great first post!
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:21 (eight years ago) link
The Billy Joel one fucks me up though. Maybe we can contact Doug Martsch and have him squeeze that one in somewhere.
― how's life, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:23 (eight years ago) link
billy joel can go deeper and darker than any scandinavian black metal band
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:24 (eight years ago) link
i think it's just because he's so crass and pedestrian. he doesn't aestheticize depression, he just writes about it in all its sordidness, with a minimum of apparent self-awareness
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:26 (eight years ago) link
Was Alan Parsons Project's 'Time' ever a classic rock staple? Because those might be the most depressing lyrics of any charting song ever.
'Dust In The Wind' fer sure, as well.
― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:26 (eight years ago) link
"Jack and Diane" was playing on the office radio earlier today.
― an opportunity thick enough to taste (snoball), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link
Also, both in the sense of playing on the office radio earlier today and having bleak lyrics, Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69".
― an opportunity thick enough to taste (snoball), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
Also 'Boys Of Summer', 'Glory Days', really any song about nostalgia for (probably imagined) faded glory.
― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:33 (eight years ago) link
what about "the river"
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:34 (eight years ago) link
then i got mary pregnant / and that was all she wrote / and for my nineteenth birthday / i got a union card and a wedding coat
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:35 (eight years ago) link
(Total aside, but a friend of mine coined the usage of 'faded glory' to describe a long in back & bald on top hairstyle, which I've always thought was brilliant.)
― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:35 (eight years ago) link
springsteen happens to be a good lyricist -- he lends some depth and dignity to the experiences he writes about imo. for me at least, that offsets the "shoot yourself" quality of a "jack and diane" or "captain jack"
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:36 (eight years ago) link
Lots of Springsteen fits this bill, surely.
― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:36 (eight years ago) link
And, yes, Springsteen is often very good with the lyrics.
"Meeting Across The River" might be Springsteen's bleakest non-nostalgic song, basically because you as the listener know that the whole meeting is going to go badly wrong.
― an opportunity thick enough to taste (snoball), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:45 (eight years ago) link
"Is a dream a lie if it don't come true/ Or is it something worse"
― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:52 (eight years ago) link
"So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, Shorter of breath and one day closer to death."
― T.L.O.P.son (Phil D.), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:56 (eight years ago) link
This is kind of turning into my high school classmates' yearbook quotes.
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:25 (eight years ago) link
verse 2 of "American Girl" gets me in my feelings every time
And for one desperate momentThere he crept back in her memoryGod it's so painful when something that's so closeIs still so far out of reach
― "Robots are sexy as shit" - Big Sean (some dude), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:26 (eight years ago) link
Anyway, this one is theoretically pretty bleak if you take it literally:
I woke up this morning and the sun was gone
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:27 (eight years ago) link
instead there were two moons
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:28 (eight years ago) link
I heard this afresh the other day:
Caught up in a landslideNo escape from reality
― real orgone kid (NickB), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:59 (eight years ago) link
It's the terror of knowingWhat this world is aboutWatching some good friendsScreaming, "Let me out!"
― Don't Stop 'Til You Get Eno, Ugh (ledge), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:04 (eight years ago) link
good ones
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:10 (eight years ago) link
never caught the suicidal implications of the bowie one before
and on that note:
"billy rapped all night about his suicide/ how he'd kick it in the head when he hit twenty five / speed jive, don't wannna be alive/ when you're twenty five"
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:11 (eight years ago) link
Really this is kind of shooting fish in a barrel:
Mirror, mirror on the wallThe face you've shown me scares me soI thought that I could call your bluffBut now the lines are clear enough
Classic rock was pretty bleak, in general.
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:16 (eight years ago) link
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?Dreams of loneliness
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:17 (eight years ago) link
-Fleetwood Mac, Dreams
- Bob Marley
― T.L.O.P.son (Phil D.), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:19 (eight years ago) link
- Abraham Lincoln
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:22 (eight years ago) link
I could be wrong, but I think that dreams of classic rock era (70s) for the people who weren't going to be able to buy a castle in England were to land a steady job while somehow maintaining illusions of 1960s rebellion, so the contrast between theory and reality was inevitably pretty bleak.
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:23 (eight years ago) link
When masturbation's lost its funYou're fucking lonely- Green Day "Long View"
― o. nate, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:25 (eight years ago) link
what do you guys think about "gimme shelter"? it's a dark song, apocalyptic, but is it bleak?
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:26 (eight years ago) link
No one knows what happened that dayHow his car overturned in flamesBut as they pulled him from the twisted wreckWith his dying breath, they heard him sayTell Laura I love her.
It's a sad song all around... guy wants to get married to the girl he loves, has no money, enters a car race to win money and dies. I think it was even banned at the time for being too bleak for the radio.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:29 (eight years ago) link
In a similar note Last Kiss, which was also a hit for Pearl Jam.
"And if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground."
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:30 (eight years ago) link
Actually a country staple (a depressing genre on its own with many examples) but I hear it on classic rock radio all the time.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:31 (eight years ago) link
you mean Pink Floyd's "Time"? yes it is a staple
pink floyd rules
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:31 (eight years ago) link
From SONGFACTS.. "Mel Tillis wrote this song. He based the song on a couple who lived near his family in Florida. In real life, the man was wounded in Germany in World War II and sent to recuperate in England. There he married a nurse who took care of him at the hospital. The two of them moved to Florida shortly afterward, but he had periodic return trips to the hospital as problems with his wounds kept flaring up. His wife saw another man as the veteran lay in the hospital. Tillis changed the war in the song to the Korean War, and left out the life ending: the man killed her in a murder-suicide. In the song, the man says he would kill her if he could move to get his gun."
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:33 (eight years ago) link
"no one told you when to run / you missed the starting gun" is like, too real for me
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:34 (eight years ago) link
"Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin' into the future" vs. "Don't fear the reaper"
― ... (Eazy), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:36 (eight years ago) link
don't fear the reaper is too Romantic to be bleak. in that song, death is the unknown, not the end.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:37 (eight years ago) link
Petty has a lot:
Two cars parked on the overpass, Rocks hit the water like broken glass I should have known right then it was too good to last God, it's such a drag when you're livin' in the past
I've given up, I've given upI've given up, you tangle my emotions
Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around someWho knows maybe you were kidnapped tied up,Taken away and held for ransomI've given up, honey please admit it is over
'Cause somewhere deep down insideSomeone is saying, "Love doesn't last that long"I got this feelin' inside night and dayAnd now I can't take it no more
It was too cold to cry when I woke up aloneI hit my last number and walked to the road
Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the painI feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
You better watch what you sayYou better watch what you do to me
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:38 (eight years ago) link
"born in the usa" prob the bleakest springsteen song you ever hear on the radio, even if he does end it with "i'm a cool-rockin' daddy in the usa!" for some reason
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:39 (eight years ago) link
that song is mostly bleak because it sucks so much and it's a disgrace to the songwriter
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:40 (eight years ago) link
River is bleaker imho
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:40 (eight years ago) link
the irony is too overt for it to be an effective song, i think, even if it was too subtle for reagan and his campaign team to understand
in born in the usa that is
yes, last dance with mary jane
I've given up, I've given upI've given up,
the definition of bleak
― Treeship, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:42 (eight years ago) link
I heard Taxi a few times on classic rock radio in St. Louis in '08 or '09, but I think that was because that station had No Repeat Weeks. Growing up in Nebraska, every station played "Cat's In The Cradle". That might be a regional thing though.
― mosele (L P Mosey), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 01:48 (eight years ago) link
Oh, cool.
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 02:04 (eight years ago) link
cats in the cradle is a brutal tearjerker. kid was neglected by his busy father, who is now a lonely, elderly man, neglected by his son. the song pretends to be about the cycle of life but it's just about a cycle of neglect.
― Treeship, Tuesday, 12 April 2016 03:27 (eight years ago) link
or maybe it's not pretending anything. the dad realizes the son grew up "just like him," too preoccupied with work to make time for his family.
the socialist in me wonders whose really to blame here: the dad for losing sight of priorities, or the insane working hours americans are expected to keep
― Treeship, Tuesday, 12 April 2016 03:30 (eight years ago) link
fast car is pretty much the saddest song i have ever heard. i didn't even know it until raymond posted it and i listened again. jesus christ.
― Gatemouth, Tuesday, 12 April 2016 03:33 (eight years ago) link
like all that stuff Werner Herzog says about what he sees in the faces of bears is sort of what I imagine about the souls of John Mayer fans
this is cracking me up.
― campreverb, Tuesday, 12 April 2016 03:51 (eight years ago) link
Burma Shave by Tom Waits has a similar theme to fast car but is way more depressing.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 05:51 (eight years ago) link
disagree, there's a theatrical nature to waits thing that sort of keeps you at arm's length
be someonebe someone;_;
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 13:25 (eight years ago) link
Angel of darkness is upon youStuck a needle in your armSo take another toke, have a blow for your noseOne more drink fool, will drown youOoooh that smellCan't you smell that smellOoooh that smellThe smell of death surrounds you
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 April 2016 13:28 (eight years ago) link
which reminds me of:
I hit the city and I lost my bandI watched the needle take another manGone, gone, the damage done
― schlep and back trio (anagram), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 13:40 (eight years ago) link
out of the blue and into the blackthey give you this but you paid for thatbut once they're gone you can never go backwhen you're out of the blue and into the black
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 18:59 (eight years ago) link
'Fast Car' is bleak, but even bleaker, albeit for a different reason, is the Jonas Blue cover version:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjnadPBMJGs
― an opportunity thick enough to taste (snoball), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 19:19 (eight years ago) link
Most depressing Waits lyric I've ever heard is from "A Little Rain," on Bone Machine:
She was fifteen years oldAnd she'd never seen the oceanShe climbed into a van with a vagabondAnd the last thing she saidWas "I love you Mom"
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 19:21 (eight years ago) link
jesus
― Treeship, Tuesday, 12 April 2016 19:24 (eight years ago) link
For bleakest Waits, I'm partial to "A Soldier's Things"
Davenports and kettle drums and swallowtail coatsTablecloths and patent-leather shoesBathing suits and bowling balls and clarinets and ringsAnd all this radio really needs is a fuse
A tinker, a tailorA soldier's thingsHis rifle, his boots full of rocksOh, and this one is for braveryAnd this one is for meAnd everything's a dollar in this box
Cufflinks and hubcaps, trophies and paperbacksIt's good transportation but the brakes aren't so hotNeckties and boxing gloves, this jackknife is rustedYou can pound that dent out on the hood
A tinker, a tailorA soldier's thingsHis rifle, his boots full of rocksOh, and this one is for braveryOh, and this one is for meAnd everything's a dollar in this box
― Honor thy pisstake as a hidden intention. (WilliamC), Tuesday, 12 April 2016 19:41 (eight years ago) link
Please tell me which classic rock radio station plays Tom Waits songs that aren't sung by Rod Stewart
― badg, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 01:06 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, they don't even play the Eagles "Ol' 55."
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 01:12 (eight years ago) link
the classic rock station I made up in my head where I go to escape this cruel world
― Honor thy pisstake as a hidden intention. (WilliamC), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 01:16 (eight years ago) link
"Fire and Rain." (At least it used to get occasional play on the classic rock station here--they're making the transition towards Simple Minds right now.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 01:21 (eight years ago) link
Somewhere out there on that horizon Out beyond the neon lights I know there must be somethin' better but there's nowhere else in sight It's survival in the city When you live from day to day City streets don't have much pity When you're down, that's where you'll stay In the city, oh, oh. In the city
I was born here in the city With my back against the wall Nothing grows, and life ain't very pretty No one's there to catch you when you fall Somewhere out on that horizon Faraway from the neon sky I know there must be somethin' better And I can't stay another night In the city, oh, oh. In the city
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 03:17 (eight years ago) link
then he started into dealing with slavesand something inside of him diedshe had to sell everything she ownedand froze up inside
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 03:19 (eight years ago) link
So you decide to take a holidayYou got your tape deck and your brand new ChevroletAhhh, there ain't no place to go anywayWhat for?
So you got everything, aw, but nothing's coolThey just found your father in the swimming poolAnd you guess you won't be going back to school,anymore.
But Captain Jack can get you high tonightAnd take you to your special islandAw Captain Jack will get you by tonightJust a little push and you'll be smilin'
― never ending bath infusion (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 04:45 (eight years ago) link
yeah that song is like a face tattoo exclaiming "life is meaningless"
― Treeship, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 04:47 (eight years ago) link
good call on "in the city"
― lute bro (brimstead), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 05:08 (eight years ago) link
They cry in the darkSo you can't see their tearsThey hide in the lightSo you can't see their fearsForgive and forgetAll the whileLove and pain become one and the sameIn the eyes of a wounded child
― Zachary Taylor, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 05:43 (eight years ago) link
Everybody's got a secret son,Something that they just can't faceSome folks spend their whole lives trying to keep itThey carry it with them every step that they take
Till one day they just cut it looseCut it loose or let it drag 'em downWhere no one asks any questionsLooks too long in your faceIn the darkness on the edge of townIn the darkness on the edge of town
― Zachary Taylor, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 05:50 (eight years ago) link
And I know a father who had a sonHe longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he'd doneHe came a long way just to explainHe kissed his boy as he lay sleepingThen he turned around and he headed home again
― Zachary Taylor, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 05:54 (eight years ago) link
Twelve o'clock, I gotta rockThere's a truck ahead, lights starin' at my eyesOh my God, no time to turnI got to laugh 'cause I know I'm gonna die
― Zachary Taylor, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 06:01 (eight years ago) link
If it feels alright, maybe you can stay all nightShall I leave you my key?But you've got to give me a sign, come on girl, some kind of signTell me, are you hot mama? you sure look that way to me
Are you old enough? will you be ready when I call you bluff?Is my timing right? did you save your love for me tonight?
― Zachary Taylor, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 06:03 (eight years ago) link
That Jonas Blue cover of fast car is wretched because it's hopeless -- the original version has always sounded to me like the narrator's saying "fuck this, I'm done with it" finally.
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 11:18 (eight years ago) link
tom jones - not unusual
it's not unusual to see me cry/I WANNA DIE
― pre millennial tension (uptown churl), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 13:47 (eight years ago) link
i sometimes wish i'd never been born at all
. . .
nothing really matters, anyone can seenothing really mattersnothing really matters to me . . . anyway the wind blows. . . .
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 13 April 2016 15:48 (eight years ago) link
Not the bleakest, but this couplet always bring me down:
So many people, have come and goneTheir faces fade as the years go by
― henry s, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 16:31 (eight years ago) link
You don't hear "Eleanor Rigby" on classic rock stations too often (except maybe during a Beatles 6-pack or rock block), but those lyrics never fail to block out the sun.
― henry s, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 16:36 (eight years ago) link
i always saw belle and sebastian's early work as like a response to the beatles' question of where lonely people in the uk come from/belong. it turned out they were predictably sad and lonely but also had rich inner lives, filled with transgressive sex and deep spiritual convictions. that made me feel better.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 16:47 (eight years ago) link
and if i smile, tell me some bad newsbefore i laugh, and act like a fool
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 21:00 (eight years ago) link
Well, I've been afraid of changing'Cause I've built my life around youBut time made you bolderEven children get olderAnd I'm getting older too
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 23:21 (eight years ago) link
I am never not haunted - even after hearing the song a zillion times in non-bleak contexts - by the backing vocals in Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," distantly chanting "this world is only going to break your heart" over and over again
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Thursday, 21 April 2016 02:17 (eight years ago) link
i always saw belle and sebastian's early work as like a response to the beatles' question of where lonely people in the uk come from/belong. it turned out they were predictably sad and lonely but also had rich inner lives, filled with transgressive sex and deep spiritual convictions. that made me feel better.― Treeship, Wednesday, April 13, 2016 4:47 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Treeship, Wednesday, April 13, 2016 4:47 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― bernard snowy, Thursday, 21 April 2016 04:21 (eight years ago) link
Does "Johnny and Mary" by Robert Palmer count, because that's as bleak as bleak
― a hairy, howling toad torments a man whose wife is deathly ill (James Morrison), Thursday, 21 April 2016 06:02 (eight years ago) link
yeah, that's a great post, Treeship.
― never ending bath infusion (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 21 April 2016 12:28 (eight years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 1 May 2016 00:01 (eight years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 2 May 2016 00:01 (eight years ago) link
Another year and then you'd be happyJust one more year and then you'd be happyBut you're cryin, you're cryin now
― Liquid Plejades, Monday, 2 May 2016 02:41 (eight years ago) link
OP didn't even choose the bleakest line of Jack & Diane, which is:
"Suckin' on a chili dog outside the Tastee-Freez"
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 9 May 2016 18:40 (eight years ago) link
I remember when rock was youngMe and Suzie had so much funHolding hands and skimmin' stonesHad an old gold Chevy and a place of my ownBut the biggest kick I ever gotWas doing a thing called the crocodile rockWhile the other kids were rockin' round the clockWe were hoppin' and boppin' to the crocodile rock
But the years went by and the rock just diedSuzie went and left us for some foreign guyLong nights crying by the record machineDreaming of my hevy and my old blue jeansBut they'll never kill the thrills we've gotBurnin' up to the crocodile rockLearnin' fast as the weeks went pastWe really thought the crocodile rock would last
Crocodile-rockin' is something shockin'When your feet just can't keep stillI never knew me a better time and I guess I never will
― Newb Sybok (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 27 December 2017 17:52 (six years ago) link