Most tragic/depressing songs

[Sunnywindo]

And here's another depressing song, though I don't imagine it quite qualifies under "folk tradition" it seems to qualify under "depressing":

Dust in the Wind

Sara

Hmm, interesting. I've been learning to play the (acoustic fingerstyle) guitar part for this song. I've never found the song to be particularly depressing, and I suspect it wasn't meant to be, although I could be wrong. It sort of strikes me the way blues tunes do: Blues, by it's nature is not meant to make people feel down, rather the opposite is true, the blues is meant to make you feel better.

I guess that's a good illustration of how the same song can be viewed differently by different people. I love the tune to this song (gotta love that guitar), but to my mind the lyrics are on the depressing side, talking about how all we do and all we are "crumbles to the ground"... is just "dust in the wind" (nothing we do is of any matter) so "don't hang on, nothing lasts forever".... I don't know about anyone else, but to my mind the lyrics may as well be saying "nothing you do matters anyway so go jump off a bridge/here have some razor blades and this bottle of blood thinner."

Of course, folks have now posted much more depressing songs than this one now.... Like that one of the baby dying of starvation about gave me nightmares/made me feel sorrowfully sick to my stomach because that sort of thing does happen and I have a little baby of my own and thinking about any child suffering like that *shudder/cry*. Talk about DEPRESSING!

... Dust in the wind
all we are is dust in the wind.
Dust in the wind.
Everything is dust in the wind.

Ah, jeez that was my junior prom theme song. Even then I knew we were doomed.

That was your junior prom theme song! Ooookaaaay then....

I don't think I can take many more of these. It's hard to read when you are crying over the lyrics! These are truly some of the saddest songs I have ever read

Yeah, no kidding! What a collection this is getting to be!




Sara (who knows she doesn't have to read this depressing thread, but keeps getting drawn back anyway)

[Darwin]

After what's gone on before, these songs about technological unemployment don't seem so extreme, but maybe a bit more personal.

Peg and Awl

In the year of eighteen and one
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and one
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and one
Peggin' shoes was all I done
Hand me down my peg, my peg and awl

In the year of eighteen and two
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and two
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and two
Peggin' shoes was all I'd do
Hand me down my peg, my peg and awl

They invented a new machine
Peg and awl
They invented a new machine
Peg and awl
They invented a new machine
Prettiest thing I ever seen
Throw away my peg, my peg and awl

Pegs a hundred pair to my one
Peg and awl
Pegs a hundred pair to my one
Peg and awl
Pegs a hundred pair to my one
Peggin' shoes it ain't no fun
Throw away my peg, my peg and awl

In the year of eighteen and three
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and three
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and three
New machine it set me free
Throw away my peg, my peg and awl

In the year of eighteen and four
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and four
Peg and awl
In the year of eighteen and four
Swore I'd peg them shoes no more
Throw away my peg, my peg and awl


Aragon Mill
(Si Kahn)

Chorus: And the only tune I hear,
Is the sound of the wind,
As it blows through the town,
Weave and spin, weave and spin

1. At the east end of town, at the foot of the hill
Stands a chimney so tall that says "Aragon Mill."
But there's no smoke at all coming out of the stack.
The mill has shut down and it ain't a-coming back.

2. Well, I'm too old to work, and I'm too young to die.
Tell me, where shall we go, My old gal and I?
There's no children at all in the narrow empty street.
The mill has closed down; it's so quiet I can't sleep.

3. Yes, the mill has shut down; it's the only life I know
Tell me, where will I go, Tell me, where will I go?
And the only tune I hear, is the sound of the wind
As it blows through the town,
Weave and spin, weave and spin.


Coal Tattoo
(Billly Edd Wheeler)

Travelin' down that coaltown road,
Listen to those rubber tires whine;
Goodbye to Buckeye and White Sycamore,
I'm leavin' you behind.
I've been a coal man all my life
Layin' down track in the hole,
Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind
Blood veins blue as the coal.

Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head."
I said "That's a blue print, left by the coal
Just a little more and I'd be dead"
And I love the rumble and I love the dark
I love the cool of the slate.
But it's on down the new road lookin' for a job
It's the travelin' and lookin' I hate.

I've stood for the union, I've walked in the line,
Fought against the company;
Stood for the U. M. W. of A.
Now who's gonna stand for me?
I got no house and I got no pay,
Just got a worried soul;
And this blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal.

Someday when I'm dead and gone
To Heaven, the land of my dreams,
I won't have to worry on losin' my job
To bad times 'n big machines.
I ain't gonna pay my money away
For pensions and hospital plans.
I'm gonna pick coal where the blue heavens roll
And sing with the angel bands.


The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore
(Jean Ritchie)

Oh, when I was a curly-headed baby
My daddy set me down upon his knee
Said, Son, you go to school and learn your letters
Don't be no dusty miner like me

Well I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Coal cars roaring and a-rumbling past my door
Now they're standing rusty, rolling empty
And the L & N don't stop here any more

I used to think my daddy was a black man
With script enough to buy the company store
But now he goes downtown with empty pockets
And his face as white as February snow

Last night I dreamt I went down to the office
To get my payday like I done before
Them old kudzu vines had covered up the doorway
And there was trees and grass, well a-growing right through the floor

I never thought I'd live to love the coal dust
Never thought I'd pray to hear the tipple roar
But, Lord, how I wish that grass could change to money
And greenbacks fill my pockets once more


Blue Diamond Mines
(Jean Ritchie [writing as 'Than Hall])

I remember the ways in the bygone days
When we was all in our prime
How us and John L. gave the old man hell
Down in the Blue Diamond mines
Where the whistle would blow 'fore the rooster crowed
Full two hours before daylight
When a man done his best, and he earned his good rest
And had seventeen dollars at night

In the mines, in the mines, in the Blue Diamond mines
I have worked my life away
In the mines, in the mines, in the Blue Diamond mines
Oh, fall on your knees and pray

You old black gold, you've taken my soul
Your dust has darkened my home
And now that I'm old, you're turning your back
Where else can an old miner go?
Well, first it's Big Block and then Leatherwood
And now it's Blue Diamond too
The pits are all closed, and it's "go find a job"
What else can an old miner do

Your union is dead and you're shaking your head
They say mining's had its day
But you're stripping off my mountain top
And you pay me three dollars a day
Well, you might get a poke of welfare meat
A little poke of welfare flour
But I tell you right now, you won't qualify
'Less you work for a quarter an hour

John L. had a dream but it's broken, it seems
Our union is letting us down
Last week they took away my hospital card
And it's "why don't you leave this old town"
Well, you go downtown and you hang around
Well, maybe it ain't so bad
Then you come back home and they meet you at the door
And it's "What did you bring me, Dad"

(I have a slightly different version on an LP. Maybe I'll be able to get to it some day.)

[Tyghress]

Dearest Martha
words & music by John McCutcheon

Dearest Martha, when you find this, there'll be nothing you can do
To change the way our lives have turned out, it's not up to me and you
All the bills are paid through New Years, all the notes are in the drawer
The insurance ought to help, I wish I could have left you more

Now, no one could call me lazy and I know that I ain't dumb
And no one in this valley knew these awful times would come
As the costs keep climbing higher, the prices never rise
While our mouths are filled with questions they just fill our ears with lies

That banker I made wealthy just ten short years ago
Now sits across his pin-striped desk politely saying "No"
Men who've never known a hard time or soiled their soft white hands
Turn farmers into failures and drive us from our lands

In years to come there'll be the stories, such tales they're sure to tell:
"A fourth generation farmer, and he let it go to hell!"
I know that I'm a good man, but I never can forget
There's nothing left to leave the children but a thousand acre debt

But I read it in the papers and I see it on TV
How everything is back on track, what the hell is wrong with me?
I've worked as hard as any man to bring the ground to grain
But each September brings the harvest, the heartache and the blame

So, Martha, lay me in the orchard underneath the flowering plum
And face me to the east so I can see the rising sun
And remember when the days were young and happy ones for me
And the land was ripe with promises as far as I could see...

[dubhlinn]

I'm surprised that no one has submitted "The Croppy Boy" or "The Patriot Game."

Gee, how sad is it that Patriot Game was the first "real" tune (after basic fingering songs like twinkle, twinkle) I learned on a whistle.

Nothing sad there at all Chaotic..

It's a fine tune which has been around for a hell of a lot longer than the lyrics, which were written by Dominic Behan (Brendans brother) in the mid Sixties.
Bob Dylan also borrowed the tune for one of his best known songs "With God on our side".

See? you're in good company on this one

Slan,
D.

[cowtime]

Boy do I identify with those mining and farming songs. And they are so true. The men in my family were all either farmers or coal miners since I live in farming and mining country. Only about 1 1/2 hours from Hazard,KY.

These sad tunes of making a living reminded me of this one-

The chorus is inserted between each verse.
GOODBYE MONDAY BLUES

Chorus:
Goodbye Monday blues
Goodbye card room fever
Cotton dust has got my lungs
You know I'm bound to leave you

Verses:
When I was a little thing
Up in Pickins County
My daddy took me from the farm
To be a mill town baby

Not a man in all these mills
Could beat me once for doffing
Now it's all that I can do
To sit here without coughing

Old man staring at his glass
In some back street bar room
These was once the fastest hands
In spinning, spool or card room

[izzarina]

I'm surprised that no one has submitted "The Croppy Boy" or "The Patriot Game."

The Patriot Game is one of my favorites. I was going to post it, but never got a chance, so you beat me to it, Will.

[Loren]

I guess that's a good illustration of how the same song can be viewed differently by different people. I love the tune to this song (gotta love that guitar), but to my mind the lyrics are on the depressing side, talking about how all we do and all we are "crumbles to the ground"... is just "dust in the wind" (nothing we do is of any matter) so "don't hang on, nothing lasts forever".... I don't know about anyone else, but to my mind the lyrics may as well be saying "nothing you do matters anyway so go jump off a bridge/here have some razor blades and this bottle of blood thinner."

Interesting, I take it as a song to mean the opposite: "Don't get hung up, stressed out, and bummed about life's everyday trials and tribulations, everything passes, for better or worse, that's just the way of things." You know?

It's very buddhist, in that whole non-attachment sort of way. "Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever" could easily be interpreted to mean "Don't hang on to whatever is bumming you out, nothing lasts forever, not love, not life, not this planet. As soon as you let go of those attachements, you'll be free to live in the moment and enjoy what you do have." (Or at least that's how it's supposed to work) And so on.

Loren

[cowtime]

I guess that's a good illustration of how the same song can be viewed differently by different people. I love the tune to this song (gotta love that guitar), but to my mind the lyrics are on the depressing side, talking about how all we do and all we are "crumbles to the ground"... is just "dust in the wind" (nothing we do is of any matter) so "don't hang on, nothing lasts forever".... I don't know about anyone else, but to my mind the lyrics may as well be saying "nothing you do matters anyway so go jump off a bridge/here have some razor blades and this bottle of blood thinner."

Interesting, I take it as a song to mean the opposite: "Don't get hung up, stressed out, and bummed about life's everyday trials and tribulations, everything passes, for better or worse, that's just the way of things." You know?

It's very buddhist, in that whole non-attachment sort of way. "Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever" could easily be interpreted to mean "Don't hang on to whatever is bumming you out, nothing lasts forever, not love, not life, not this planet. As soon as you let go of those attachements, you'll be free to live in the moment and enjoy what you do have." (Or at least that's how it's supposed to work) And so on.

Loren

I'm with you on this one Loren

[mignal]

You gotta go blues. . . Rev Gary Davis blues . . .


Death Don't Have No Mercy

Death don't have no mercy in this land
Death don't have no mercy in this land
He'll come to your house and he won't stay long
You'll look in the bed and somebody will be gone
Death don't have no mercy in this land

Well Death will go in any family in this land
Well Death will go in every family in this land
Well he'll come to your house and he won't stay long
Well you'll look in the bed and one of your family will be gone
Death will go in any family in this land

Well he never takes a vacation in this land
Well old Death never takes a vacation in this land
Well he'll come to your house and he won't stay long
Well you'll look in the bed and your mother will be gone
Death never takes a vacation in this land.

[Wombat]

Here's a song I love. The words look pretty much the same as in the version I love, the original by the Bentley Boys, but I got them from the site of someone who recently did a cover so I can't vouch for their complete fidelity.

What I find so touching about the original is that it's sung cheerfully and to a jaunty melody, even though the subject matter is about grim lives lived under de facto slavery. An early example of Americans 'doing irony.' The Bentley Boys were white BTW.

Bob Dylan nicked the melody for a song called something like 'Hard Time in New York Town.' I wish he'd just covered the original because his version trivialises the a situation that he could have been expected to sung about well. Here's Penny's Farm

Come here ladies and gentleman
Listen to my song
Play it to you right
But you may think it wrong
May make you mad
But I mean no harm
It's just about the renters
On Penny's farm
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

Go into the fields
And you work all day
Deep into the night
But you get no pay
Promise you some meat
Or a little bucket of lard
It's hard to make a living
On Penny's farm
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

Hear George Penny
He'll be coming into town
With a wagon load of peaches
Not a one of them sound
Gotta get his money
Gotta get a check
Pay you for a bushel
But you never get a peck
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

George Penny's renters
They be coming into town
With their hands in their pockets
And their heads hanging down
Go to the merchant
And the merchant he'll say,
"your mortgage it is due
And I'm looking for my pay"
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

Deep into his pocket
With a trembling hand,
"can't pay you what I owe
But I'll pay you what I can"
Down to the merchant
And the merchant make a call
Put you on the chain gang
Don't pay at all
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

[izzarina]

most people most likely wouldn't put this song here, but for me, it fits perfectly. The song is "Wherever You Will Go" and it's by the Calling (top 40 type stuff....I do like some of it from time to time ). Before I post the lyrics, let me tell why it used to be so tragic to me. The song is about dying, and how the person who is left behind is going to cope with out him. At the time the song was made popular (around 2001), I found out I had cancer, so it really hit home. Who was going to take MY place for my children and for my husband if I were to die? How would they go on? It honestly still brings tears to my eyes despite my clean bill of health thus far.

So lately, been wondering
Who will be there to take my place
When I'm gone you'll need love to light the shadows on your face
If a great wave shall fall and fall upon us all
Then between the sand and stone could you make it on your own.

CHORUS:
If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go

And maybe, I'll find out
A way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you, through the darkest of your days
If a great wave shall fall and fall upon us all
<<<WHEN>>> I hope there's someone out there
who can bring me back to you


CHORUS
If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go

Runaway with my heart
Runaway with my hope
Runaway with my love

I know now, just quite how
My life and love might still go on
In your heart, in your mind I'll stay with you for all of time

CHORUS
If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go

If I could turn back time
I'll go wherever you will go
If I could make you mine
I'll go wherever you will go