that you say you're gonna stay.

[strangeparallel9]

Medication - Damien Jurado

Strapped to a table, go in electrodes
"Jackie come save me the doctors will kill me."
"No, they're here to help you
Straighten out your mind."

The TV is blaring with some preacher saying that
God is among us and he hears our cries

Lord, do me a favor
It's wrong but I ask you
Take my brother's life

'Cause he's sick of the suffering
The pills he's inhaling
The cross he is bearing
That is his trouble mind


OR


perhaps all of April and the Phantom by animal collective

that song makes me so sad and wish i had never grown up

[duallain]

Rilo Kiley:  Does He Love You?

Get a real job, keep the wind at your back and the sun on your face.
All the immediate unknowns are better than knowing this tired and lonely fate.
Does he love you, does he love you? Will he hold your tiny face in his hands?
I guess it's spring; i didn't know; it's always seventy-five with no melting snow.
A married man, he visits me. I recieve his letters in the mail twice a week.
I think he loves me and when he leaves her,he's coming out to california!

I guess it all worked out; there's a ring on your finger and the baby's due out.
You share a place by the park and run a shop for antiques downtown.
And he loves you, yeah he loves you, and the two of you will soon become three.
And he loves you, even though you used to say you were flawed if you weren't free.
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend. You and i were almost dead.
You're better off for leaving, you're better off for leaving.

Late at night, i get the phone. You're at the shop sobbing all alone.
Your confession, it's coming out.
You only married him because you felt your time was running out.
Now you love him, and your baby. At last, you are complete.
But he's distant and you found him on the phone pleading, saying
'Baby i love you and i'll leave her and i'm coming out to california...'
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend. I am flawed if i'm not free.
Your husband will never leave you, he will never leave you for me