Sigh…another year and it’s the same old story. Once again, the football season has just started and my favorite team already has a losing record. Nothing seems to deflate me more than another opening day loss. So, of course, the logical thing to do is to put on some good depressing music! A good song doesn’t always have to be happy and upbeat. Sometimes these dark and hauntingly beautiful songs could be just what we’re in the mood for…and they can even make you feel a little better.
So here, in no particular order, are my Top Ten Sad Songs of All Time –
“Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” – The Smiths
http://youtu.be/GiqOsKngc-c
“Something In The Way” – Nirvana
“Supernatural” – Vic Chesnutt
“Clothes Of Sand” – Nick Drake
“How To Disappear Completely” – Radiohead
“Alone”– Dinosaur, Jr.
“Something I Can Never Have” – Nine Inch Nails
“Gloomy Sunday” – Billie Holiday
“Whiskey Bottle” – Uncle Tupelo
“Delicate” – Damien Rice
Well, there you have it – a truly depressing list! So what are some of your favorites?
– Submitted by David Sheyda, Music Design
Love that you guys made this list! Music can capture every emotion you have ever felt and will ever feel. Only music can make pain, or any other negative emotion, feel alright because it gives you a platform to relate to. Artists do an amazing justice by creating songs/ albums that can take you away from the feelings you loath and make it into something beautiful. Anyways, I’ll share a few songs that to me connect the dichotomy of human emotion through music, in no particular order.
Loro – Pinback always strikes a chord. In fact their whole first album creates a melancholic mood that only Rob Crow can master.
Put Your Hand on Your Heart – Jose Gonzalez, a classic cover of the 80’s pop hit. Gonzalez makes the lyrics of that song seem more real and genuine over an acoustic guitar and his recognizable quiet voice seems to resonate and muster up all the feeling of heartbreak in me.
Anywhere Anyone – Dntel. The beat captures you and is like a cycle, spiraling you into a black hole of self-loathing. I love the ambient feel, dntel is a very unique artist with how he presents his music. The lyrics go “How can you love me if you don’t love yourself? How can I love you if I don’t love myself? We’re not going anywhere…”
Sleeper 1972- Manchester Orchestra. A chilling tale of how a death in the family affects everyone.
The Dive Pt. 1 – Eyedea. Now I know hip hop has a negative connotation, but if you look at the lyrics some of it is pure poetry. Per example, Eyedea’s epic Dive, which he wrote when he was only 20 years old. This song details a man’s dive into insanity and delirium. At the end he is hopelessly mad, which segues into Dive pt. 2, an optimistic justification for his sanity to be replenished. His first album, which he wrote, produced, and mixed when he was 18 years old, is also a masterpiece. A tragic poet gone too soon, R.I.P Michael Larson.
To Wish Impossible Things – The Cure. Robert Smith is the master at making seemly depressing lyrics so relate-able. He deserves his own category for the countless songs he’s created, with every Cure song he gives you a peek into his tainted-by-pain mindset. Listen to their album ‘Disintegration’ to see what I mean.
The Winter – Balmorhea. Complete with a full strings section, a clean electric guitar and piano, this song slowly builds into a crescendo that always brings images of a lonely old man sitting alone in his cabin in the woods watching the snow accumulate into something spectacular while he slowly fades away and melts to nothing. Rarely can music paint such a vivid picture in your mind with no words, as you feel the artist’s emotion build though the music alone.
Creep – Stone Temple Pilots
Empty – Ray LaMontagne
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
For No One/ Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles
Sacrilegious – Schoolboy Q
Nutshell – Alice in Chains
Who Love the Sun – Velvet Underground
Another Lonely Day – Ben Harper
Peek-A-Boo – Daniel Johnston
I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You – Colin Hay
Further Away/ Black Flies- Ben Howard
Drifting – Incise Feat. Slur
Brothers on a Hotel Bed – Death Cab for Cutie
Once More with Feeling – Get Cape Wear Cape Fly
My Dream Girl Don’t Exist – Jeff Magnum
Soundtrack to My Life – Kid Cudi
Castles Made of Sand – Jimi Hendrix
Cycling Trivialities – Jose Gonzalez
Carry Me Ohio – Sun Kil Moon
Open Your Eyes – Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s
Landslide – Fleetwood Mac
Fragile – Tach N9ne Feat. Kendrick Lamar
The Loop – Mimicking Birds
The Needle and the Damage Done – Neil Young
Black – Pearl Jam
Any Radiohead song
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight – The Postal Service
Rewrite – Sage Francis
New Slang – The Shins
Don’t You Cry – Unknown Prophets
I Lied – Telefon Tel Aviv
How Soon is Now? – The Smiths
Dear Mama – Tupac
Much, much, much more! I’m probably forgetting some and will discover more great remedies for my days when I’m down, but for now I feel this is an extensive list of my favorite songs to listen to when I want a song to match how I feel eyt lift me up at the same time. That’s the power of music!!