Janis Ian AT SEVENTEEN

Anything by the Carpenters.

Sometime.

Johnny Cash's "Hurt".

At least Everybody Hurts ends with optimism.

Sometimes I listen to Leader of the Band and find it incredibly depressing

Alice in Chains- Black Gives Way to Blue is a bit on the depressing side. Although its also somewhat cathartic as well.

Oh, and Motorhead's 1916.
If a song about a kid lying about his age to go to war, only to be thrown into the Battle of the Somme isn't the most depressing song I know of, its damn close.

Kurt Cobain would agree

Fire And Rain = 9/11.
Dwight Yoakum - You're The One
Danny O'keefe - Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues

Gary Jules cover of Mad World.

Queen's '39 is the saddest song of all time, if you'll take the time to figure out what it's talking about.

RedPhoenix122: Gary Jules cover of Mad World.

came here to say this.

Townes Van Zandt: "Marie"

xiaodown: RedPhoenix122: Gary Jules cover of Mad World.

came here to say this.

The thing is, the lyrics in the original are just meant to be a commentary on the world, but slowing it down and making it almost all vocals makes it so damned sad.

RedPhoenix122: Gary Jules cover of Mad World.

Or Hurt/NIN

RedPhoenix122: Gary Jules cover of Mad World.

Wait, I really like that version of it.

And mine is How To Save A Life, because I simply cannot hear the song without the scene from Scrubs playing in my mind.

Peter von Nostrand: Sometimes I listen to Leader of the Band and find it incredibly depressing

Me too. All the time...

GAT_00: RedPhoenix122: Gary Jules cover of Mad World.

Wait, I really like that version of it.

And mine is How To Save A Life, because I simply cannot hear the song without the scene from Scrubs playing in my mind.

I didn't say it wasn't good, it's just really, really depressing.

Also, you know what's truly depressing? Listen to the Pogues do And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

You guys seem to be overlooking a goldmine of depressing shiat: country music

Carrie Underwood, Just a Dream (new window)

Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss, Whiskey Lullaby (new window)

George Jones, He Stopped Loving her Today (new window)

You know why? You know WHY he stopped loving her? Spoilers, it's because he's dead!

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen - Dress Rehearsal Rag.

simplicimus: Leonard Cohen - Dress Rehearsal Rag.

Damn. That's the one I came to include on the list.

RedPhoenix122: I didn't say it wasn't good, it's just really, really depressing.

That song doesn't depress me actually. At all.

Wow this one is TOO easy. This is hands down the most depressing song ever... every time I want to put my foot through the tv just to end my misery.



They don't call it the "Sarah McLachlan Animal Cruelty Video" cuz of all the rainbows and unicorns.

Relatively Obscure: simplicimus: Leonard Cohen - Dress Rehearsal Rag.

Damn. That's the one I came to include on the list.

Well, great minds and such. That song is unrelenting.

Gloomy Sunday by a mile. There are many versions, here is Billy Holiday Link (new window)

For the history of the suicide song, check Wikipedia Link (new window)

Di Atribe: You guys seem to be overlooking a goldmine of depressing shiat: country music

Carrie Underwood, Just a Dream (new window)

Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss, Whiskey Lullaby (new window)

George Jones, He Stopped Loving her Today (new window)

You know why? You know WHY he stopped loving her? Spoilers, it's because he's dead!

Speaking of Country,

Pirates of the Mississippi - Feed Jake

/and even the happy Hank Sr. songs were depressing.

Brother, can you spare a dime - the song that was the anthem of the Great Depression. Doesn't get more depressing than that.

Veronica - Elvis Costello

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor's version

Richard Marx - Hazard

Sam Stone (new window) by John Prine

There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes ...

you don't really think of them as depressing songs, but these get me all the time:

Hell is for Children- Pat Benatar
What's the Matter Here- 10000 Maniacs
Luka- Suzanne Vega

and this is a beautiful song, but it breaks my heart every time and I do feel kind of depressed afterwards:

The Rose- Bette Midler

Here are the lyrics for Dress Rehearsal Rag.
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/dressrehearsalrag.html

FirstNationalBastard: Pirates of the Mississippi - Feed Jake

Uuuuuuuuuugh I remember the first time I heard that song. "What is this song? Why would you make me listen to this? You suck. You're mean. I don't think we can be friends any more."

*cranks Wham!* Jitterbug.....

A challenger appears!

/hot

Di Atribe: You guys seem to be overlooking a goldmine of depressing shiat: country music

Carrie Underwood, Just a Dream (new window)

Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss, Whiskey Lullaby (new window)

George Jones, He Stopped Loving her Today (new window)

You know why? You know WHY he stopped loving her? Spoilers, it's because he's dead!

Have to agree with Whiskey Lullaby. Holy Fark that one's depressing.

I'd add in Alan Jackson's Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) just for the subject matter.

SnarfVader:

I'd add in Alan Jackson's Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) just for the subject matter.

Really?

I see that one as kind of a joke.

/that South Park episode didn't help.

There's plenty of choices from Pink Floyd's The Wall, if not the whole friggin' album.

FirstNationalBastard: SnarfVader:

I'd add in Alan Jackson's Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) just for the subject matter.

Really?

I see that one as kind of a joke.

/that South Park episode didn't help.

Piss off then. It's far better than that Toby Keith crap that came later.

Carrickfergus, sung by any drunk homesick Irish dude.

Pictures of You -The Cure
Jackie Brown- John Mellencamp
Someone Saved My Life Tonight- Elton John
Between a Laugh and a Tear- Mellencamp

Cats in the Cradle. I get depressed just thinking about it.

SnarfVader: FirstNationalBastard: SnarfVader:

I'd add in Alan Jackson's Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) just for the subject matter.

Really?

I see that one as kind of a joke.

/that South Park episode didn't help.

Piss off then. It's far better than that Toby Keith crap that came later.

No one's saying the Toby Keith stuff is any better.

But really, that Alan Jackson song is a joke. I wish he would just cop to it and start rewriting it for every major and minor tragedy that happens, the way Elton John and Bernie Taupin re-write Candle in the Wind whenever a famous blonde dies.

Cuchulane: There's plenty of choices from Pink Floyd's The Wall, if not the whole friggin' album.

Agreed.

I'm going to throw Lynyrd Skynyrd's Tuesday's Gone out there.

Also Lucero's The Blue and the Gray and their cover of Jawbreaker's Kiss the Bottle.

/always thought Kohoutek was R.E.M.'s saddest song

Some are more just melancholy or bleak or gorgeously sad than outright soul-crushingly depressing but all of the following contain and have demonstrated the hidden power to draw tears when my guard has been at its lowest:

The Be Good Tanyas Witing Around To Die (Townes Van Zandt cover) (new window)

Boards of Canada Pete Standing Alone (new window)

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls (new window)

Nina Simone Plain Gold Ring (new window)

Roy Orbison In The Real World (new window)

eels dead of winter (new window)

Broken Bells Citizen (new window)

Red House Painters Medicine Ball (new window)

Julee Cruise Questions In a World of Blue (from "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me") (new window)

Chet Atkins I Still Can't Say Goodbye (new window)

Scott Walker Farmer in the City (new window)

Hank Williams, Sr. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (new window)

Venetian Snares Öngyilkos Vasárnap (new window)

The Twilight Singers The Lure Would Prove Too Much (new window)

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Song For Bob (from the score to "The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford") (new window)

Low Sunflower (new window)

The Modern Lovers Hospital (new window)

Soulsavers (feat. Mark Lanegan) Kingdoms Of Rain (new window)

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy I See A Darkness (new window)

Ella Fitzgerald Ev'ry Time I Say Goodbye (new window)

Johann Johannsson Sun's Gone Dim (new window)

The Kills Black Baloon (new window)

Tom Waits It's Over (new window)

The Flaming Lips Mr. Ambulance Driver (new window)

Bournemouth Sinfonietta Arvo Pärt: Summa For Strings (new window)

City and Colour Sleeping Sickness (new window)

That Handsome Devil Reagan's Children (new window)

Kenny Graham and his Satellites Sunday (new window)

Albinoni Link (new window)

Portishead Roads (new window)

My Dying Bride For My Fallen Angel (new window)

The Mountain Goats In Corolla (new window)

The Moody Blues Melancholy Man (new window)

Rilo Kiley A Better Son/Daughter (new window)

FirstNationalBastard: SnarfVader: FirstNationalBastard: SnarfVader:

I'd add in Alan Jackson's Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) just for the subject matter.

Really?

I see that one as kind of a joke.

/that South Park episode didn't help.

Piss off then. It's far better than that Toby Keith crap that came later.

No one's saying the Toby Keith stuff is any better.

But really, that Alan Jackson song is a joke. I wish he would just cop to it and start rewriting it for every major and minor tragedy that happens, the way Elton John and Bernie Taupin re-write Candle in the Wind whenever a famous blonde dies.

Suit yourself. I'm just referring to how it made me feel hearing it for the first time after 9-11. It was depressing. That's how I feel about it and I make no apologies for my taste in music. I don't judge others' taste either (unless it's Nickelback. The Internet has declared them fair game).

I didn't see the South Park episode nor am I aware of why it's now seen as a joke, to tell the truth, unless you're referring to it like that Lee Greenwood song.

I do apologize for saying, "Piss off." I'm a little testy at the moment.