the writing and photography of Neil Kramer

Sideshow

sideshow2.jpg 

Ever since I was a teenager, I listened to music when I was feeling down.  Remember my obsession with ABBA a few months ago?   Sometimes, I’m in the mood for some hard rock to lift me out of the doldrums, and sometimes I just look for the most depressing song possible in order to feel MORE miserable.  Once you hit bottom, you can laugh, and start your way up the ladder again.

Do any of you have any really depressing songs that you just LOVE?  Songs about broken hearts, suicides, and cars going off the edges of mountains? 

For my money, this old song (Blue Magic’s Side Show (1974)) is one of the saddest love songs I’ve ever heard.  It also makes me think about how we post about our lives on blogs for others to read — like a sideshow.   Read the downer lyrics!  

Hurry, hurry, step right up
See the side show in town for only fifty cents

Step right up hurry, hurry, before the show begins, my friends
Stand in line, get your ticket, I hope you will attend
It’ll only cost you fifty cents to see
What life has done to those like you and me

See the man with the broken heart, you’ll see that he is sad, he hurts so bad (so bad, so bad)
See the girl who has lost the only love she ever had
There’s got to be no sadder show to see
No doubt about it, satisfaction’s guaranteed

So let the sideshow begin
Hurry, hurry, step right up on in
Can’t afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

Let the sideshow begin (hurry, hurry)
Hurry, hurry, step right on in
Can’t afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

See the man who’s been cryin’ for a million years, so many tears (so many tears)
See the girl who’s collected broken hearts for souvenirs
It’s more exciting than a one man band
The saddest little show in all the land

So let the side show begin (hurry, hurry)
Hurry, hurry, step right up on in
Can’t afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

Let the sideshow begin
Hurry, hurry, step right on in
Can’t afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

So let the sideshow begin (hurry, hurry)
Hurry, hurry, step right on in
Can’t afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

Fortunately, after I listened to the song a few times, it made me laugh hysterically.  Who the hell sits down and writes such a depressing song?! 

Remember to vote for me for “The Best Humor Blog” in the Blogger Awards!

97 Comments

  1. suburbancorrespondent

    I remember that song!

    I think Pink Floyd takes the cake for depressing, though. I wouldn’t even risk listening to it if I were feeling depressed already.

  2. Pants

    The Smiths “I Know It’s Over” is my Blue Magic’s Side Show.

  3. Pants

    Holy crap, I can’t believe how depressing it is!

  4. Neil

    You know, I never found Pink Floyd depressing. Maybe because I never could understand the lyrics, or people were always smoking pot around me. Which is a good depressing Pink Floyd song?

    Thanks, pants. Good choice with The Smiths — but still not depressing enough to take the award.

  5. Nat

    I love I Know it’s Over by the Smiths. (The Name of the Game by Abba isn’t exactly cheerful is it?).

    Ok, all of Nick Cave’s No More Shall We Part.
    Gomez, We haven’t turned around
    Don’t Speak by No Doubt
    The River, Bruce Springsteen (I’m old school)
    I love the song but it’s so sad, Famous Blue Raincoat — original version

  6. Nat

    ooooooooh… and Black by Pearl Jam.

  7. Neil

    Famous Blue Raincoat — too poetic to be really depressing. More sad in a wistful way.

  8. Neil

    Pearl Jam’s “Black” coming in a close second. That depressed me.

  9. sizzle

    now i’m depressed too.

    sigh.

  10. Bre

    Brooklyn Bridge – The Worst That Could Happen. I freaking love that song, and it’s so sad!

  11. Neil

    Sizzle, wait until we get up to “American Pie” and the “day the music died.” Then, you’ll really be depressed.

  12. Neil

    Bre — don’t know that one. Going to check it right now to see if it passes the “misery test.”

  13. Irina

    Eleanor Rigby (Beatles) is definitely my favorite depressing song.

  14. Neil

    I love Eleanor Rigby. Beatles songs are way too melodic to depress me.

    Bre — Doo Wop doesn’t make me sad. And their shirts make me chuckle.

    Brooklyn Bridge – Worst That Could Happen – Music Video via Noolmusic.com

    Get Video Code For Brooklyn Bridge – Worst That Could Happen – Music Video

  15. Neil

    Actually, that last song made me laugh a lot, totally ruining my miserable mood. Please, I’m asking for depressing songs only.

    Bre, you must be a very happy person if that is a sad song for you! (or maybe I’m too cynical and think it is probably better that he didn’t marry that girl anyway)

  16. Angella

    As much as I love her, most songs by Sarah McLachlan are pretty depressing.

  17. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    There are two songs that are the “Beaches” of the music world for me. Something about them twists my gut every time. They are: In A Lifetime by Clannad & Bono… and This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush.

  18. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    OK, it didn’t take the HTML… How did you all get the videos in there??

    Clannad & Bono
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=2N8w_Cy9Qz0

    Kate Bush
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hm901CXujEg

  19. kerrianne

    I listen to The Moody Blues whenever I’m feeling particularly melancholy. They never help much, but they do remind me of my dad, and I like that.

    (Can I be “The Mermaid”?)

  20. Dagny

    I have always loved “Side Show.”

    My sophomore year of college, I made a mix tape for studying purposes. My roommates quickly started referring to it as the “depressing music mix.” Why? Because when you’re single, it can be thoroughly depressing to hear songs about people who are so in love.

    Not all of them are happy in love songs though. Some of them are of the begging variety — “If You Want Me to Stay” by Sly and the Family Stone, “You Ought to Be with Me” by Al Green, “Moondance” by Van Morrison.

    In high school the song that always got me was Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind.”

    Oh, and The Smiths? Some of my happiest memories involve their songs.

  21. Neil

    Aimee — This is an interesting exercise for me because music is pretty personal. Your choices don’t work for me at all! Maybe I need to have male singers singing to feel the pain. Clannad is too Irish/New Agey/ethereral for my taste.

    I really like Kate Bush, but — this is going to make me sound like a typical guy — but I find her really hot, so I think less about the sad song and what she looks like naked. Sorry.

  22. Neil

    Kerrianne — I once thought a cassette tape of the Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin” was sending me secret messages.

    “.. when red is gray, and yellow white, but we choose what is right….”

    I think this might be a good choice for a sad song, but I’m having trouble figuring out if there is some hopefulness in the song, which undercuts the sadness. I mean he does say “I love you” a hundred times while the London Symphony Orchestra plays in the background.

  23. JanePoe (aka Deborah)

    One of my top depressing favs is You don’t Bring me Flowers – Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand. Painfully depressing! JP/deb

  24. Neil

    JanePoe — You Don’t Bring Me Flowers is a perfect example of a song that probably speaks more to a woman than a man. Believe me, if that was the song that touched me the most, I would never tell a soul!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cG7_jheC8A&feature=related

    Irina — I changed my mind. Eleanor Rigby IS depressing!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boc7rnhkLAk

  25. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    ha ha Neil!

    OK, this is cheesy but I think This Woman’s Work REALLY gets me because of the movie She’s Having A Baby… they play that song at the danger moment of almost losing the baby. And that movie came out when I didn’t even WANT a baby. At ALL. Must be something to all those female hormones after all.

    I am gonna look through my iTunes tomorrow and see if I have any more for ya.

  26. Donna

    Your post reminded me of one of the worst job tasks I ever had, while working for a radio syndicator. They had me transcribing 100 songs from each of the formats they programmed. Actually, that was kind of fun — until I got to the Country songs, which were mostly about my wife has left me, my health is bad, I’ve lost my job and my home and I’m crying in my beer. By the end of that, I was super depressed.

  27. V-Grrrl

    “Will to Love” by Neil Young

    What Was It Like by Mary Chapin Carpenter

    Hurt by Johnny Cash

    And the Counting Crows break my heart in a dozen different ways, but Speedway from This Desert Life album is the ultimate emotional trainwreck.

  28. Neil

    Aimee — Yes, but remember, I’m a man. I’m not going to be crying over songs about flowers or babies. It should be love lost, she “done him wrong,” she married another man, his momma is sick, his team lost the big game — you know stuff like that.

    Donna — I don’t know too much about country music. Hey, Southern/Texan bloggers — surely there must be several really depressing country songs…

  29. Neil

    V-grrrl — I was never crazy about the Counting Crows. Sorry.

    But, holy crap. I think you are winning now. I forgot about this Johnny Cash song. This one is going to be very very hard to beat on the depression meter! I think this even goes further than I want to go…

  30. Neil

    Even more depressing, in a bad way, is William Shatner singing Frank Sinatra’s “It Was a Very Good Year.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0GAjK64VZg&feature=related

  31. Neil

    I know I’m pretty much writing to my own comments, but hey, I’m having fun. You HAVE to watch that William Shatner video. It is so funny that I forgot all about being depressed.

  32. natalie

    this one from amy grant always makes me sad. i couldn’t find a clip, but here is a link to the lyrics.

    http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/amy+grant/cry+a+river_20007630.html

    ok…country…
    raining you by brad paisley
    http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/paisley-brad/rainin-you-16144.html

    i never knew lonely by vince gill

    http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/gill-vince/i-never-knew-lonely-6170.html

    when we were still in love by trisha yearwood

    http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/yearwood-trisha/when-we-were-still-in-love-9933.html

    not sure how depressing these are to anyone else…i like them because they make me sad. which is depressing!

  33. Caron

    Albinoni’s Adagio in G often expresses things for me that my inner drama queen can’t find words for. The slower the better, and strings only. I once had a cello centric version that was almost 13 minutes long. Pathos with a capitol “P”

    Satie’s Gymnepodie #4 is like musical valium for me when I’m stressed and anxious.

    The Shatner is priceless.

  34. Ash

    Neil, my acupuncturist who is also my therapist (apparently) says that it’s best to absolutely wallow when you’re feeling down. I’m taking his advice. My wallowing songs are many but I always come back to these:

    Verdi Cries, Natalie Merchant. I feel like I’m the man in 119, taking his tea alone.


    Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
    Nina Simone… I haven’t got the strength to get up and take another shot…

    Chelsea Hotel I need you, I don’t need you…

    You can tell my mood by the songs at the top of my blog entries…

  35. Tuck

    I’m pitchin’ my song here…confirming when feeling sorry for myself, hey, my own dog doo ain’t so deep –
    1) The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia http://www.preterhuman.net/texts/lyrics_and_music_related/unsorted_lyrics/night_the_lights_went_out_in_georgia.txt

    2 bonus points to be had for that fact it was performed by Vicki Lawrence and the fact that her husband wrote the song.

    3rd bonus point for this performance of – http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=21918814

  36. Miss Britt

    It’s a jazz song.

    I listen to it in the tub.

    Ummm… something about watching the man she loves get married….

    Damn. I’m helpful.

  37. ElizaF

    suicide is painless – i think once you sit listening to that song without springing up to turn it off, you know you have the blues.

  38. Anastasia Beaverhausen

    I remember “Side Show”!! Janis Ian’s “At 17” made me want to jump off of a bridge. It so captured my teenage angst.

  39. SAJ

    Finally! I can contribute something!

    Failure by the Swans
    (http://www.lyricsdepot.com/swans/failure.html)

  40. migu

    “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin is the most depressing song for me – but there’s a personal reason for that. I can see how someone might find the song uplifting.

  41. Jennifer Griffin-Wiesner

    Puff the Magic Dragon.

  42. Porter

    “Miss Misery” by Elliott Smith. I never thought that song could get more depressing. Until he killed himself.

  43. bookfraud

    so you want me to vote for you as “best humor blog” while making me want to slash my wrists?

    a weirdly depressing but brilliant (and overlooked) song is “oh candy” by cheap trick. you think it’s just another girlfriend song, but it’s about a friend killing himself. when robin zander sings candy worked so hard
    at doing what he thought was right
    it really really don’t mean a thing

    it reminds me of my late father, who had his share of failure despite his best efforts. i get all teary every time.

  44. bookfraud

    and “oh candy” can be seen here.

    this really was a great post, neil, now that i think about it.

  45. Dave G

    I second Johnny Cash “Hurt” above but also give “Mad World” by Roland Orzabal a shot.

  46. wendy

    Stevie Wonder..All In Love Is Fair

    Pink Floyd… Wish You Were Here

    Patsy Kline…Crazy

    Bonnie Raitt…I can’t Make You Love Me

    I could go on..and on…and on….

  47. wendy

    Oh Yeah…Billie Holiday… Good Morning Heart Ache….

  48. Atomic Bombshell

    This is truly embarrassing, but I listen to teen pop “downer” ballads because they’re so unbelievably dumb and pouty that they invariably make me realize how silly I’m being, and pull me out of my bad mood.

  49. Mr. Fabulous

    I have a whole playlist that I tap into when I need to “wallow”.

    And when I need a pick-up? Disco, babY!

  50. sarah g

    one that always got me, were the Beatles; yesterday.
    brian mcknight: one last cry.
    there was a whole list of them 🙂
    but i’m kinda happy now so its all hermans hermits and the duprees for me. sorry!

  51. fringes

    My only hard and fast rule during an episode is to step away from the Patsy Cline. That girl is gonna kill somebody one day.

  52. chantel

    Sleep while I Drive, Melissa Etheridge.

  53. Neil

    Jeez, SAJ — This is the first thing I read this morning. The Lyrics to Failure by the Swans. But I didn’t like the song too much… too monotone for me. And still not as evocative as Johnny Cash singing “Hurt.” I hope you’re not listening to this while you do your latest cheery art project with the happy animals!

    I, I’ve been lonely
    And I, I’ve been blind
    And I,. I’ve learned nothing
    So my hands are firmly tied
    To the sinking leadweight
    of failure

    I’ve worked hard all my life
    Money slips through my hands
    My face in the mirror tells me
    It’s no surprise that I’m
    Pushing the stone up the hill
    of failure

    They tempt me with violence
    They punish me with ideals
    And they crush me with an image of my
    life that’s nothing but unreal
    Except on the goddamned slaveship
    of failure

    I’ll drown here trying
    to get up for some air
    But each time I think I breathe
    I’m laid on with a double share
    of the punishing burden
    of failure

    I don’t deserve to be down here
    But I’ll never leave
    And I’ve learned one thing
    You can’t escape the beast
    In the null and void pit
    of failure

    When I get my hands on some money
    I’ll kiss it’s green skin
    And I’ll ask it’s dirty face
    “Where the hell have you been?”
    “I am the fuel that fires the engine
    of failure.”

    I’ll be old and broken down
    I’ll forget who and where I am
    I’ll be senile or forgotten
    But I’ll remember and understand
    You can bank your hard-earned money
    on failure

    I saw my father crying
    I saw my mother break her hand
    On a wall that wouldn’t weep
    But that certainly held in
    The mechanical moans of a dying man
    Who was a failure

    My back hurts me when I bend
    Because I carry a load
    My brain hurts me like a knife-hole
    Because I’ve yet to be shown
    How to pull myself out from
    The sucking quicksand
    of failure

    Some people live in hell
    Many bastards succeed
    But I. I’ve learned nothing
    I can’t even elegantly bleed
    Out the poison blood
    of failure

    Good morning!!

  54. Ariel

    There’s a lot to be said for depressing songs – sometimes they enable you to voice a pain you haven’t begun to articulate yet, but sometimes they also make you feel like slicing your veins open. Now, would you – and your readers – care to give us a hand with the blog book we are working on by submitting something by Feb 29th please? Pretty please? And make it funny, to redress the balance…

  55. Neil

    Ariel, I forgot to mention this… let me put it in the sidebar! We do need some humor in the world.

  56. 180/360

    I think Beck’s “Sea Change” (aka his break-up album) is really depressing. Here’s the lyrics to one song, “Guess I’m Doing Fine”

    There’s a blue bird at my window
    I can’t hear the songs he sings
    All the jewels in heaven
    They don’t look the same to me

    I just wade the tides that turned
    Till I learn to leave the past behind

    It’s only lies that I’m living
    It’s only tears that I’m crying
    It’s only you that I’m losing
    Guess I’m doing fine

    All the battlements are empty
    And the moon is laying low
    Yellow roses in the graveyard
    Got no time to watch them grow

    Now I bade a friend farewell
    I can do whatever pleases me

    It’s only lies that I’m living
    It’s only tears that I’m crying
    It’s only you that I’m losing
    Guess I’m doing fine

    Press my face up to the window
    To see how warm it is inside
    See the things that I’ve been missing
    Missing all this time

    It’s only lies that I’m living
    It’s only tears that I’m crying
    It’s only you that I’m losing
    Guess I’m doing fine

  57. 180/360

    I like some of the other songs better but those lyrics seem fitting. The whole album is sad.

  58. abigail road

    Soooo weird. I was just going to say that Beck’s Sea Changes album is the most depressing album of all time. I can only listen to it when I’m depressed, and it really came in handy when you just been dumped.

  59. Karl

    I’ve always loved “The Head and the Heart” by Chris DeBurgh. I can’t even get past the first line in that video, though. Wow.

  60. Neil

    180/360 — Wasn’t Beck’s first hit Loser?

    “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me.”

    Fun guy.

    Karl — I never heard that song before. I’m checking it out. Isn’t he the “Lady in Red” guy?

  61. Neil

    Thanks, Margalit!

    It’s not sad, but very cute. I do that too.

    (via Ze Frank)

  62. Dana

    Songs that make me cry every time–Ancient: Peggy Lee, “Is That All There Is?” Even when I was a little kid I became despondent. Neil Young: “Sugar Mountain” and “The Needle and the Damage Done.” Joni Mitchell, “The Circle Game”–I was in a store a while ago and had to leave because it was on their radio and I started blubbering. “I00 Years” and “Superman” by John Ondrasek, Five for Fighting. “Sunrise, Sunset.” But I have happy ones, too– “I’m Gonna Be/500 Miles” by The Proclaimers
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3tNylJr7Z4
    And anything by They Might Be Giants makes me smile.

  63. Heather

    “Things” by Paul Westerberg kills me every single time. I can’t even think about it without getting weepy.

    He wrote it about the end of his marriage. 🙁

  64. Neil

    Heather — Things by Paul Westerberg has too much of a “good beat,” like Dick Clark might have said, and it undercuts the weepiness for me. But good song. Just not the saddest.

  65. Neil

    My MOTHER called — you know, the one who was interviewed by the New Yorker. I thought she was worried about me. But, no. She just wanted to play along and offer her saddest song — the one that makes her cry!

    You’ll Never Walk Alone from “Carousel”

  66. churlita

    I loved that song when I was a kid.

    Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy division is one of my favorite self-indulgent sad songs.

  67. Neil

    That is a great song, Churlita.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNMbuygEju8

    Have you heard the Cure’s version? They are sadder, IMO.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szua7uP6agY&feature=related

    But no tears. I think Johnny Cash is going to be hard to beat.

  68. better safe than sorry

    i don’t recall ever crying over a lost love song, the two that always make me well up are claptons tears in heaven and the feed the world/do they know it’s christmas song.
    i’m totally crushing this bleeding song (http://www.leona-lewis.net/lyrics/)right now, it makes me think of you and sophia when i hear it. why can’t love be enough?

  69. Neil

    Better Safe — Nice song —

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ctIC65PV0

    But I shouldn’t have watched the music video. I was laughing at all the cliches! If I substituted us for Leona Lewis and her dopey “boyfriend” in the video —

    There’s Neilochka standing in the middle of Times Square with the traffic passing by.

    There’s Sophia wearing a $500 jacket standing in an elevator for ten minuites.

    See Neil packing up everything into a tiny shoulder bag.

    See Sophia, with a lot of cleavage, looking out the window of a cab.

    See Neil buying tickets to some Greyhound-type bus (yeah, right!)

    See Sophia hugging a pillow in her glamorous apartment.

    See Neilochka getting on that smelly bus.

    See Sophia standing in the middle of Times Square.

    See Neil returning to Times Square, but she is GONE.

  70. Non-Highlighted Heather

    To be fair, it’s actually Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails that wrote and first perfomed “Hurt.” So, he should get the credit. But, agreeably, it’s far more poignant with Johnny singing it.

    “Cat’s in the Cradle” is cheesy, but that song always brings me down.

    I think the lyrics to “Bohemian Rhapsody” are bum inducing.

    And as a Deadhead, I have to throw in “Looks Like Rain.”

  71. Neil

    Bohemian Rhapsody? Yeah, I guess the lyrics are depressing, but no one ever cries to that — I hope.

    Maybe a better choice is “I Don’t Like Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats, 1979.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POl4vFp-5os

  72. Neil

    Oddly, this is cheering me up.

    Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” — “We went down to the courthouse/And the judge put it all to rest/No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle/No flowers, no wedding dress.”

    Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” — “Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling/Tell me baby, where did I go wrong?”

    Radiohead’s “No Surprises” — “I’ll take a quiet life/A handshake, some carbon monoxide.”

    Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” — “It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die.”

    David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” — “Tell my wife I love her very much.”

    Carly Simon’s “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be.” — “Their children hate them for the things they’re not/They hate themselves for what they are.”

    Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” — You go back to her/And I go back to black.”

  73. Neil

    This is a good and sad one! I am making it #2 after Johnny Cash. Evanescence with My Immortal

  74. Bec

    Radiohead’s ‘How To Disappear Completely’

    Or

    Only You by Portishead

  75. Non-Highlighted Heather

    Neil. Cheater. You Googled the saddest songs. I went to the same site but I refused to pick any of those songs because I wanted to be original. Ahem.

  76. plain jane

    Well, that was so cheery I will go right over to vote for you for Best Humor Blog. Where is Brenda when you need her?

  77. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    I just remembered on that always gets me… but remember it also says personal things to me as well… but:

    She Cried by Toad The Wet Sprocket

    Solitaire, such a fateful game
    She turns her cards and writes her name on the napkin
    Mow she turns another card
    She dreams about the house and romance
    He promised but won’t deliver

    She waits alone
    With dried out hopes
    And dormant phone
    She waits for years
    And fantasies melt
    New ones appear
    But they won’t help

    And again she catches him
    Eye pulls away with light too dim
    She calls his name and runs around
    But he was faster
    All alone in a bad part of town

    She waits again
    With dried out hopes
    And things made for him
    A little ride, a little fun was all
    He held her tight, got tired and then let go

    The strain on her heart
    She believed a lying blackheart
    Painted with promises
    Then he left her on the floor
    With only the mirror to curse
    “should’ve known better”
    But how she cried…

    http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=157288872&id=157288690&s=143441

  78. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    OK, sitting with my iTunes now. Clearly I have issues that I can’t let this go.

    All Cried Out – Alison Moyet
    Ain’t No Sunshine – Bill Withers
    Taillights Fade – Buffalo Tom
    Hard To Say I’m Sorry – Chicago (yes, it’s in my iTunes, that’s depressing in itself)
    Silent House – Crowded House (written for Paul Hester, the band member who killed himself)
    Somebody – Depeche Mode
    No Bravery – James Blunt (written about his time in military in Kosovo)
    Where’ve You Been – Kathy Mattea (I cry like a baby every damn time)
    A Bad Dream – Keane (also about war)
    Nobody’s Child – Maria McKee
    Broken Man – Paul Young
    Jezebel – Sade
    Gravity – Sara Bareilles
    every Smiths song ever recorded
    Children’s Crusade – Sting
    Woman In Chains – Tears for Fears

  79. Neil

    Aimee, your iTunes is one depressing place.

    Oh, and Heather. Sure I cheated. When you are down in the dumps, morality goes out the window!

    One site chose Michael Jackson’s “Ben” as a truly depressing song because it is a love song to a rat.

  80. Lola

    I’m a sucker for a good sad song.

    George Jones – He Stopped Loving Her Today

    Ryan Adams – Come Pick Me Up

    Billy Bragg & Wilco – At My Window Sad and Lonely

    Joan Armatrading – The Weakness In Me

    Lucero – It Get’s The Worst At Night

    Richard Buckner – This Is Where

    Oh My God, I have a sickness. I have to stop.

  81. Christine

    OK – the instrumental “Crush of Love” by Joe Satriani. I still get weepy just thinking about it. I was in an incredibly painful unrequited love type of relationship when I first heard the song (of course the guy gave it to me to listen to, but not for the obvious reasons – he was really oblivious). It just seemed to BE just what I was feeling at the time, no words needed.

    Also “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” off Madonna’s first album. (It may be a cover.)

    “You abandoned me
    Love don’t live here anymore…”

    Now for sheer depressing mood, but not necessarily related to love-life issues, try “Fly on the Windscreen” by Depeche Mode.
    “Death is everywhere
    There are flies on the windscreen
    For a start
    Reminding us
    We could be torn apart
    Tonight

    Death is everywhere
    There are lambs for the slaughter
    Waiting to die
    And I can sense
    The hours slipping by
    Tonight

    Come here
    Kiss me
    Now
    Come here
    Kiss me
    Now

    Death is everywhere
    The more I look
    The more I see
    The more I feel
    A sense of urgency
    Tonight

    Come here
    Touch me
    Kiss me
    Touch me
    Now
    Touch me
    Touch me

    There are flies on the windscreen
    There are lambs for the slaughter
    There are flies on the windscreen”

  82. Miss Syl

    I can’t believe no one mentioned this song. It’s not my real go-to depressing song, it’s just the absolutely most depressing lyrics to the point that you just have to laugh.

    And I gotta say, when it comes to a downer, V-grrrl’s pick, while good and depressing, is nothing compared to this version:

  83. Caron

    Someone mentioned Paul Westerberg, and i got to jonesin’ for some of that and the replacements. Watching those videos on you tube somehow brought this up as similar…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddIq7p-nAVQ&feature=related
    My Girl from Chilliwack as performed by John Candy, Rick Moranis and Eugene Levy. If it was just the lyrics it would be a sad song.

  84. Miss Syl

    Hey, why didn’t the embedding work? Trying again, with links:

    I can’t believe no one mentioned this song. It’s not my real-life go-to depressing song, it’s just the absolutely most depressing lyrics to the point that you just have to laugh.

    And I gotta say, when it comes to a downer, V-grrrl’s pick, while good and depressing, is nothing compared to this version.

  85. Miss Syl

    DAMMIT. …this version!

  86. Miss Syl

    Anyway, in recent years, I’ve used these as my real go-to songs a lot:

    Elton John’s “I Want Love”

    And Stars’ Your Ex-Lover is Dead

    Over the long-term, I’d say Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and especially “The Final Cut” as well as The Cure’s “Pictures of You” have been high on the list at different points.

  87. Miss Syl

    HTML hates me today. So sorry!

    I Want Love

  88. Neil

    Miss Syl — After seeing “My Girl” sung on SCTV, I’m not in a bad mood anymore. That was FANTASTIC!

  89. MCS

    What Did I Have That I Don’t Have? from On a Clear Day You Can see Forever

  90. peach

    hey citizen of the month, thanks for your pimping of our blook….

  91. DaveX

    I remember having a similar reaction while reading the lyrics to Jimi Hendrix’s “Castles Made of Sand”… especially the part where the crippled girl is moved to stand for the first time as a golden ship comes her way– and then it just passes her by! Such a depressing song.

  92. Pearl

    Hey Neil come over to Humanyms for the 5th Blogversary tomorrow!

  93. abigail road

    After last night, a horrible night, I had to come back here and check out all the music….

  94. TorontoPearl

    I can’t read all the previous comments right now, so I don’t know if this was mentioned. But I’ll just leave you with a song I love, but find so very sad:

    “The Living Years – Mike & The Mechanics”

  95. cruisin-mom

    late as usual…the song your mom loves, is the one Jerry Lewis sings at the end of the telethon…now i’m totally depressed.

  96. Dana

    I forgot to mention “The Long and Winding Road.” When I was a kid I woke up to that one morning on my clock-radio, and as I walked to school I couldn’t get it out of my mind. When I got to school some people were waiting for me to tell me my best friend had died. That was 38 (!yes!) years ago, but if I hear it on the car radio I still have to pull over and cry. “Don’t leave me waiting here/Lead me to your door.”

  97. Denis

    Don’t mind! The music is sad, but wonderful. It is just an opinion. No matter what, you can laugh or you enjoy it! I’d rather prefer the second choice!
    Blue Magic wonders many with this music…
    Denis

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