End of the Rainbow: Can anyone name a more devistating song?

Sorry, I suppose that's devastating, isn't it.

That is pretty bleak actually. Maybe Leonard Cohen has something up there for devastating. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" from Songs Of Love & Hate comes to mind. Bit of a long lyric, but oh well:

Dress Rehearsal Rag

Four o'clock in the afternoon
and I didn't feel like very much.
I said to myself, "Where are you golden boy,
where is your famous golden touch?"
I thought you knew where
all of the elephants lie down,
I thought you were the crown prince
of all the wheels in Ivory Town.
Just take a look at your body now,
there's nothing much to save
and a bitter voice in the mirror cries,
"Hey, Prince, you need a shave."
Now if you can manage to get
your trembling fingers to behave,
why don't you try unwrapping
a stainless steel razor blade?
That's right, it's come to this,
yes it's come to this,
and wasn't it a long way down,
wasn't it a strange way down?
There's no hot water
and the cold is running thin.
Well, what do you expect from
the kind of places you've been living in?
Don't drink from that cup,
it's all caked and cracked along the rim.
That's not the electric light, my friend,
that is your vision growing dim.
Cover up your face with soap, there,
now you're Santa Claus.
And you've got a gift for anyone
who will give you his applause.
I thought you were a racing man,
ah, but you couldn't take the pace.
That's a funeral in the mirror
and it's stopping at your face.
That's right, it's come to this,
yes it's come to this,
and wasn't it a long way down,
ah wasn't it a strange way down?

Once there was a path
and a girl with chestnut hair,
and you passed the summers
picking all of the berries that grew there;
there were times she was a woman,
oh, there were times she was just a child,
and you held her in the shadows
where the raspberries grow wild.
And you climbed the twilight mountains
and you sang about the view,
and everywhere that you wandered
love seemed to go along with you.
That's a hard one to remember,
yes it makes you clench your fist.
And then the veins stand out like highways,
all along your wrist.
And yes it's come to this,
it's come to this,
and wasn't it a long way down,
wasn't it a strange way down?

You can still find a job,
go out and talk to a friend.
On the back of every magazine
there are those coupons you can send.
Why don't you join the Rosicrucians,
they can give you back your hope,
you can find your love with diagrams
on a plain brown envelope.
But you've used up all your coupons
except the one that seems
to be written on your wrist
along with several thousand dreams.
Now Santa Claus comes forward,
that's a razor in his mit;
and he puts on his dark glasses
and he shows you where to hit;
and then the cameras pan,
the stand in stunt man,
dress rehearsal rag,
it's just the dress rehearsal rag,
you know this dress rehearsal rag,
it's just a dress rehearsal rag.

Thanks for posting that, Piers - I had forgotten that Leonard Cohen could write that well.

That is pretty depressing, though at least it contains a moment of remembering a better time.

You're most welcome Pangolino, anything to brighten up your day!

Hurting - yeah I thought it kind of gets upbeat somewhere there for a while, and in the end, he doesn't go through with suicide. Not because he's happy though, but because he's a coward.

But yeah the Thompson lyric is pretty relentless. Totally despondent.

god, that whole album is despondent, though End Of The Rainbow has to be at the top.

here's 'Has He Got A Friend For Me?'. Linda's delivery is what seals this one.

Saturday Night and I'm all alone.
No ring on the door bell no ring on the phone
And nobody wants to know anyone lonely like me.

Your boy friend's good looking, he's got it all there.
It looks like God made him with something to spare
You look good together,
Scurrying off down the street

Has he got a friend,
Has he got a friend for me?
Has he got a friend,
Has he got a friend for me?

He's got the haunt of the sea in his eyes
He wouldn't notice me passing by.
I could be in the gutter or dangling down from a tree

If you know someone who's graceful and wise.
Doesn't mind girls who are clumsy and shy.
I don't mind going with someone that I've never seen.

The speaker is so mean, and life has so completely destroyed him, that he imagines himself a "friend" to tell a baby how miserable his life will be. "I feel for you, you little horror." There's this last dying ember of tenderness in his heart that makes the song that much more painful.

xpost, Has He Got A Friend is probably the second saddest song on that album. Of course there's also "Withered and Died" which is quite sad, but I find it to be sad in this more predictable way, making it ultimately less effective. Even the title track is really a bit sad when you examine it -- the frustrations and lowered expectations that come from working life.

OK I've got one more. I don't know if this is as devastating as the Thompson song, but I've just realised that Dogs, quite possibly my favourite Pink Floyd song, is quite harsh and about as bleak as you get.

DOGS BY PINK FLOYD

You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake
A certain look in the eye, and an easy smile
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older

And in the end you'll pack, fly down south
Hide your head in the sand
Just another sad old man
All alone and dying of cancer.

And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest that you've sown
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone
And it's too late to loose the weight you used to need to throw around
So have a good drown, as you go down alone
Dragged down by the stone.

I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake of this creeping malaise
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this maze?

Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one had a real friend
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.

Who was born in a house full of pain
Who was trained not to spit in the fan
Who was told what to do by the man
Who was broken by trained personnel
Who was fitted with collar and chain
Who was given a seat in the stand
Who was breaking away from the pack
Who was only a stranger at home
Who was ground down in the end
Who was found dead on the phone
Who was dragged down by the stone.

x-post
it's the 'down in a gutter or dangling down in a tree' that makes it so much heavier than just a lovelorn lament.

'Down Where The Drunkards Roll' I'll have to add as well, also 'God Loves A Drunk' from Rumour and Sigh. I've got a lot of time for Richard Thompson.

Re: Dogs: Thematic similarties too, no doubt. The song actually made me think of Pink Floyd even before you mentioned it, though I find Thompson's lyrics to be a bit more elegant.

"it's the 'down in a gutter or dangling down in a tree' that makes it so much heavier than just a lovelorn lament.

Absolutely. This isn't just someone hitting a bad patch, it's a terribly awkward and/or ugly girl who's become desperate. I also like the "scurrying off down the street" -- it implies "away from me".

What makes this album really great are those loaded lines that give you an entire character and situation in a few words.

Michael Jackson "little susie"
Somebody killed little susie
The girl with the tune
Who sings in the daytime at noon
She was there screaming
Beating her voice in her doom
But nobody came to her soon...

A fall down the stairs
Her dress torn
Oh the blood in her hair...
A mystery so sullen in air
She lie there so tenderly
Fashioned so slenderly
Lift her with care,
Oh the blood in her hair...

Everyone came to see
The girl that now is dead
So blind stare the eyes in her head...
And suddenly a voice from the crowd said
This girl lived in vain
Her face bear such agony, such strain...

But only the man from next door
Knew little susie and how he cried
As he reached down
To close susie’s eyes...
She lie there so tenderly
Fashioned so slenderly
Lift her with care
Oh the blood in her hair...

It was all for god’s sake
For her singing the tune
For someone to feel her despair
To be damned to know hoping is dead and you’re doomed
Then to scream out
And nobody’s there...

She knew no one cared...

Father left home, poor mother died
Leaving susie alone
Grandfather’s soul too had flown...
No one to care
Just to love her
How much can one bear
Rejecting the needs in her prayers...

Neglection can kill
Like a knife in your soul
Oh it will
Little susie fought so hard to live...
She lie there so tenderly
Fashioned so slenderly
Lift her with care
So young and so fair
###############################
Michael jackson " Blood on the Dancefloor"
She got your number
She know your game
She put you under
It’s so insane

Since you seduced her
How does it feel
To know that woman
Is out to kill

Every night stance is like takin’ a chance
It’s not about love and romance
And now you’re gonna get it

Every hot man is out takin’ a chance
It’s not about love and romance
And now you do regret it

To escape the world I’ve got to enjoy that simple dance
And it seemed that everything was on my side
(blood on my side)

She seemed sincere like it was love and true romance
And now she’s out to get me
And I just can’t take it
Just can’t break it

Susie got your number
And susie ain’t your friend
Look who took you under
With seven inches in
Blood is on the dance floor
Blood is on the knife
Susie’s got your number
And susie says it’s right

She got your number
How does it feel
To know this stranger
Is out to kill

She got your baby
It happened fast
If you could only
Erase the past

Every night stance is like takin a chances
It’s not about love and romance
And now you’re gonna get it

Every hot man is out takin’ a chance
It’s not about love and romance
And now you do regret it

To escape the world I got to enjoy this simple dance
And it seemed that everything was on my side
(blood on my side)

It seemed sincere like it was love and true romance
And now she’s out to get me
And I just can’t take it
Just can’t break it

Susie got your number
And susie ain’t your friend
Look who took you under
With seven inches in
Blood is on the dance floor
Blood is on the knife
Susie got your number
You know susie says it’s right

My Thompson knowledge is scant. Instead of thinking of more devastating songs, think I might listen to that album.

"She lie there so tenderly/Fashioned so slenderly/Lift her with care/
Oh the blood in her hair..."

king of pop , king of horror
Michael-Jackson's - Smooth Criminal
As he came into the window
It was the sound of a crescendo
He came into her apartment
He left the bloodstains on the carpet
She ran underneath the table
He could see she was unable
So she ran into the bedroom
She was struck down, it was her doom

Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok, annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok, annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok, annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok, are you ok, annie

(annie are you ok)
(will you tell us that you’re ok)
(there’s a sign in the window)
(that he struck you-a crescendo annie)
(he came into your apartment)
(he left the bloodstains on the carpet)
(then you ran into the bedroom)
(you were struck down)
(it was your doom)

Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok annie
You’ve been hit by
You’ve been hit by-
A smooth criminal

So they came into the outway
It was sunday-what a black day
Mouth to mouth resus-citation
Sounding heartbeats-intimidations

Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok annie
Annie are you ok
So, annie are you ok
Are you ok annie

(annie are you ok)
(will you tell us that you’re ok)
(there’s a sign in the window)
(that he struck you-a crescendo annie)
(he came into your apartment)
(he left the bloodstains on the carpet)
(then you ran into the bedroom)
(you were struck down)
(it was your doom)

(annie are you ok)
(so, annie are you ok)
(are you ok annie)
(you’ve been hit by)
(you’ve been struck by-
A smooth criminal)

Okay, I want everybody
To clear the area right now!

Aaow!
(annie are you ok)
I don’t know!
(will you tell us, that you’re ok)
I don’t know!
(there’s a sign in the window)
I don’t know!
(that he struck you-a crescendo annie)
I don’t know!
(he came into your apartment)
I don’t know!
(left bloodstains on the carpet)
I don’t know why baby!
(then you ran into the bedroom)
I don’t know!
(you were struck down)
(it was your doom-annie!)
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Ok, I get the joke.

Any ideas on who the speaker is in this song? It's obviously a grown man singing to a baby, and it's obviously not the baby's father. Do you think there's evidence of something more specific? I thought maybe it could be someone like a brother or friend of the mother's (he speaks with contempt for the father but says one of the few nice things in the song about the mother -- "Your mother works so hard to make you happy). He also knows the family fairly well and is able to sit with the mother while she's (I assume) breastfeeding (this is not to say I think he's literally saying all of this aloud to the baby).