Help me commiserate from afar!

July 26, 2012 12:08 AM

Wallowing playlist help?

My best friend just got dumped and lost her job in the span of about 30 hours. We're currently 1300 miles apart, but I promised her "the saddest playlist ever." My list so far is a good representation of my taste in general (yes, I was born about 20 years too late), so more along these lines would be welcome. The more miserable, the better - think drinking bourbon alone.

1. The Faces "Ooh La La"
2. Janis Joplin "To Love Somebody"
3. Peter Gabriel "The Book of Love"
4. John Prine "In Spite of Ourselves"
5. U2 "All I Want is You"
6. Bob Dylan "It Ain't Me, Babe"
7. Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way"
8. Bon Iver "Can't Make You Love Me"
9. Tom Waits "Picture in a Frame" (ugh, I can barely listen to this one myself)
10. Aretha Franklin "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman"
11. Talking Heads "This Must Be the Place"
12. The Band (and Friends) "I Shall Be Released"
13. The Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
14. Bruce Springsteen "Thunder Road"
15. Beyonce "Single Ladies" (I feel this is obligatory)

Relevant info: I think she'll be more receptive to overtly sad or wistful over bitter or "over it" at this point. Everyone needs to wallow sometimes, right?

Thanks!

posted by easy, lucky, free to Media & Arts (43 answers total)

No wallowing playlist can possibly be complete without including Goodbye to Love.
posted by treblemaker at 12:11 AM on July 26, 2012

Aimee Mann - Invisible Ink
Antony and the Johnsons - Hope There's Somebody
Sinead O'Conner - Nothing Compares To You
Magnetic Fields - You're My Only Home
Johnny Cash - I See A Darkness
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Bruce Springsteen - You're Missing
Azure Ray - Trees Keep Growing
Bonnie Tyler - It's A Heartache

I would also recommend the Break-Up episode of This American Life (you can listen online!)

Good wishes to her.
posted by maya at 12:27 AM on July 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

The Cars - "Drive"
Leonard Cohen - well, anything, really, but I think "Famous Blue Raincoat" is probably the most melancholy
Roy Orbison - "Crying"
Johnny Cash - "Hurt"
The Beatles - "For No One"
Death Cab for Cutie - "What Sarah Said"
posted by gingerest at 12:31 AM on July 26, 2012

The One I Love is Gone - the Secret Sisters
Sour Times - Portishead
The Engine Driver - The Decemberists
Left and Leaving - The Weakerthans
The Things You Said - Depeche Mode
Rulers, Ruling all Things - Midlake
Epitaph for My Heart - Magnetic Fields
Meaningless - also Magnetic Fields
Broken Imaginary Time - The Soundtrack of Our Lives
How it Ends - Devotchka
All Cleaned Out - Elliot Smith
Feels Like the End of the World - Firewater
Holes - Mercury Rev
The Saddest Song - Morphine
Nobody's Baby Now - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Fucked Me Right Up - Sean Hayes
I am Crushed - the Vandals
posted by iamkimiam at 12:34 AM on July 26, 2012

Seconding that breakup episode of TAL...it is a godsend. Here's the link.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:35 AM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

For maximum wallowing you need The Cure, "Untitled."
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:51 AM on July 26, 2012

soundtrack to High Fidelity (Amazon link)
posted by luneray at 12:58 AM on July 26, 2012

The Smiths - I Know It's Over
Billy Bragg - Levi Stubb's Tears
posted by Jakey at 1:08 AM on July 26, 2012

Jose Gonzalez - "Heartbeats"
Iron & Wine - "Each Coming Night
Be Good Tanyas - "A Thousand Tiny Pieces"
Ben Harper - "Another Lonely Day"
Mazzy Star - "Fade into You"
The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight"
Bruce Springsteen - "When You're Alone"
Wilco - "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart"
Natalie Merchant - "My Skin"
Damien Rice - "Delicate"
Black Motorcycle Club - "Feel it Now"
Sheryl Crow - "I Shall Believe"
posted by colfax at 1:09 AM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Parasite - Nick Drake
Father and Son - Cat Stevens
Lost Cause - Beck
Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground - Blind Willie Johnson
John Wayne Gacy Jr. - Sufjan Stevens
Burn It All Down - VHS or Beta
Lullaby for Losers - Ethel Ennis
Who's Gonna Save My Soul? - Gnarls Barkley
posted by Paragon at 1:13 AM on July 26, 2012

Almost forgot, mopey as hell:
Why Does Love Do This To Me? - The Exponents
posted by Paragon at 1:17 AM on July 26, 2012

Sorrow - The National
Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis - Tom Waits
Hold On, Hold On - Neko Case
That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart - Aimee Mann
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Al Green
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times - The Beach Boys
Pretty much all of Sea Change by Beck
Evaporated - Ben Folds Five
Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis) - Cowboy Junkies
Love Hurts - Graham Parsons
Without You - Harry Nilsson
Photographs and Memories - Jim Croce
Jackson - Lucinda Williams
All the Recipes I've Ever Ruined - The Lucksmiths
Busby Berkley Dreams - The Magnetic Fields
Pretty much everything by Songs: Ohia/Magnolia Electric Company, but especially Farewell Transmission
I Drink - Mary Gauthier
Katy Song - Red House Painters
I've Just Destroyed the World I'm Living In - Willie Nelson

I don't know which of these will land best in her situation, but they're all pretty good "make you want to lie on the floor" songs.
posted by lhputtgrass at 1:20 AM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Needs some Joni Mitchell, definitely:

A Case of You
River
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:21 AM on July 26, 2012

Baby Drugs - Tristen
Especially Me - Low
Beyond Reason - Philip Selway
Creep On Creeping On - Timber Timbre
Bells For Her - Tori Amos
Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
No Surprises - Radiohead
Old Fashioned Morphine - Jolie Holland
posted by supercrayon at 1:50 AM on July 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

Ne me quitte pas – Jacques Brel
posted by HandfulOfDust at 2:22 AM on July 26, 2012

Breath me by Sia
Little Black Sandals by Sia
I Know We Could Be So Happy by Jeff Buckley
Hitting the Heart Brakes by Black Kids
posted by oceanview at 2:46 AM on July 26, 2012

I think your playlist is pretty great.

Something I can Never Have - NIN
The Bitterest Pill - The Jam
Common People - Pulp
All or Nothing - Small Faces
I Feel Like Going Home - Yo La Tengo

I want to 2nd Roy Orbison "Crying" someone mentioned.
posted by DigDoug at 4:24 AM on July 26, 2012

Beth Orton - I wish I never Saw the Sunshine
Wilco - How to fight loneliness
The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Doves - Break me Gently
Eddie Vedder - Long Nights
Elliot Smith - Everything reminds me of her
The Frames - Sideways Down
Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
Radiohead - High and Dry
The Sundays - Goodbye
The Wonder Stuff - Sleep Alone

And if after all this she is in the mood for some good ol' fashioned bitterness, may I suggest:
Martha Wainwright - Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole
posted by piyushnz at 5:24 AM on July 26, 2012

Ryan Adams' I Taught Myself How to Grow Old is my ultimate wallowing song.


'Cause I, I taught myself how to grow
Without any love and there was poison in the rain
I taught myself how to grow
'Til I was crooked on the outside
posted by sweetkid at 5:54 AM on July 26, 2012

To Build a Home by Cinematic Orchestra
Lost and Found (Gang Colours Remix) by Lianne La Havas
Living on a Wire by Nitin Sawhney
Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey
21 by Delilah
About Today by The National
The Spirit Was Gone by Antony and the Johnsons
Home by Ellie Goulding
One Sunday Morning by Wilco
posted by livinglearning at 6:06 AM on July 26, 2012

Seconding: The National - Sorrow
posted by L. Ron McKenzie at 6:11 AM on July 26, 2012

Hank Williams has never written a happy song.
posted by deathpanels at 6:12 AM on July 26, 2012

So Much To Do - Willie Nelson
posted by ghharr at 6:13 AM on July 26, 2012

Ani Difranco- Untouchable Face
Wilco- (basically all of Sky Blue Sky, but especially) Impossible Germany
Mountain Goats- No Children (more angry than sad, but best breakup song ever)
Elliott Smith- Somebody That I Used to Know, Everything Reminds Me of Her, Can't Make a Sound
Arcade Fire- Crown of Love
Bob Dylan (or, my favorite cover by Peter, Paul, and Mary)- Don't Think Twice It's Alright
Bob Dylan- It Ain't Me Babe


Best of luck to your friend.
posted by Flamingo at 6:30 AM on July 26, 2012

Steely Dan - Deacon Blues
Queen - Who Wants to Live Forever?
Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight (instrumental, but always sounds so sad to me)

If you want to end on a vaguely hopeful note, Jane Siberry's It Can't Rain All the Time is one of the songs almost guaranteed to make me cry, but as the title suggests, it is kind of hopeful.
posted by immlass at 7:30 AM on July 26, 2012

Stevie Wonder -Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer
posted by deadmessenger at 7:33 AM on July 26, 2012

Patty Griffin - "Rain"
Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna - it needs to be the specific, acoustic, live version of this song off of Biograph (a collection) rather than the version off of Blonde on Blonde. Dylan can make your heart hurt in the acoustic version, but on Blonde on Blonde he's more chilled-out and snarky.
posted by colfax at 8:01 AM on July 26, 2012

She really needs "Take This Longing". Leonard Cohen, obviously.

Also:

"To Cry About" and "Dear Darling" -- Mary Margaret O'Hara (You MUST acquire these two. It's required in her situation.)
"Missing" -- This is Lloyd Cole, but it's an interpretation of a poem by Alan Jenkins. Just thinking about it makes me teary.
posted by Coatlicue at 8:31 AM on July 26, 2012

Also, I see you have Peter Gabriel's version of "The Book of Love". I love that man, but also check out the original by the Magnetic Fields (who are an endless source of songs for the brokenhearted, as you can see by all the suggestions in this thread).
posted by Coatlicue at 8:41 AM on July 26, 2012

"Walk Away Renee" (preferably, The Four Tops version)

"Don't You Ever Learn" by Todd Rundgren
posted by Rash at 8:45 AM on July 26, 2012

Closing Time - Leonard Cohen

(Having lost my SO, my job and my psych within 48 hours at one time, I really feel for your friend. I hope she is okay and finds happiness.)
posted by Meep! Eek! at 9:09 AM on July 26, 2012

I think it's going to rain today - Claudine Longet
posted by Gonestarfishing at 9:14 AM on July 26, 2012

George Michael -- One More Try
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:31 AM on July 26, 2012

So Far Away -- Carol King
Blue -- Joni Mitchell
maybe The Last Time I Saw Richard -- Joni Mitchell
Fire and Rain -- James Taylor
Eleanor Rigby -- The Beatles
Blasphemous Rumors -- Depeche Mode
Luka -- Suzanne Vega
Silent All These Years (or something from that album) -- Tori Amos
I Can't Make You Love Me -- Bonnie Raitt
Who Am I Foolin'? -- Cheryl Wheeler
posted by acm at 9:32 AM on July 26, 2012

Response by poster: These are all awesome suggestions. I knew Metafilter would be good for this.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 10:19 AM on July 26, 2012

"I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" - Colin Hay
"Fake Plastic Trees" - Radiohead
"Don't Change Your Plans" - Ben Folds Five
"Pictures of You" - The Cure
"Making Believe" - Kitty Wells

And I'll second "Sometime Around Midnight".
posted by asterix at 11:48 AM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Hearts Don't Break" by The Secret Stars was always my go to breakup song.

Also, no one does wallowing better than Conor Oberst. See specifically "If Winter Ends", "Sunrise, Sunset", and "Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh" by Bright Eyes.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 1:02 PM on July 26, 2012

All of the second disc of And All It Could Have Been. You can never go wrong with Reznor for adolescent-level lyrical wallowing.

Low - Lullaby
Mogwai - Tracy
Kate Bush - Snowed In At Wheeler Street maybe.
Portishead - Roads
Anything by Songs: Ohia. An Ace Unable To Change or No Limit On The Words come to mind maybe.
Stina Nordenstam - Winter Killing
Jeniferever - Closing In or Winter Nights
Dido - Honestly OK
Everything But The Girl - Single (Photek mix) or Protection (eno mix)
The Whitest Boy Alive - Rollercoaster Ride
Lampshade - Treasure Is or The Hug

I could probably think of a lot more songs if i wasn't at work :P
posted by palbo at 1:36 PM on July 26, 2012

Ron Sexsmith - Seem To Recall
Mojave 3 - Between Us
Husker Du - Hardly Getting Over It
Bob Mould - Heartbreak A Stranger
posted by otters walk among us at 5:02 PM on July 26, 2012

Boys don't cry by The Cure
posted by cynicalidealist at 5:29 PM on July 26, 2012

I really love the sad wallowing songs...

Patty Griffin - Top of the World, Useless Desires, and Rain (already mentioned)

Ryan Adams - Meadowlake Street

Steve Earle - Lonelier than This

Sarah McLachlan - Do what you have to do

I'm kind of a sucker for Billy Joel's And So It Goes

and try out some Greg Laswell... Comes and Goes in Waves, and he's got a new great album called Landline, one track that might be good is Back to You
posted by wannabecounselor at 8:57 PM on July 26, 2012

Amy Winehouse- Wake Up Alone
James William Hindle- Leaving Trains
Tom Rosenthal- Take Care
posted by cupkate at 8:00 AM on July 27, 2012

Bob Dylan "If You See Her, Say Hello"
Counting Crows "Raining in Baltimore"
Lit "Miserable"
Francis Dunnery "Good Life"
posted by the twistinside at 4:47 PM on July 27, 2012