re: Deepest, most depressing, hard hitting, or thought provoking rock/pop song lyrics

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The Smiths - I Know It’s Over

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Yes! Perfection

Soul Asylum - Runaway Train

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The Same Deep Water As You

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That's the main one I was thinking of.

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And the obvious heart wrenching ones for me and two of my favorite Cure songs
Pictures Of You

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Reminds me of that high school crush.

Pretty much all of The Black Parade and Clutching At Straws albums.

Bruce Springsteen's "Downbound Train". Simply about a working class man struggling with employment and a woman.


I had a job, I had a girl
I had something going, mister, in this world
I got laid off down at the lumberyard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now I work down at the car wash
Where all it ever does is rain
Don't you feel like you're a rider
On a downbound train?


She just said "Joe, I gotta go
We had it once, we ain't got it anymore"
She packed her bags, left me behind
She bought a ticket on the Central Line
Nights as I sleep, I hear that whistle whining
I feel her kiss in the misty rain
And I feel like I'm a rider
On a downbound train


Last night, I heard your voice
You were crying, crying, you were so alone
You said your love had never died
You were waiting for me at home
Put on my jacket, I ran through the woods
I ran till I thought my chest would explode
There in a clearing beyond the highway
In the moonlight, our wedding house shone
I rushed through the yard, I burst through the front door
My head pounding hard, up the stairs I climbed
The room was dark, our bed was empty
Then I heard that long whistle whine
And I dropped to my knees, hung my head, and cried
Now I swing a sledgehammer on a railroad gang
Knocking down them cross ties, working in the rain
Now don't it feel like you're a rider
On a downbound train?

Did you call for the night porter?
You smell the blood running warm
I stay close to this frozen border, so close I can hit it with a stone
Now something crawls right up my spine
That I always got to follow
Turn out the lights
Don't see me drawn and hollow
Just blood running warm
No one needs to tell you that
There's no use for ya here anymore
And where are your friends?
They've gone away
It's a different world, they left you to this
To janitor
The emptiness
So let's get it on
When the sun is finally going down, and you're overdue to follow
But you're still above the ground
What ya got comin' is hard to swallow
Like blood running warm
Did they call for the night porter
And smell the blood, blood running warm
Well I've been waitin at this frozen border, so close you could hit it with a stone

When your number isn’t up
Mark Lanegan

Christmas at Denny’s by Randy Stonehill

YouTube link

They got Christmas Muzak
Piped in through the ceiling
And the refills of coffee
Are always for free
And the waitress on graveyard
And the surly night manager
Are wishing that all of us losers would leave
There's a star on the sign
At the Texaco Station
Like the star long ago
On that midnight clear
As I look all around
At these cold, empty faces
I doubt that you'd find many wise men here
And I'm dreaming about
A silent night
Holy night
When things were alright
And I'm dreaming about
How my life could have been
If only, if only, if only
But somewhere down the road
I gave up that fight
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight
Once I had a home
And a wife and a daughter
Had a company job
Earning middle-class pay
Then Lisa got killed
By a car near the schoolyard
And my wife started drinking
Just to get through each day
I will never forget that little red wagon
Turning to rust all alone in the rain
One morning I flagged down
A truck on the highway
I just couldn't bear to go back there again
And I'm dreaming about
A silent night
Holy night
When things were alright
And I'm dreaming about
How my life could have been
If only, if only, if only
Well, it's not just the blind man
Who loses his sight
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight
They say
Life's made of cruel circumstance
Fate plays the tune and we dance
Dance til we drop
In the dust and we're gone
And the world just goes on
The cop at the counter
He's the guardian angel
He watches these orphans
Through dark mirrored shades
And the register rings
Like a bell sadly tolling
For the fools we've become
And the price that we paid
Oh when I was a boy
I believed in Christmas
Miracle season to make a new start
I don't need no miracle, sweet baby Jesus
Just help me find
Some kind of hope in my heart
And I'm dreaming about
A silent night
Holy night
When things were alright
And I'm dreaming about
How my life could have been
If only, if only, if only
But I'll still be here
At the morning's first light
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight

Johnny Cash's version of Hurt might be the most powerful but depressing song/video. I also think Flaming Lips "Do you realize" is one of those beautiful but depressing songs

Do you realize
That you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realize
We're floating in space?
Do you realize
That happiness makes you cry?
Do you realize
That everyone you know someday will die?
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes
Let them know you realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do you realize?

When I'm blue and want to wallow in it for just a minute (not sure if I'm the only one who wants to do that sometimes) I always put on Everybody Hurts by REM. It lets me wallow in it then get back up.

When your day is long
And the night, the night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough
Of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
Everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go (hold on)
If you think you've had too much
Of this life, well hang on
'Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts
Don't throw your hand, oh no
Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone
No, no, no, you are not alone
If you're on your own in this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much
Of this life to hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries
Everybody hurts, sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes
So hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts

A song I see roundly lambasted but that I heard as a young boy for the first time is "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jack. That one always gets me in the feels and I like it despite the fact that it is apparently a terrible song