In your opinion what is the most depressing song you've listened to?

[96tommy]

Wild and Lonely by The Associates. A relatively unknown song bur very sad in itself. Add the context of Billy MacKenzie very sadly taking his own life just a few years later, the most depressing song I know.

 

[satisnek]

For reasons lost in the mists of time, the late Ed Stewart played loads of old 'death discs' when he presented Junior Choice on Saturday and Sunday mornings back in the 1970s. So I became familiar with Tell Laura I Love Her, Leader Of The Pack (which re-charted in the early 1970s), Running Bear, Big Bad John and others from an early age. Thankfully there was a lot more happy stuff about!

And I too can't stand our National Anthem!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I've just mentioned Silver Jews on the funny songs thread, but the humour is very much of the gallows variety. One song of theirs I have to skip much of the time is this one, as there's not so much humorous wordplay and the tone of it is particularly downbeat.

 

[Bletchleyite]

With the mentions of Radiohead, can I, just as an aside, bring up the Lancashire Hotpots' take on how their band has developed?

(If you ever get chance, go and see the Hotpots live, they are hilarious).

 

[Madge Wildfire]

"She's Leaving Home" by the Beatles actually makes me cry. Which is odd, as I've never experienced a family breakup or anything like that for it to be touching a raw nerve.

It is interesting you mention that, because I was very unhappy at home when I first heard that track in the late 1960s; and the lyrics seemed so relevant to my situation at that time.

I ended up feeling very guilty as I didn't have the guts to do what the girl in the song did. I remember an interview with McCartney a little later, where he said he was inspired by a report in the local newspaper about a similar event, and I often wondered what may have happened to a young girl in those circumstances.

Much, much later, I read an article which had investigated the song thoroughly, and had even found the address where the girl in the newspaper article had found as her 'digs'. It transpired that her parents became so worried that they drove to whichever city she had gone to, somehow found the address and rocked up on the doorstep demanding that she come home with them; (which she did apparently).

 

[nr758123]

A lot of people have mentioned Abba songs, which tend be melancholy but not depressing.
Portishead's cover version of SOS, on the other hand...

 

[SJL2020]

A lot of people have mentioned Abba songs, which tend be melancholy but not depressing.
Portishead's cover version of SOS, on the other hand...

Great version, thanks for sharing.

Reminded me of Low's version of Transmission

 

[Freightmaster]

A few people have mentioned Morrissey, but to me the most depressing song he did
was way back in the early days of The Smiths:

...a tribute the the children killed by 'Moors Murderers' Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.






MARK

 

[MotCO]

I like the song 'Mad World', by Gary Jules, but the lyrics are slightly depressing.

 

[Basil Jet]

I like the song 'Mad World', by Gary Jules, but the lyrics are slightly depressing.

Originally by Tears For Fears with, I think, the same lyrics but a much more upbeat tempo.

 

[Pinza-C55]

Leave Me Alone by New Order.

 

[MotCO]

Originally by Tears For Fears with, I think, the same lyrics but a much more upbeat tempo.

Indeed, but I find the Gary Jules version to be more haunting.

 

[Train Maniac]

Hey there Delilah- Plain White T's makes my eyes water from the nostalgia

 

[nw1]

However, probably THE most depressing song that I have ever heard is the dreadful dirge that is our current national anthem.

It's certainly thoroughly unrousing compared to some countries'.

Under Your Thumb (Godley and Creme) as another song that I view as depressing in both senses of the word, although maybe that's deliberate. My reading of the lyrics is that they are probably about domestic abuse and suicide, but there's a hint of homelessness as well as ghostly supernatural stuff in them. Add in the casual reference to smoking, which would've been more neutral when the song was written, but these days when the dangers of smoking are so well known and smoking is so much more associated with death and bad vibes, it just adds more blackness to the song. So in terms of subject matter, it's got everything - I'm not sure you could get any more depressing! Except you can - because musically, the song just comes across to my ears as totally boring, repetitive, and uninspiring to listen to, quite independently of the lyrics. (Although I can see that someone more into that style of music might find it more inspiring)

I love that song!

It does sound a little dark in terms of the subject matter but having first heard it as a child it's one of those "spirit of place" songs which reminds me strongly of the time that it was released (generally happy memories) and that trumps the "dark" nature of the lyrics.

The smoking thing doesn't evoke any especially dark things for me - I've never smoked but have known plenty of people who have, and grew up with smoking areas on trains still very much a thing - even though I always avoided them.

I find Seasons in the Sun (Terry Jacks) a very good and moving song on a very sad subject.

On the other hand I will agree here.

Indeed, but I find the Gary Jules version to be more haunting.

While I love the Tears for Fears original, I know what you mean here. When the Gary Jules version came out I was going through a rather difficult period and could relate to the whole feel of that version.

 

[Strathclyder]

Another example with a direct connection to a real-life event, the OST for the Chernobyl HBO/Sky mini-series composed by Icelandic musician Hildur Guðnadóttir.

As you can imagine given the subject matter, the entire OST is difficult to get through, especially given the horrific scenes in the show the pieces accompany and also when you know that sounds from a actual RBMK nuclear power plant (the decommissioned Ignalina Power Station in Lithuania, sometimes referred to as 'Chernobyl's sister' due to the startling similarities between the two plants) were used in the composition.

The most outright depressing piece however, is Vichnaya Pamyat (arranged in conjuction with the Homin Lviv Municipal Choir), which alternatively means Eternal Memory or Memory Eternal in English, which plays over the final episode's epilogue. A fitting name, not to mention an incredibly haunting tribute to the absolute best of humanity - in the form of the Chernobyl liquidators - in it's willingness to throw itself into fixing the catastrophic results of the worst of humanity with the knowledge that if they didn't, untold millions would suffer and die. They were heros, every last one of them.

 

[43096]

Leave Me Alone by New Order.

I'll thrown in "In A Lonely Place", also by New Order, although it was originally written and never released by Joy Division.

Knowing that it was likely one of the last lyrics Ian Curtis wrote makes the lyrics even more chilling, particularly the third verse:

Hangman looks round as he waits
Cord stretches tight then it breaks
Someday we will die in your dreams
How I wish we were here with you now

 

[Pinza-C55]

 

[Iskra]

With the mentions of Radiohead, can I, just as an aside, bring up the Lancashire Hotpots' take on how their band has developed?

(If you ever get chance, go and see the Hotpots live, they are hilarious).

Agreed, they are very enjoyable!

For me the most depressing song is Spanish Sahara by Foals