Songs In Need Of Prozac

Blackstar · 01 Jan 2007

I just realized why I'm so pessimistic. I must have become interested in pop songs on the radio in 1974. All three of these were big hits that year:

1) "SEASONS IN THE SUN"

2) "BILLY, DON'T BE A HERO"

3) "CAT'S IN THE CRADLE"

All three songs focus on the futility of life and the race towards death. What are some other hit pop songs that are downbeat and depressing?

Ven · 13 Jul 2006

"MacArthur Park." Depressing on so many levels.

Zane · 05 Aug 2006

Last Kiss....."where oh where can my baby be? the lord took her away from me"

Blackstar · 01 Jan 2007

"AT SEVENTEEN" by Janis Ian (in 1975)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efHOIT1ROk8[/youtube]

Jimbo · 19 Jul 2006

Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" is one of the saddest #1 singles ever. After detailing a litany of deaths and crushing disappointments, the protagonist promises to commit suicide, if he can work up the willpower.

Blackstar · 01 Jan 2007

"HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY" by George Jones

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua3YzTLGDW4[/youtube]

Zane · 05 Aug 2006

Carrickfergus- Van Morrison(and others)

A story of a dying old man who longs for the girl he'll never have. All his friends and family are dead and gone and he is left to spend his final sick days in drunken depression. Great song, but not a tune you would select for a party.

Blackstar · 01 Jan 2007

Jimbo wrote:

Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" is one of the saddest #1 singles ever.

I remember that song. It got a lot of radio play throughout the mid-1970s.

You don't hear the lyrics to the M*A*S*H* theme too often. I understand it was a belated #1 hit in the UK in 1980. Here's the lyrics:

Quote:

Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...

[Refrain]:
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.

[Refrain]

The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.

[Refrain]

The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger, watch it grin, but...

[Refrain]

A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
"is it to be or not to be"
and I replied "oh why ask me?"

'Cause suicide is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
...and you can do the same thing if you please.

GoogaMooga · 02 Aug 2006

I second "At Seventeen", and also cast a vote for the anti-war songs "The Windows of the World" by Dionne Warwick and "Where have all the Flowers Gone?" by The Searchers, both of which have managed to choke me up.

Simon · **Joined:** 26 Oct 2006 **Posts:** 59451

'Round Here by Counting Crows.

Jane Says by Jane's Addiction.

Federico · 12 Jul 2006

One of my favorite CSN songs - Find the Cost of Freedom

Kid Bailey · 16 Jul 2006

"Yesterday"-one of the most popular tunes by someone usually classified as the cheery optimist, the left behind singer is now half the man he used to be with a shadow hanging over him, longing for yesterday.

"Kiss Me Goodbye"-Petula Clark-there's such an air of finality to this.
"Can't You See"-Marshall Tucker Band

Jimbo · 19 Jul 2006

Tom Jones' version of "Green, Green Grass of Home" always manages to put a lump in my throat. A guy longing for his bucolic home life turns out to be a death-row inmate, about to walk the last mile, after which they'll plant him in that green, green grass.

Pip · **Joined:** 16 Aug 2004 **Posts:** 2921

I heard a version of "Long Black Veil" the other night. There's a peppy little number.

Momo · 22 Jun 2007

How about Eric Carmen's "All By Myself"? And last year an internet music site chose the Pernice Brothers' "Chicken Wire" as the most "exquisitely sad song," about a woman who commits suicide in her exhaust-filled garage.

Charles Abercrombie · **Joined:** 28 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 5535

Nilsson's "Without You"

"Shannon" by Henry Gross, which I insist is about a drowning dog.

Glenn S. · 30 Oct 2006

"Is That All There Is" - Peggy Lee

My mother had at least three of these songs on singles when I was growing up, and she was one of the most well-adjusted people I've ever known. Hearing these songs again in my later years I couldn't believe how morbid they were. Not my idea of entertainment, but apparently Mom liked them.

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

"Mother" by The Police.

Charles Abercrombie · **Joined:** 28 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 5535

"Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphy (about a frozen-dead horse--probably inspired by "Shannon")

"Have You Seen Her" by The Chi-Lites

"In the Ghetto" by Elvis Presley

"Freddie's Dead" by Curtis Mayfield

"Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith

Hank · 01 Dec 2004

Jimbo wrote:

Tom Jones' version of "Green, Green Grass of Home" always manages to put a lump in my throat. A guy longing for his bucolic home life turns out to be a death-row inmate, about to walk the last mile, after which they'll plant him in that green, green grass.

On the same note, "Gotta Get A Message To You" and "Bury Me Down By The River" by the Bee Gees are both about condemned criminals.

And who can forget the Bee Gees' uplifting ditty, "New York Mining Disaster 1941" with lines such as "Have they given up and all gone home to bed/Thinking those who once existed must be dead."

Charles Abercrombie · **Joined:** 28 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 5535

I think if you look closely at the lyrics, "It Was a Very Good Year" by Frank Sinatra isn't a depressing song. But something about the music and the getting-old idea just depresses the hell out of me whenever I hear it.

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

D.O.A. by bloodrock. can anything be more depressing than that?

Songs In Need Of Prozac

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