Waaaa! I Wanna Wallow Just a Little Bit Longer!!
November 6, 2010 7:08 PM   Subscribe

After this, I thought what if I wanna hear sad music that can either let a person wallow in their misery or cry cathartically? Imagine a Bridget Jones type of situation: tubs of ice cream, bottles of wine singing "All by Myself." Depress me, please. Sad Sinead O'Connor, this is what I'm thinking.
posted by dzaz to Grab Bag (97 answers total) 69 users marked this as a favorite
 
Crying by kd lang and roy orbison (or just roy alone). Bawl your eyes out.
posted by nakedmolerats at 7:13 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


All of My Heart by ABC
posted by JanetLand at 7:19 PM on November 6, 2010


"Breathe Me" by Sia
"Please Don't Go" by Barcelona
posted by changeling at 7:21 PM on November 6, 2010


I'll throw you the original of Without You, but you can pick a version that appeals to your wallow.
posted by holgate at 7:23 PM on November 6, 2010


"February," Dar Williams. It's so sad it almost loops back around to hilarious. But so is February.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:23 PM on November 6, 2010 [2 favorites]


Dreaming my Dreams of You - Waylon Jennings
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 7:25 PM on November 6, 2010


Crap, that should be Dreaming my Dreams WITH You. Time for me to sleep.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 7:25 PM on November 6, 2010


Since I Fell for You by Lenny Welch.
posted by JanetLand at 7:28 PM on November 6, 2010


Counting Crows - Raining in Baltimore

Really anything from their August and Everything After CD, minus two or three faster paced songs. The album was self described by Adam Duritz as "Mopey".
posted by sanka at 7:29 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


My current favorite lie-on-the-bed-in-a-pathetic-heap-and-cry song is Alone Again (Naturally).
posted by Put the kettle on at 7:30 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


Roads by Portishead or The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice ought to do the trick.
posted by analogue at 7:31 PM on November 6, 2010 [3 favorites]


Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits.
posted by JanetLand at 7:31 PM on November 6, 2010


Ne Me Quitte Pas by Nina Simone.
posted by ottereroticist at 7:36 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


I came back to say that I remembered that a few years ago if I wanted a guaranteed cry I would listen to Golden the Pony Boy from The Science of Sleep. Maybe it's just because that film made me really sad and that song played over the end credits, but I really think there's something scarily depressing about that song.

The other good one I can think of is Sleeping Pills by Suede. Also I used to use Gillian Welch's album Time (the Revelator) as my default late night sad music. Here is the first song.

I thought I would have a lot of these, but most of the examples that come to mind aren't depressing songs per se, they're just depressing to me because of things from my life I have come to associate with them. Music is weird like that.
posted by Put the kettle on at 7:39 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


Went through a really bad time a few years ago, and The Perishers' album Let There be Morning was my soundtrack... especially Pills
posted by bellbellbell at 7:40 PM on November 6, 2010


The song "Cats in the Cradle" bums me out. Also "Mad World" by Gary Jules.
posted by lhall at 7:40 PM on November 6, 2010


Emily Returns by Justin Rutledge
Kern River by Merle Haggard

And at least half the catalog of the Cowboy Junkies.
posted by megatherium at 7:42 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Gunners Dream by Pink Floyd is one of my go to songs when I want really sad and depressing music.
posted by troll on a pony at 7:45 PM on November 6, 2010 [3 favorites]


Antony + Bryce Dessner's cover of I Was Young When I Left Home off of Dark Was the Night.

Joanna Newsom's Does Not Suffice.
posted by oinopaponton at 7:45 PM on November 6, 2010


The Winner Takes It All by Abba.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 7:52 PM on November 6, 2010


...hear my sad story
posted by ecurtz at 7:52 PM on November 6, 2010


Mm, yes, Cowboy Junkies. Also Patsy Cline. Lyle Lovett.

Thomas Dolby (eg stuff from “Astronauts and Heretics”).

Madeleine Peyroux.
posted by hattifattener at 7:53 PM on November 6, 2010


blowers daughter

by damien rice. Geeze, it's like a dark cloud.
posted by anitanita at 7:54 PM on November 6, 2010 [2 favorites]


From my "sad bastard" playlist on iTunes:

The Nicest Thing - Kate Nash
Are You Alright? - Lucinda Williams
Gather to the Chapel - Liam Finn
Arlington - The Wailin' Jennys
Cannonball - Damien Rice
October Leaves - The Good Life
My Dearest Friend - Devendra Banhart
On Your Porch - The Format (I can't even listen to this one anymore)
We're All in This Together - Old Crow Medicine Show
Pig - Weezer

This one is the worst: When You Were Mine - Crooked Fingers

I also used to think that No Doubt's "Don't Speak" was incredibly sad.
posted by runningwithscissors at 7:57 PM on November 6, 2010


Previously, previously, previously.
posted by Sticherbeast at 8:06 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


My current wallow song that I use to kickstart my sad iTunes genius mix is Travelling Woman by Bat For Lashes.
posted by acheekymonkey at 8:14 PM on November 6, 2010


Johnny Cash's cover the U2 song "One" always gets to me.
posted by VTX at 8:17 PM on November 6, 2010


The Long Road - Nusrat fatel ali Khan and Eddie Vedder

We've Got Tonight - Bob Seger

Hurt - Johnny Cash

waaaaaaahhhhh!!!!

Chances Are - Bob Seger and Martina McBride

Go Rest High on That Mountain

::sob sob::

Life Ain't Always Beautiful by Gary Allan
posted by Sassyfras at 8:18 PM on November 6, 2010


One more suggestion: Patty Griffin's Goodbye.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 8:18 PM on November 6, 2010






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posted by ctmf at 8:23 PM on November 6, 2010


No Cure? I'm ashamed of you, Metafilter.

Pictures of You
posted by Ghidorah at 8:27 PM on November 6, 2010 [5 favorites]


Big Star's Holocaust is one of the most anguished, painful songs I've ever heard.
posted by scody at 8:30 PM on November 6, 2010


What about R.E.M.? I think there's a lot of mope. Most obviously, Everybody Hurts
posted by kochenta at 8:35 PM on November 6, 2010


60 Years On, vintage Elton John.

Rotten Apple, Alice In Chains
posted by Simon Barclay at 8:35 PM on November 6, 2010


Jewel - You Were Meant For Me
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:36 PM on November 6, 2010


Oops, the audio is wrong on that link. You Were Meant For Me.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:38 PM on November 6, 2010


"Learn to be Lonely" from Phantom of the Opera, sung by Minnie Driver.
posted by sandyp at 8:41 PM on November 6, 2010


Slaid Cleaves is perfect for this. I love his latest album, Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away. The name says it all, really.
posted by smorange at 8:58 PM on November 6, 2010


Violent Femmes - Good Feeling
posted by davey_darling at 9:03 PM on November 6, 2010


Lovefool - The Cardigans
Your House - Alanis Morissette
posted by nooneyouknow at 9:13 PM on November 6, 2010


Into the Light by In This Moment.
posted by DisreputableDog at 9:28 PM on November 6, 2010


came back to add some Dusty Springfield:

I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
posted by nakedmolerats at 9:31 PM on November 6, 2010


Jeff Buckley's cover of Hallelujah.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 9:32 PM on November 6, 2010 [3 favorites]


Wild World by Cat Stevens is that kind of thing. Beth Orton's version is even more explicitly sad.

In a different musical vein, but still quite wallowy: Black Flag's Depression.

The other song that comes to mind is also heavy but also a good soundtrack for rolling around in your bad mood: Down's Underneath Everything.
posted by ignignokt at 9:37 PM on November 6, 2010




How has no one mentioned Elliott Smith? e.g., Between the Bars, No Name No. 5, Placeholder, New Disaster, and at least three dozen others.

Or Sea Change by Beck? The whole album really, but especially Lonesome Tears, Round the Bend, and Already Dead.

Seconding Roads by Portishead, though I'd go with Undenied if you really want to twist the knife.
posted by dephlogisticated at 9:42 PM on November 6, 2010 [4 favorites]


The one'll work: I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You by Colin Hay

No Cure? I'm ashamed of you, Metafilter.
Pictures of You
posted by Ghidorah at 10:27 PM
Yes. That song always makes me tear up. No idea why.
posted by artychoke at 9:45 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


You by Evanescence

The Hazards of Love (The Drowned) by The Decemberists
posted by DisreputableDog at 9:54 PM on November 6, 2010


Wild World by Cat Stevens is that kind of thing.

Nah, what you want for Cat Stevens is Trouble.

Also, Ballad of the Sad Young Men. There's a gabillion versions, and neither of my favorites (Rickie Lee Jones; Roberta Flack) seems to be on YouTube, but some of the other renditions on there are good too.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:14 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


Go listen to some Elliot Smith, and make sure you read the lyrics.

Also - listen to A Plea From A Cat Named Virtue and THEN listen to Virtue The Cat Explains Her Departure and I DARE you not to cry.
posted by bibliogrrl at 10:14 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]




Kasey Chambers: Am I Not Pretty Enough? I'll let you google/YT it, there's a tonne of versions online.

I also strongly recommend Pink's Funhouse album, if you've been through a breakup and need the whole heartbreak/devastation/hang-on-I'm-too-good-for-you-anyway thing. I still sing along loudly and lustily at the kitchen window, on account of the ex living on the other side of the back fence.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 10:38 PM on November 6, 2010


Ryan Adams (Just go ahead and buy Heartbreaker if you want sad) Come Pick Me Up

Come pick me up
Take me out
Fuck me up
Steal my records
Screw all my friends
They're all full of shit
With a smile on your face
And then do it again

Ralph Stanley (A classic, even better live) O Death

O, Death
Won't you spare me over til another year
Well what is this that I can't see
With ice cold hands takin' hold of me

Josh Ritter Kathleen

Every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied

Joe Pug Unsophisticated Heart

it ain't my mind that matters
for i have an unsophisticated heart

Gillian Welch Annabelle

When I'm dead and buried I'll take a hard life of tears
For every day I've ever known
Anna's in the churchyard, she's got no life at all
She's only got these words on a stone

Elliott Smith (Always sad) New Disaster

The ghost of your smile is always looking
For new bodies to haunt

Eels (E's song about his Mother who had cancer) Dead of Winter

So I know you're going pretty soon
Radiation sore throat got your tongue

Damien Rice Rootless Tree

so fuck you
and all we've been through
i said leave it
it's nothing to you

Ben Taylor (James Taylor and Carly Simon's son) Digest

But without you
The best has yet to pass & now this song is about you.

Badly Drawn Boy Fewer Words

Oh it feels like there's no fire left in your eyes,
And this is how love dies

I do love sad music.
posted by SarahElizaP at 10:46 PM on November 6, 2010


Waltzing for Dreamers by Richard Thompson.

So don't send me home now, put a shot in my arm
And we'll drink out old memories and we'll drink in the dawn
posted by marxchivist at 10:47 PM on November 6, 2010




Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps - she (the singer) wells up and cries during her performance! Heart-wrenching.
posted by Terheyden at 10:57 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


Or Sea Change by Beck

Lost Cause from this album does it for me.
posted by naoko at 10:58 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]




chiming back in... after recommending Big Star's "Holocaust" upthread (from the brilliantly depressing album Sister Lovers, by the way -- the whole thing is essentially the soundtrack to Alex Chilton's nervous breakdown), it seems only fitting to also recommend ex-Big Star member Chris Bell, esp. I Am the Cosmos and You and Your Sister. (Added depression factor: Bell recorded these shortly before his death in a car accident in 1978; his only solo album wasn't even released until 1992.)
posted by scody at 11:37 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q
posted by bquarters at 11:52 PM on November 6, 2010


Roy Harper Another Day | live vers.
The Cinematic Orchestra To Build A Home
Gene Clark - With Tomorrow
Annie Lennox The Gift (live at Montreaux Jazz Festival) and Why (Live 8)
Dan Fogelberg Leader of the Band
Bonnie Raitt I Can't Make You Love Me
Queen Who Wants to Live Forever
Terry Bradshaw - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
posted by prinado at 1:21 AM on November 7, 2010


Almost midnight by Pat Monahan
posted by arnicae at 1:40 AM on November 7, 2010


Tori Amos "China:
The Veils "Sit Down By The Fire"
This Mortal Coil "Song to the Siren"
and of course, if you don't cry when you hear this you have no soul, Tim Buckley "hallelujah"
posted by deep thought sunstar at 1:49 AM on November 7, 2010


And no Radiohead, either? Mercy.

How to Disappear Completely
Street Spirit
Talk Show Host

Also:

Flames by VAST
I Lived on the Moon by Kwoon (worth looking at for the gorgeous clip).
posted by Jilder at 2:49 AM on November 7, 2010




Response by poster: Sticherbeast: "Previously, previously, previously."

I am not a special snowflake. Amy, help me out.
posted by dzaz at 4:06 AM on November 7, 2010



posted by Prayless at 4:24 AM on November 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


Ooops. My post above is The Darkest Night of All by Lisa Germino. The best cry song of all time.
posted by Prayless at 4:30 AM on November 7, 2010


If you really want to wallow in grief, depression and achingly beautiful misery, here's an entire album for you - Hospice, by The Antlers.

Example - Kettering.

Cheerful, it ain't. Brilliant, it is.
posted by Decani at 4:31 AM on November 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


KT Tunstall: Other Side of the World

Leona Lewis' cover of Snow Patrol's Run

Adele: Chasing Pavements

Lifehouse: Whatever It Takes & Breathing

Daughtry: Over You

Taylor Swift: Back To December and White Horse (Caveat: the White Horse vid is rather melodramatic.)
posted by onegoodthing at 5:37 AM on November 7, 2010


Sarah McLachlan, When She Loved Me
posted by lakeroon at 5:44 AM on November 7, 2010


I Am Stretched out on Your Grave by Kate Rusby.
posted by headspace at 6:21 AM on November 7, 2010


Tears in Heaven, by Eric Clapton
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:03 AM on November 7, 2010


Pretty much the whole album "Painted from Memory" by Burt Bachrach & Elvis Costello.

"Love Me or Leave Me" by Nina Simone. Half of her work would fill the bill.
posted by adamrice at 8:02 AM on November 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


Joni Mitchell's "River" always gets me. Robert Downey, Jr.'s version, too.
posted by LOLAttorney2009 at 9:22 AM on November 7, 2010




Pretty much the whole album "Painted from Memory" by Burt Bachrach & Elvis Costello.

Absolutely the best heartbreak record ever made.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:03 AM on November 7, 2010


Early Songs: Ohia is maudlin and over-thoughtful and dreary sounding, dim. Red House Painters for sure ("Katy Song" anybody? Yeesh). Some solo Kristin Hersh, kind of. Two Dollar Guitar ("it's all over, I will die"). "Love Me or Leave Me" maybe. "Heartfelt" by the Butchies ("I'd tell you that I've been awake for days/that's not really true, I've been walking around asleep/thinking about you").
posted by ifjuly at 10:16 AM on November 7, 2010


Definitely seconding "Undenied" and "Roads" by Portishead; "Kettering" by the Antlers.

Soundtracks:
1. "Assassination of Jesse James" - Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
2. "Amelie" - pieces by Yann Tiersen
3. "The Piano" - Michael Nyman

Other:
1. the entire "Final Cut" by Pink Floyd
2. "Wonderwall" - Cat Power
3. "Blue Spanish Sky" - Chris Isaak
4. "Fields of Gold" - Eva Cassidy
5. "Come feel the Sun" and "Cherry BLossoms" - Tindersticks
6. "Alone Again" - Dokken
7. "Always Somewhere" - Scorpions
8. "Love Hurts" - Nazareth

Just to name a few...
posted by foxhat10 at 10:31 AM on November 7, 2010


Oh, also, "Birthday Boy" by Ween.
posted by foxhat10 at 11:01 AM on November 7, 2010


The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy
L'encre de tes yeux - Francis Cabrel
Weather Channel - Sheryl Crow
On Saturday Afternoons in 1963 - Rickie Lee Jones
posted by Paris Elk at 12:45 PM on November 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


Fool's Gold, Bree Sharp. Which, hee, a BSG video was the only one I could find.

Say Goodbye, Girlyman.
posted by hought20 at 12:45 PM on November 7, 2010


While driving have you ever had to pull over because you were crying too hard to see the road? I've learned the hard way not to listen to the following songs while driving:

Hope She'll Be Happier by (the amazingly underrated) Bill Withers
Famous Blue Rain Coat by Leonard Cohen
Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotten
Bangladesh by Joan Baez
Purple Rain by Prince (Make sure you really listen to the lyrics and all the way to the end of the song when he's wailing mournfully.)
How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead
Putting the Damage On by Tori Amos

You've been warned!
posted by Surinam Toad at 1:55 PM on November 7, 2010


Fred Knoblock-Why Not Me
posted by wittgenstein at 2:32 PM on November 7, 2010


There are few musicians better to sing along to than Spencer Krug in Sunset Rubdown. Us Ones In Between is probably their saddest, but I like The Empty Threats Of Little Lord.

Also Willow Tree by Chad VanGaalen.

Seconding early Songs: Ohia, Elliott Smith (!!!), Sia's Breathe Me (but also the rest of that album!) and I'd add Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees.

Most days Elliott Smith is enough, to be honest.
posted by yaymukund at 2:34 PM on November 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


(screened the whole list to make sure i'm not doubling anyone)


Brick - Ben Folds Five
Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard (ft. someone)
In the Deep - Bird York
Colorblind - Counting Crows
9 Crimes - Damien Rice
Some Devil - Dave Matthews Band
23 - Jimmy Eat World
Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
Behind Blue Eyes - any of the versions, pick your poison
In Between - Linkin Park
Just Breathe - Pearl Jam
Kissing You - Sade
Set the fire to the third bar - Snow Patrol

All these can send me over the edge on a regular basis, some even if i'm happy to begin with.
posted by assasinatdbeauty at 5:39 PM on November 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


When You're Old and Lonely You'll Have Wished You Married Me - Magnetic Fields. A song to send to your exes on your wedding day.
Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis - Neko Case covering Tom Waits, brilliantly
posted by benzenedream at 5:39 PM on November 7, 2010


Oops, When You're Old and Lonely You'll Have Wished You Married Me [but not for my linking skills]
posted by benzenedream at 5:42 PM on November 7, 2010 [2 favorites]


Aimee Mann

Save Me.

Wise Up.

Eliott Smith

Between the Bars
posted by zerobyproxy at 6:48 AM on November 8, 2010


Another one...

King of Bohemia - Richard Thompson.
posted by Decani at 5:13 PM on November 8, 2010


Oh yeah, Metallica's One.
posted by Simon Barclay at 5:43 PM on November 8, 2010


Thought of some more.

Tram pretty much does this sort of thing exclusively ("Once I Was", "Forlorn Labour", "Now We Can Get On With Our Own Lives", "Three Years").

Spiritualized/Spacemen 3 ("Home of the Brave", "So Hot")

Red House Painters - "Medicine Bottle", "Japanese to English" etc.

Joe Pernice's early solo stuff (under his name as well as Chappaquiddick Skyline) and the early Pernice Brothers work, before it got insanely poppy ("Number Two" is one freaking bitter break up song, aiee).

Lou Barlow/Sentridoh; the EP Winning Losers comes to mind ("Dragdown Memory" and "Not Nice to Be Nice" are my favorite tracks off it).

Eric's Trip

Hayden's early stuff is aaaall wallow. Seriously, if Everything I Long For is not a concept album for wallowing I don't know what is (why hello "My Parent's House" and "I'm to Blame"), and The Closer I Get stays in that territory too.
posted by ifjuly at 7:33 AM on November 10, 2010


D'oh, and DUH how could I forget, my freakin' handle comes from it...His Name Is Alive's first two albums on 4AD are very much break up albums, and gorgeous, weird, and sad.
posted by ifjuly at 9:02 AM on November 10, 2010




Augh, how did I miss this post! I have a huge playlist just for wallowing and several albums and bands that I like to listen to when I'm blue.

Interpol
Radiohead
Graham Coxon - The Sky is Too High
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker & Love is Hell
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers

But when I feel really bad? I listen to Joanna Newsom's Have One on Me - pretty much the entire (triple) album is gut wrenchingly sad. And it's two hours long. That's a lot of crying!
posted by elsietheeel at 9:29 AM on November 12, 2010


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