"I Hate Myself And Want To Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard"

[duncan228]

This is from 2006, but I don't think we've attacked it. :lol

From the Tom Reynolds book 'I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard' (http://www.amiannoying.com/(S(1xhgoq55uc3otwvcnstjc355))/collection.aspx?collection=7578).

The Nirvana song 'I Hate Myself and Want to Die' was used as the inspiration of the title. It is a reference and is not part of the list.

The list:

1. 'The Christmas Song' - Newsong
2. 'The Shortest Story' - Harry Chapin
3. 'Honey' - Bobby Goldsboro
4. 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' - Bonnie Tyler
5. 'Seasons in the Sun' - Terry Jacks
6. 'DOA' - Bloodrock
7. 'Strange Fruit' - Billie Holiday
8. 'Hurt' - Nine Inch Nails
9. ' Sister Morphine' - Marianne Faithfull
10. 'People Who Died' - The Jim Carroll Band
11. 'One' - Metallica
12. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town' - Kenny Rogers & the First Edition 13. 'Brick' - Ben Folds Five
14. 'Comfortably Numb' - Pink Floyd
15. 'Maggie's Dream' - Don Williams
16. 'The Rose' - Bette Midler
17. 'The Freshmen' - The Verve Pipe
18. 'Prayers for Rain' - The Cure
19. 'Women's Prison' - Loretta Lynn
20. 'All By Myself' - Celine Dion
21. 'Tell Laura I Love Her' - Ray Peterson
22. 'The River' - Bruce Springsteen
23. 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' - Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond
24. 'My Immortal' - Evanescence
25. 'Sam Stone' - John Prine
26. 'In The Air Tonight' - Phil Collins
27. 'MacArthur Park' - Richard Harris
28. 'Round Here' - Counting Crows
29. 'I Will Always Love You' - Whitney Houston
30. 'The End' - The Doors
31. 'Last Kiss' - J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers
32. 'Mandy' - Barry Manilow
33. 'Don't Cry Out Loud' - Melissa Manchester
34. 'Goodbye to Love' - The Carpenters
35. 'Beth' - Kiss
36. 'At Seventeen' - Janis Ian
37. 'Let Her Cry' - Hootie & the Blowfish
38. 'Alone Again (Naturally)' - Gilbert O'Sullivan
39. 'It Must Be Him' - Vicki Carr
40. 'Without You' - Mariah Carey
41. 'Send in the Clowns' - Judy Collins
42. 'In the Year 2525 (Exordium And Terminus)' - Zager & Evans
43. 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' - Gordon Lightfoot
44. 'Sylvia's Mother' - Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
45. 'Indiana Wants Me' - R. Dean Taylor
46. 'Captain Jack' - Billy Joel
47. 'Lucky Man' - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
48. 'Landslide' - The Smashing Pumpkins
49. 'Teen Angel' - Mark Dinning
50. 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' - Joy Division
51. 'Artificial Flowers' - Bobby Darin
52. 'Same Old Lang Syne' - Dan Fogelberg

[Anti.Hero]

Thanks. I will check these out for my playlist tomorrow night.

[lebomb]

"bitch betta have my money" AMG

[Viva Las Espuelas]

2 covers on there.

[mrsmaalox]

You taking guesses? I say Celine Dion and Whitney Houston?!

[Viva Las Espuelas]

You taking guesses? I say Celine Dion and Whitney Houston?!
good eye. that makes 3 then.

[mrsmaalox]

Also Smashing Pumpkins

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Also Smashing Pumpkins
http://www.ratemyeverything.net/image/1960/0/Special_Olympic_Award_Cerimony.ashx

[ChumpDumper]

50. 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' - Joy Division Shit, Closer should take up the first nine spots on that list. Ian Curtis did kill himself after cutting those tracks. At least "Love Will Tear Us Apart" had a good beat and you could dance to it.

[dickface]

shoulda been 4 covers because Johnny Cash's version curbstomps the original.

[velik_m]

Where is "Join me (in death)" by Him?

[ChumpDumper]

shoulda been 4 covers because Johnny Cash's version curbstomps the original.Agreed. Reznor is never going to engender anything close to pathos.

[Spurminator]

shoulda been 4 covers because Johnny Cash's version curbstomps the original.

I was thinking the same thing. And the video may be the most depressing 5 minutes ever recorded on tape.

[ORION]

When I was younger every time I heard a Vanilla Ice song I wanted to kill myself

[slacker77]

Adam's song - blink 182

[PakiDan]

This list is bullshit. There is no Smiths/Morrissey on there. no list of doom and gloom is complete without the Moz.

[slacker77]

Mad world - the version that played on Donnie Darko

[PakiDan]

Mad world - the version that played on Donnie Darko

agreed - another reason this list is bullshit.

[JMarkJohns]

Where the hell is "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum?

Another would be "My Friends" by The Red Hot Chile Peppers.

[IronMexican]

Any list without Mmbop is Dq'd

[Blake]

ok, not sure the song title, but Pearl Jam did a cover of this song "Oh where oh where can my baby be.......the Lord took her away from me....."

friggin horrible song (with a good 50s beat) that got a ton of airtime.

then what about that song that goes "when you comin home dad?" "I don't know when, but we'll get together then....."

yeesh. I can't stand that deadbeat dad song.

and then there's a depressing song about getting old that I barely recall because our elementary school teacher made us sing it in a performance:

"...and the seasons, they go round and round......yada yada......something about kids get old before you know it and this should make you feel old"

same with that stinking Butterfly Kisses song.

then there's this country song:

Sister's using rouge and clear complection soap.
Brother's wearin beads and he smokes alot of dope.
Mama is depressed barely makes a sound.
Daddy's got a girlfriend in another town.
Bob Dylan sings like a Rolling Stone.
Time marches on, time marches on.

Sister calls herself a sexy grandma.
Brother's on a diet for high cholesterol.
Mama's out of touch with reality.
Daddy's in the ground beneath the maple tree.
As the Angles sing an old Hank Williams song.
Time marches on, time marches on. Time marches on, time
marches on. Time marches on. Time marches on."


now I need a beer.

[Trainwreck2100]

"total eclipse of the heart" hasn't been depressing since Old School came out, and also
crossroads from bone thugs and harmony always depresses the hell out of me

[tlongII]

You gotta have Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphey on there...

She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark, flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side
On a cold Nebraska night

Oh, they say she died one winter
When there came a killing frost
And the pony she named Wildfire
Busted down its stall
In a blizzard he was lost

She ran calling Wildfire [x3]
By the dark of the moon I planted
But there came an early snow
There's been a hoot-owl howling by my window now
For six nights in a row
She's coming for me, I know
And on Wildfire we're both gonna go

We'll be riding Wildfire [x3]

On Wildfire we're gonna ride
Gonna leave sodbustin' behind
Get these hard times right on out of our minds
Riding Wildfire

[v2freak]

Luckily, I haven't had the displeasure of hearing most of those. "Dance with the Devil" by Immortal Technique is pretty depressing.

[mrsmaalox]

That list covers a pretty broad time frame. I think a couple of glaring ommissions are "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman, and "Luka" by Suzanne Vega. Also there is a song Tim McGraw sings that is a letter from a soldier in Iraq delivered to his family after his death. Not sure of the name, maybe "If You're Reading This"?? Very depressing. :(

[Medvedenko]

NIN hurt is far superior to the Cash version...I like Cash, but Reznor's is the tops. Also, NIN's "all that could have been" is even better than Hurt.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

how about "suicide is painless"?

[Jekka]

This list is bullshit. There is no Smiths/Morrissey on there. no list of doom and gloom is complete without the Moz.

No kidding! Where is "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and the other 500 depressing tracks from them? They have no Radiohead either.

Also, Belle and Sebastian's "Get Me Away from Here I'm Dying" should have an honorable mention. And Tori Amos' "Hey Jupiter". And how is "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" not on there?

I think I might need to go make a mix now.

[Spurminator]

Yeah Tori Amos could have about five songs in the top 52. "Winter" comes to mind.

[slacker77]

Everybody Hurts - R.E.M
Somebody - Depeche Mode

[Jekka]

Yeah Tori Amos could have about five songs in the top 52. "Winter" comes to mind.

And "Me and a Gun". I think an a capella song about rape could boot out several of this list's songs.

[JMarkJohns]

Great calls on the Tori Amos songs.

Ghost Of Tom Joad by Springsteen is another...

Men walkin long the railroad tracks
Goin someplace theres no goin back
Highway patrol choppers comin up over the bridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobodys kiddin nobody about where it goes
Im sittin down here in the campfire light
Searchin for the ghost of tom joad

He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleepin on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight
Where its headed everybody knows
Im sittin down here in the campfire light
Waitin on the ghost of tom joad

Now tom said mom, wherever theres a cop beatin a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where theres a fight against the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me mom Ill be there
Wherever theres somebody fightin for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helpin hand
Wherever somebodys strugglin to be free
Look in their eyes mom youll see me.

Well the highway is alive tonight
But nobodys kiddin nobody about where it goes
Im sittin down here in the campfire light
With the ghost of old tom joad

[Bender]

then what about that song that goes "when you comin home dad?" "I don't know when, but we'll get together then....."

yeesh. I can't stand that deadbeat dad song.

Cat's in the Cradle, Harry Chapin. Pretty cool song, always liked it, and it's not about a deadbeat dad...

[SpursWoman]

I don't listen to country very much, because most of ALL the damn songs can be on this list, but If You Get There Before I Do by Collin Raye makes me freakin cry every time I hear it. :cry :oops

[baseline bum]

They forgot Ever So Clear by Bushwick Bill or I Just Wanna Die, also by Bill (on a Geto Boys album though).

[Spurminator]

"'Til I Die" - Beach Boys

[CuckingFunt]

No Fiona Apple?

[xtremesteven33]

"Losing my religion" - REM
"Fade to Black"- Metallica
"Home" "Fade"- Staind

[TheProfessor]

No Elliott Smith?

[Argiebabe]

zc3A9hmYmnk

One of my favs...

[leemajors]

Yeah Tori Amos could have about five songs in the top 52. "Winter" comes to mind.

her cover of smells like teen spirit makes me angry, not depressed.

[leemajors]

They forgot Ever So Clear by Bushwick Bill or I Just Wanna Die, also by Bill (on a Geto Boys album though).

the video for ever so clear makes it even more depressing. they used to run it on the Austin Music Network in the mid 90s.

KLnbQZnBeCw

[leemajors]

ok, not sure the song title, but Pearl Jam did a cover of this song "Oh where oh where can my baby be.......the Lord took her away from me....."



soldier of love

[leemajors]

also, maggot brain is really depressing. especially considering what happened to eddie hazel later.

[Xylus]

"Last Resort" by the Eagles
"Lucky" by Radiohead
"Running to Stand Still" by U2

[slacker77]

zc3A9hmYmnk

One of my favs...

I can see how this song can get you low, but I've always dug it.

[CuckingFunt]

her cover of smells like teen spirit makes me angry, not depressed.

Watching her fuck her damn piano bench makes me want to kill people.

Not to mention the fact that this should void any and all future claims at pretension:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/3217/f8bbfb369ebe7c08a1823a9sw5.jpg

[Jekka]

her cover of smells like teen spirit makes me angry, not depressed.

Agreed, by far her worst cover, but she has done some awesome ones. Her covers of the Velvet Underground's New Age and Hendrix's If 6 Was 9 come to mind.

[Spurminator]

soldier of love

That was the b-side. The song was "Last Kiss"

[leemajors]

That was the b-side. The song was "Last Kiss"

foiled. thanks.

[MiamiHeat]

WITHOUT YOU is a cover by mariah carey of harry nilson back in the 60s or 70s

[cherylsteele]

He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones

[chreph]

"Tears in Heaven" usually depresses me when I hear it.

I know they're only counting mainstream songs so that eliminates a couple of songs on Stabbing Westward's darkest days album. "One More Time" from Flaw also depresses me greatly :(

[duncan228]

"Tears in Heaven"

I knew ST would have a better list than the original, this would be #1 for me so far.

[mrsmaalox]

I knew ST would have a better list than the original, this would be #1 for me so far.

Yep that's a good one. But I think for me it would be The Pretender, Jackson Browne.

[ATRAIN]

NIN hurt is far superior to the Cash version...I like Cash, but Reznor's is the tops. Also, NIN's "all that could have been" is even better than Hurt.

+1

[ATRAIN]

I always thought "Are you Sad" by Our Lady Peace was a pretty depressing song. Plus it reminds me of my ex that broke my heart almost 8 years ago.

[desflood]

In The Arms Of an Angel (Sarah McLaughlin) is the only song I've never been able to sing all the way through without tearing up. That song is depressing as sh*t.

[ATRAIN]

The Stabbing Westward library lol. Every song is about either stalking or a bad breakup.

[ATRAIN]

im suprised Boyz to Men isnt on there. Dont they use its so hard to say goodbye every year when they show us who we lost in the past year?

[Spurminator]

In The Arms Of an Angel (Sarah McLaughlin) is the only song I've never been able to sing all the way through without tearing up. That song is depressing as sh*t.

Another good pick. Especially if you've seen the Animal Abuse TV ad that uses it as its theme.

[desflood]

Another good pick. Especially if you've seen the Animal Abuse TV ad that uses it as its theme.
I'm also a softie for animals. Every time that damn commercial came on I had to turn it off :lol

[Skele-Jester]

Please come to Boston
Dave Loggins.
:cry

[duncan228]

The Allman Brothers/Gregg Allman "Please Call Home" (either version)
Derek And The Dominos "Layla"

[leemajors]

i'm partial to Why Must I Cry by Peter Tosh. No Sympathy is also depressing, and i prefer Tosh's version to others.

[Jekka]

Yep that's a good one. But I think for me it would be The Pretender, Jackson Browne.

I never thought of that song as being particularly depressing. Cynical, sure, but not really sad.

"And then we'll put our dark glasses on,
and we'll make love until our strength is gone
and when the morning light comes streaming in,
we'll get up and do it again
Amen
Get it up again."

A more depressing Jackson Browne song would be Fountain of Sorrow or Song for Adam.

[mrsmaalox]

I never thought of that song as being particularly depressing. Cynical, sure, but not really sad.

"And then we'll put our dark glasses on,
and we'll make love until our strength is gone
and when the morning light comes streaming in,
we'll get up and do it again
Amen
Get it up again."

A more depressing Jackson Browne song would be Fountain of Sorrow or Song for Adam.

I don't know, he wrote it after his wife committed suicide. I think it's about losing your grip on reality. And those lyrics above are in the context of "someday when I meet someone" not to an actual person he loves. Great song.

[female sports fan]

welnlg3svTw
I'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned

[JMarkJohns]

"Washing Of The Water" by Peter Gabriel is an amazing, but depressing song...

River, river carry me on
Living river carry me on
River, river carry me on
To the place where I come from

So deep, so wide, will you take me on your back for a ride
If I should fall, would you swallow me deep inside

River, show me how to float
I feel like Im sinking down
Thought that I could get along
But here in this water
My feet wont touch the ground
I need something to turn myself around

Going away, away towards the sea
River deep, can you lift up and carry me
Oh roll on though the heartland
til the sun has left the sky
River, river carry me high
til the washing of the water make it all alright
Let your waters reach me like she reached me tonight

Letting go, its so hard
The way its hurting now
To get this love untied
So tough to stay with thing
cause if I follow through
I face what I denied
I get those hooks out of me
And I take out the hooks that I sunk deep in your side
Kill that fear of emptiness, loneliness I hide

River, oh river, river running deep
Bring me something that will let me get to sleep
In the washing of the water will you take it all away
Bring me something to take this pain away

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[2centsworth]

by a million miles "All by myself" by Eric Carmen. I think the dude offed himself.

[ChumpDumper]

Carmen is quite alive, and apparently quite drunk much of the time.

[duncan228]

Isn't it Celine Dion's version of Carmen's song that's on the list?

[v2freak]

Is there any story more depressing than about a guy who had a rough childhood (ameliorated only by his hard-working mother) and joins a gang; one day he and his gang members decide to rape and brutally beat a woman and the woman turns out to be his own mom?

[JMarkJohns]

NIN hurt is far superior to the Cash version...I like Cash, but Reznor's is the tops. Also, NIN's "all that could have been" is even better than Hurt.

To each his own. I really like Nine Inch Nails, and liked the original, but I don't think it's one of their best tracks. Not even close... I think Cash took all this song's potential and maximized it.

Before it was whiney - at worst - melancholy - at best. After Cash, it had actual meaning.

NIN's version is solid, and I always loved the off notes betwixt the verses, but Cash embodies the song in a way that Reznor never could, which is why his version resonates, which is why it has much more of an impact.

[MrChug]

FTW: "Somebody Kill Me Please"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTnq268y2ms

-Robby Hart