I glanced back on my lifeAnd thought about my wifeCause they took the keys, and she'll think it's me
― schlep and back trio (anagram), Thursday, 7 April 2016 07:54 (eight years ago) link
I'm not sure this counts as it's not really 'classic rock' but "Alone Again, Naturally" is lyrically the bleakest shit I've ever heard
― bunny slopes, Thursday, 7 April 2016 08:50 (eight years ago) link
When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,Joyfully, playfully watching me.But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible,Logical, responsible, practical.And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,Clinical, intellectual, cynical.
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 7 April 2016 11:03 (eight years ago) link
i remember listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" for the first time when i was 16 or so and reading the lyrics to "Time" and thinking man, I kinda don't want to hear this stuff:
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull dayFritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the timePlans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 7 April 2016 11:07 (eight years ago) link
"the time is gone, the song is over/thought i'd something more to say..."
― diana krallice (rushomancy), Thursday, 7 April 2016 11:18 (eight years ago) link
I don't think I've ever heard "Aqualung" on classic rock radio
― ejemplo (crüt), Thursday, 7 April 2016 11:19 (eight years ago) link
So you think you're a Romeoplaying a part in a picture-showTake the long way homeTake the long way home
Cos you're the joke of the neighborhoodWhy should you care if you're feeling goodTake the long way homeTake the long way home
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 7 April 2016 11:31 (eight years ago) link
Really, crüt? It was a staple when I was growing up.
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Thursday, 7 April 2016 13:04 (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.
you mean Pink Floyd's "Time"? yes it is a staple
pink floyd rules
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, April 6, 2016 3:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Naw, man, I mean this song that reached #15 on the Billboard pop charts at a time when we were apparently in the throes of a collective depression:
Time, flowing like a riverTime, beckoning meWho knows when we shall meet againIf everBut timeKeeps flowing like a riverTo the sea Goodbye my love, Maybe for foreverGoodbye my love, The tide waits for meWho knows when we shall meet againIf everBut timeKeeps flowing like a river (on and on)To the sea, to the sea Till it's gone foreverGone foreverGone forevermore Goodbye my friends, maybe foreverGoodbye my friends, the stars wait for meWho knows where we shall meet againIf everBut timeKeeps flowing like a river (on and on)To the sea, to the sea Till it's gone foreverGone foreverGone forevermore
― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Thursday, 7 April 2016 13:12 (eight years ago) link
And unlike some of the songs itt, the music does nothing to alleviage the heaviness.
Don't cryDon't raise your eyeIt's only teenage wasteland
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 7 April 2016 13:45 (eight years ago) link
Just take those old records off the shelfI'll sit and listen to 'em by myself
― ejemplo (crüt), Thursday, 7 April 2016 13:46 (eight years ago) link
The percentage you're paying is too high-pricedWhile you're living beyond all your meansAnd the man in the suit has just bought a new carFrom the profit he's made on your dreams
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 7 April 2016 14:43 (eight years ago) link
See lyrics like this seem to aestheticized to be truly bleak, they're transfiguting despair into art. What's unbearable about jack and diane is the trite bouncy melody juxtaposed with the suicidal lyrics. For captain jack it's the overall sordidness of the experience described.
― Treeship, Thursday, 7 April 2016 14:52 (eight years ago) link
lol Crüt
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Thursday, 7 April 2016 15:13 (eight years ago) link
The question made me think of Manic Street Preachers' La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh), which after 23 years must be approaching classic rock status, at least in Europe. The song's title and chorus paraphrase the last words of Vincent van Gogh, "La trisesse durera toujours." ("The sadness will go on forever.")
― Vast Halo, Thursday, 7 April 2016 20:38 (eight years ago) link
best thing about alan parsons' "time" (he must not have known pink floyd had a song by the same name...) is the way mr. bungle used to cover it back in the day. this footage here is just beautiful, man, beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5DKXxMbrJE
― diana krallice (rushomancy), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:22 (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, April 6, 2016 3:39 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I always heard the last line as bitterly sarcastic. And I think it's a great line, because it gives the speaker a sense of humor and makes him more than just an archetypal human tragedy. And yeah, I don't think there's anything much bleaker than the images in that song on classic rock radio.
― human life won't become a cat (man alive), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:46 (eight years ago) link
I used to think that Pink Floyd came up with the phrase "quiet desperation" themselves.
― human life won't become a cat (man alive), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:47 (eight years ago) link
Boomer Suicide Anthems
― never ending bath infusion (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:52 (eight years ago) link
Just destroys mehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEH_ms8d1ws
― human life won't become a cat (man alive), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:53 (eight years ago) link
I don't want to fade awayGive me one more day, please
― lute bro (brimstead), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:58 (eight years ago) link
hungry heart is the saddest bruce springsteen hit, imo
― lute bro (brimstead), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:59 (eight years ago) link
i can't even decide which verse is the saddest. or if the chorus is sadder.
i don't want to playi just want to bang or get drunk all day
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 7 April 2016 23:10 (eight years ago) link
Born to Run is pretty sad to me.
― human life won't become a cat (man alive), Thursday, 7 April 2016 23:22 (eight years ago) link
I don't want to dieI sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 7 April 2016 23:45 (eight years ago) link
classic rock was often super-maudlin, more convincingly despondent than "punk"
I'm going to rent myself a houseIn the shade of the freewayI'm going to pack my lunch in the morningAnd go to work each dayAnd when the evening rolls aroundI'll go on home and lay my body downAnd when the morning light comes streaming inI'll get up and do it againAmenSay it againAmen
I want to know what became of the changesWe waited for love to bringWere they only the fitful dreamsOf some greater awakeningI've been aware of the time going byThey say in the end it's the wink of an eyeAnd when the morning light comes streaming inYou'll get up and do it againAmen
Caught between the longing for loveAnd the struggle for the legal tenderWhere the sirens sing and the church bells ringAnd the junk man pounds his fenderWhere the veterans dream of the fightFast asleep at the traffic lightAnd the children solemnly waitFor the ice cream vendorOut into the cool of the eveningStrolls the PretenderHe knows that all his hopes and dreamsBegin and end there
Ah the laughter of the loversAs they run through the nightLeaving nothing for the othersBut to choose off and fightAnd tear at the world with all their mightWhile the ships bearing their dreamsSail out of sight
I'm going to find myself a girlWho can show me what laughter meansAnd we'll fill in the missing colorsIn each other's paint-by-number dreamsAnd then we'll put our dark glasses onAnd we'll make love until our strength is goneAnd when the morning light comes streaming inWe'll get up and do it againGet it up again
I'm going to be a happy idiotAnd struggle for the legal tenderWhere the ads take aim and lay their claimTo the heart and the soul of the spenderAnd believe in whatever may lieIn those things that money can buyThough true love could have been a contenderAre you there?Say a prayer for the PretenderWho started out so young and strongOnly to surrender
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 8 April 2016 00:44 (eight years ago) link
alan parsons' "time" (he must not have known pink floyd had a song by the same name...)
lolol
― mookieproof, Friday, 8 April 2016 00:48 (eight years ago) link
classic rock songwriters much more likely than punks to be in their 30s and wondering on some level wtf they're doing with their life. plus loss-of-innocence crap maybe. i just watched american graffiti and read ebert's review which stresses this whole "this is before kennedy got killed and everything changed" kinda thing. we could ridicule that all day but clearly if roger ebert felt feelings like that, maybe george lucas did too and also idk jackson browne.
― never ending bath infusion (Doctor Casino), Friday, 8 April 2016 00:53 (eight years ago) link
they were also in danger of getting shot and killed. john lennon, say, and pete townshend came from roots way more working class than joe strummer or lou reed. their uppity-ness was more dangerous. pete wrote songs about getting molested as a child. that's pretty fucking bleak. likewise so is plastic ono band. "london calling" is a self-help anthem compared to "behind blue eyes"
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 8 April 2016 01:11 (eight years ago) link
Finished with my woman cuz she couldn't help me with my mindPeople think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time
― nicky lo-fi, Friday, 8 April 2016 18:02 (eight years ago) link
Can you help meThought you were my friend
― nicky lo-fi, Friday, 8 April 2016 18:03 (eight years ago) link
"All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy" is sort of brilliant imo,
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:06 (eight years ago) link
Best line in that song, of course, is the bleakest one of all - "Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry"
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:09 (eight years ago) link
Floyd may have been the most consistent purveyors of classic rock bleakness
We're just two lost souls Swimming in a fish bowlYear after year Running over the same old ground What have we found? The same old fears Wish you were here
― Brad C., Friday, 8 April 2016 18:10 (eight years ago) link
more petty:
I wanna glide down over MulhollandI wanna write her name in the skyI wanna free fall out into nothinGonna leave this world for awhile
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:16 (eight years ago) link
more resigned than bleak i suppose
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:18 (eight years ago) link
I don't feel you any moreYou darken my doorWhatever you're looking forDon't come around here no more
I think we've estabished that half of all classic rock songs have bleak lyrics.
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:19 (eight years ago) link
"Jack and Diane" is a weird one for me. When I first heard the song as a kid, I think I thought that Diane must have gotten horribly injured in a car crash or something. Afaict, though, they lost the thrill of living because they grew up and had normal adulthoods.
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:21 (eight years ago) link
Hm, that's probably unfair because I don't want to imply that someone can't have a thrilling life after injury and disability.
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link
Shoulda had a noms thread first.
― hardcore dilettante, Friday, 8 April 2016 18:32 (eight years ago) link
"Paradise By the Dashboard Light" is actually about sex with Meatloaf
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:36 (eight years ago) link
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, April 8, 2016 1:16 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i saw something once speculating that "Freefallin'" was about heroin? like the "vampires" are addicts
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:37 (eight years ago) link
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, April 8, 2016 1:16 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Second verse:
I wanna stand with you on a mountainI wanna bathe with you in the seaI wanna lay like this foreverUntil the sky falls down on me
― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Friday, 8 April 2016 18:38 (eight years ago) link
third verse:
I wanna run through the halls of my high schoolI wanna scream at the top of my lungsI just found out there's no such thing as the real worldJust a lie you've got to rise above
― ejemplo (crüt), Friday, 8 April 2016 19:28 (eight years ago) link
It will now forever be impossible for me to refrain from mentally admixing these lyrics and songs.
― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Friday, 8 April 2016 19:32 (eight years ago) link
no such thing does give me a strangely bleak feeling
― human life won't become a cat (man alive), Friday, 8 April 2016 19:34 (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
― human life won't become a cat (man alive), Friday, 8 April 2016 19:35 (eight years ago) link