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The top 5 most depressing songs ever

Hello my blog reading public. I realize I am a day late in posting this, yesterday was a little on the hectic side, my job had me stuck in Stamford, Connecticut for half the day.
But now I am ready to bestow upon you my top 5 most depressing songs ever! These are the songs that take you from self pity to utter despair and can ruin any good mood.

5. The Streets – Dry Your Eyes

Mike Skinner, yes the guy that previously brought you such somber tracks as “Fit But You Know It” and “The Irony of It All”, gets all sorts of miserable on “Dry Your Eyes”. Originally the chorus was to be sung by Chris Martin of Coldplay, but Skinners voice cracking just makes the whole track more convincing. This vivid first person description of being rejected would make even the most hardened cynic get all misty eyed.

She brings her hands up towards where my hands rested
She wraps her fingers round mine with the softness she’s blessed with
She peels away my fingers, looks at me and then gestures
By pushin’ my hand away to my chest, from hers

4. Ben Folds Five – Brick

Common sense would say that a song about taking your girlfriend to get an abortion could never be a hit. Common decency would probably also prevent you from sharing such an experience with the world… thankfully Ben Folds does not listen anything “common”. We’re walked through the day, the experience step by painful step.

They call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her
Flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Cant you see
Its not me youre dying for
Now shes feeling more alone
Than she ever has before

3. Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night

An old blues song, originally recorded in a jail cell, being performed by a whiny white suburban guy has no right to be this convincing or this heart breaking. A life time worth of pain and frustration is captured, not in a lyric, or in a note, but in a breath. Right before the last line of the song everything stops and Kurt Cobain draws one last breath in preparation for the last screeching gut wrenching line.

2. Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit

Based on a poem by Lewis Allen about lynching in the south, “Strange Fruit” will
make you feel ashamed; for your country and for ever complaining about anything… ever. The metaphor only serves to make the image even more disturbing, reminding us that they weren’t even human in many peoples eyes.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

1. Bruce Springsteen – The River

There are more tragic fates in this world than a mundane predetermined existence, but you’d be hard pressed to think otherwise while listening to “The River”. Springsteen’s lyrics capture the desperation of the daily grind and the trappings of small town life better than anyone ever has, and he delivers them with the conviction of someone who is intimately connected to the lifestyle.
Listening to this song is the best argument that just being another cog in the machine is a fate worse than death.

Then I got mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteen birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

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posted by Unknown at 1:46 PM