pov: devastating tunes that make you curl up into the fetal position with a bottle of whiskey

"landslide" - fleetwood fucking mac
^^^^ mind bogglingly obvious choice

"memory lane (sittin in da park)" - nas
^^^^ adolescence r.i.p.

third verse of "passin me by" - pharcyde
rly tho
rly rly

Fantastic thread, Hoos! I'll have to think up some tracks along these lines.

This Mortal Coil - Holocaust (yes it's a Big Star song, but this version with Howard Devoto on vocals is simply the saddest song I've ever heard)

Spoonfed Hybrid - A Pocketful of Dust (haha I remember a friend of mine saying along the lines of "it's a bit depressing isn't it?" we just kindof nodded, recognizing the vast understatement made there

Echo & the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain (there aren't any words to describe the crescendo of strings and guitar at the end that bashes your emotion against a great rock at the edge of the sea)

The Cure - Sinking (Best part: "I Crouch In Fear And Wait..")

Japan - Night Porter (I think there's a theme here...this is the third depressing song I've named with one of those crescendo climaxes. The movie of the same name that I believe inspired the song is downright creepy, though.)

LOL at my Radiohead post upthread.

Nothing by the Velvets matches the depths of Lou Reed's Berlin.

berlin is like on a whole other level

The Gutter Twins - All Misery/Flowers

'berlin' was depressing until i realised i didn't give a shit about lou's self-absorbed, half-assed concept. the songs on that record are good, though. but have absolutely nothing on the first 4 velvets outings

"Depressing" isn't quite right, there, nor is "concept". Chill out for another 15 years, K?

Yes, Bimble, you really have redeemed yourself with that second stab.

"A Change is Gonna Come," Sam Cooke

"A Horse With No Name," America
"Please Mr. Postman," The Carpenters (so sad!)
"Muskrat Love," any version )them muskrats are gonna die an early death!)
"Sad Songs (Say So Much)," Elton John (true! Can hardly tupe!)

don't worry, i'm chilled! :)
i know why people like that record, and i like it myself

I realize that any of perhaps three or four hundred Tom Waits songs could get posted here, but for me the title track from Alice does the trick every time.

Also:
Neil Young - "Tired Eyes"

That little instrumental tune off Pink Moon, "Horn". Actually that whole album, but Horn especially sounds like someone who's just had enough.

Also "A Man Needs a Maid", the best evocation of Just Fuck Off And Leave Me Alone that's been recorded.

Gilbert O' Sullivan .: Alone Again (Naturally) is more devastating than it really should be for me.

Anything off Horses in the Sky by A Silver Mt. Zion is equally devastating but makes more sense.

that fucking peter bjorn and paul song with the whistling

"the end of the rainbow" - richard & linda thompson

Neil Young - "Tired Eyes"

I have been listening to this song daily for like 3 weeks.

i love that song so much. 'please take my advice. please take my advice'

"Blue Eyes Cryin in the Rain"

If I've ever been curled up into a fetal position with a bottle of whiskey any details I managed to keep weren't of what song was playing. Or existant at all.

Maybe "Wanna Be Startin Somethin".

and the Elevators "I Had to Tell You" and Hank's "Pictures from Life's Other Side", but also, in a weird way, "Kaw-liga" and I guess everything in between...

though the ultimate whiskey+fetal position Hank Williams song (for me) might be "Cool Water" from ...Alone with His Guitar

So obvious you must have tripped over it: Break out the booze and have a ball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYziZ0lYfeI

famous blue raincoat, heard at the right moment, can shatter me

Seconded

1. "Silent Boatman" by Parliament, the bagpipes make my heart go WROOONK
2. Most of Hammill's Over, my goodness is that difficult to listen to (as is a lot of his good solo stuff)
3. "Narrow Your Eyes" by They Might be Giants. Just an impossibly sad breakup song that actually feels quite tame until you analyze the lyrics a bit
4. "Most 'Ospitable" by Underworld. Kind of an obscure B-side type and maybe not fully developed but my god is that synth noise both gorgeous and impossibly sad.
5. This version of "In the Ghetto", especially the way it ends:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyOaUzLNtBE

'Soldier's Things' - Tom Waits
'Le Plat Pays' - Jacques Brel

on raglan road

i actually teared up this morning on the drive to work listening to two headed boy pt. 2 when it came up on shuffle. other things were going on in my life that contributed to that, but still, that song is pretty powerful

James McMurtry's Lights of Cheyenne is 7 minutes of staring into the suicidal void and not blinking once. Brutal. It was like he took Townes' Waiting Around To Die and said "how can I make this 50 times sadder?"

Mother
you had me
but I never had you
I wanted you
you didn't want me
so I -- I just gotta tell you
goodbye goodbye

And in my dreams you're alive and you're crying
As your mouth moves in mine, soft and sweet
Rings of flowers 'round your eyes and I'll love you
For the rest of your life when you're ready

Brother, see we are one in the same
And you left with your head filled with flames and you watched as your brains
Fell out through your teeth, push the pieces in place, make your smile sweet to see
Don't you take this away, I'm still wanting my face on your cheek

Michelle Shocked - Stillborn

The lyrics are relatively matter-of-fact, the performance is a gut-wrenching wail.

Any tropical house in a taxi after midnight.

Esp. "I Took A Pill In Ibiza"

"Walking on a Wire" - Richard and Linda Thompson

YMCA

Holocaust-Big Star

whitney - greatest love of all

america - daisy jane

eels - my timing is off

Tom Waits - Kentucky Avenue
Gravenhurst - The Ice Tree
The Memory Band - By The Time It Gets
Terry Callier - Lean On Me (for personal reasons. Fuck what a song.)
Richard Youngs - It Soon Will Be Fire (c'mon, it's about his dead dog)
Nico - The Falconer
Slowdive - Waves
Cat Power - Colors and the Kids

I don't drink whiskey, but I get the sentiment.

yeah would prob swap out the whiskey for a bag of crispy m&ms tbh

Was just reminded of:

The Chills - Pink Frost

ugk - one day

Toni Braxton - Unbreak My Heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gQZUUHULco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEx147n9G1A

https://www.challies.com/articles/seems-so-long-ago-nancy-2/

(explanation of the song by the subject's nephew, which is interesting, although tbqh I never found the song all that cryptic)

second over by p hammill and on raglan road from waaaay upthread.

joan armatrading - dry land, i know it’s not entirely tragic, but it’s *not quite there-ness* gets me. something about the hope.

and prefab sprout we let the stars go is slaying me rn but that may be for local reasons and will report back in ten years time to see if it still produces the whisky.