The 1970's were real good at producing songs of depression. Here's a list in no particular order of some gut wrenching tunes that will have you reaching for your Prozac.
1. Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O'Sullivan
2. Diary - Bread
3. Shannon - Henry Gross
4. Needle and the Damage Done - Neil Young
5. Cat's in the Cradle - Harry Chapin
6. Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
7. Rainy Days and Mondays - The Carpenters
8. All By Myself - Eric Carmen
9. Reflections of My Life - Marmalade
10. Wishing You Were Here - Pink Floyd
11. Dust in the Wind - Kansas
12. At Seventeen - Janis Ian
13. He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother) - The Hollies
14. It Never Rains in Southern California - Albert Hammond
"... Out of work/ I'm out of my head/Out of self respect/ I'm out of bread
I'm under loved/ I'm under fed/I wanna go home..."
15. I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself - Elton John
16. Fly Away - John Denver
17. Goodbye to Love - The Carpenters
18. Deacon Blue - Steely Dan
19. Love Hurts - Nazareth
20. That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be - Carly Simon
21. Fire and Rain - James Taylor
22. Aubrey - Bread
23. One - Three Dog Night/Harry Nilsson
24. Superstar- The Carpenters
25. Billy Don't Be a Hero - Paper Lace
26. I've Gotta Get a Message to You - The Bee Gees
"I've just got to get a message to you/One more hour and my life will be through..."
27. Send in the Clowns - Judy Collins
28. You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Barbara Streisand & Neil Diamond
29. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
30. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town - Kenny Rogers
31. Lucky Man - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
32. He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones
33. Just Another Day - Paul McCartney & Wings
"... As she posts another letter to the sound of five/People gather round her/And she finds it hard to stay alive..."
34. So Far Away - Carol King
35. By the Time I Get to Phoenix - Isaac Hayes (12 minute ver.)
36. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
37. It's Not Easy Being Green - Kermit the Frog
"...People tend to pass you over, cause you’re not standing out / Like flashy sparkles in the water, or stars in the sky..."
38. Down from Dover - Dolly Parton
39. Suicide is Painless - M*A*S*H* Theme Song
40. Cotton's Dream - Bless the Beasts and Children theme (Later used as the theme for The Young and the Restless and AKA "Nadia's Theme".41. Everything I Own - Bread
42. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word - Elton John
43. Abraham, Martin and John - Dion
44. Vincent - Don McLean
45. Mandy - Barry Manilow
46. Mr. Bojangles - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
47. I Am... I Said - Neil Diamond
48. Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas) - John Denver
"... And now I'm almost eight as you can see/You came home at a quarter past eleven/Fell down underneath our Christmas tree/Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas/I don't wanna see my Mumma cry..."
49. She's Gone - Hall & Oates
50. I'm Not in Love - 10cc
51. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain - Willie Nelson
52. Piano Man - Billy Joel
53. Lyin' Eyes - The Eagles
54. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - The Bee Gees
55. Sylvia's Mother - Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
Too bad George Jones' "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)" didn't get released till 1981, because that would've fit perfectly on this list.
I almost titled this post as "Songs from the 1970's that make me want to kill myself", but I thought that might leave this list open to songs like "You Light Up My Life" which are not at all sad, but are so awful that I contemplate offing myself just to end the pain.
Let me know if there's a particularly depressing 70's tune that I missed, or if one off this list jumps out at you as the absolute low point of all the depressing sounds of the seventies.
[See a related retrospace post: Depressing Songs of the Seventies where several of these songs were pulled.]
I'm glad to see 'Shannon' is #3, it was the first song I thought of when I saw thw title of this post. Also glad to see you put George Jones on the list. I would also add 'Wildfire,' but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteYeah but look at that cheerful table scene above....
ReplyDeleteVery good list. Er, or should that be "Very depressing list", which would mean you had succeeded? Anyway...
ReplyDeleteHow about "River" from Joni Mitchell. Very sad.
"Wildfire" is exquisitely depressing and belongs on this list. And "Shannon" made the cut because songs about dead pets are an automatic in.
ReplyDeleteJoni Mitchell could be singing about mass suicide and I'd be happy 'cause I love her voice too much.
You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille... with four hungry children and a crop in the field...
ReplyDeleteAlso thanks for reminding me of "Bless the Beasts and Children." That movie freaked me out.
Great List! Personally, I would include Wayne Newton's "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" to the list....that was one downer sounding of a song!
ReplyDeleteAs a child, my musical impressions were formed by listening to AM radio during the 1970s. No wonder I love sad sack music so much.
ReplyDeleteGreat list.
tommy - Bless the Beasts and Children is one of the most depressing films I have ever seen - it makes Terms of Endearment look like a slapstick comedy. When will it ever get on DVD?
ReplyDeletejbfunky - Good Lord, that is one helluva depressing song. "Now it broke my heart to tell my little daughter that her daddy had to run to catch a train..." (sniff)
paul - Your formative years were shaped by bands like Bread and The Carpenters... you literally couldn't have turned out any other way.
Send in the Clowns is tops for me when it comes to depression. I also get depressed when I hear any song by the Carpenters. I think Karen has a pretty voice, but it's always so sad.
ReplyDelete'For All We Know' always made me want to cry as a boy growing up in the 70's whenever my mom played it..
DeleteOn Christmas morning a couple years ago, I had to fill in the night shift for the holidays. On the way home I stopped at a McDonalds for coffee and I was feeling alone, what song do you think came on?
I had to hurry out of there quickly as I could feel it coming just like a knee-jerk reaction. I made it outside just in time before the levee burst.
The Carpenters make even Alice in Chains sound peppy. Karen could sing me Happy Birthday and I would feel hollow and listless.
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ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro, but that was a very depressing song from 1968. I also wanted to let you know that I've posted my Top 100 Groovy Songs of the 1970s if you're interested in checking out my list at "Deep Dish".
ReplyDeleteBoy do those guys up top look depressed or what???
ReplyDeleteEven though "At Seventeen" falls into the depressing category, it's one of my favorites.
I think deep dish has a point about "honey". I wouldn't want to have lived with that chick, all she did was wreck the car and plant sick trees....
ReplyDeletedeep dish - I checked your list and left a comment. Great stuff! I'm always glad to spread the retro love.
ReplyDeletejoe - Many of these songs are among my favorites; depressing songs can be good too. In fact, sometimes there's nothing better than a sad song. Just follow it up with KC & the Sunshine Band, and you're back in action.
Correction: #23 should read Harry Nilsson, not Henry
ReplyDeleteThanks, anonymous. It's been changed.
ReplyDeleteMan, I wanna kill myself after just reading the list!
ReplyDeleteThere was a reason for all the rampant drug use! It was all this yucky music blaring out of the radios everywhere. Man what a list! Dead on the money. Fortunately I lived through that dreary decade and rocked into the fabulously big haired and gliterry 80's thank God for MADONNA! LOL Nice post took a lot of work to put that together...
ReplyDeleteHow about a couple of Queen songs.
ReplyDelete1) "Somebody to Love" in 1976:
"Each morning I get up I die a little
Can barely stand on my feet..."
2) "Bohemian Rhapsody" in 1975: I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all..."
What is interesting is that these utterly depressing songs were both used in comedy movies. Ella Enchanted has Anne Hathaway singing "Somebody to Love" and we all are familiar with Wayne and Garth's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Wayne's World.
One I heard way too much of back in the day was "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Since it was based on current events made it even more depressing! That and Edwinn Star's "War" were always playing on our high school jukebox. Yes, we had one in the school lounge.
ReplyDeleteWhat about "The Morning After" (from The Poseidon Adventure)? Also, Skylark's "Wildflower", here's the song: http://priortimes3.blogspot.com/2009/04/wildflower.html
ReplyDeleteLove this list. I'll make sure not to drink while listening to those songs. :D
I think the Pink Floyd song is "Wish you were here."
ReplyDeleteI'd add The Who "Behind Blue Eyes" and Robert John "Sad Eyes." Also "Jolene" by Dolly Parton. Wasn't "Me and Bobby McGee" from the 70s? You've got to have some Janis Joplin on a depressing song list.
Glad to see Joy Division on the list.
Since someone else stared doing corrections, I'll add that you can drop the "Just" from Paul McCartney's Another Day.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, though! Made my already gloomy Monday!
I adore Karen carpenter's voice but you're right. Any dozen of their songs could have made this list. Merry Christmas, Darling indeed!
I think you gotta include "Me and Bobby McGee," which is a bit more poetic than many you've listed, yet still a masterpiece of longing, loneliness and melancholy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how can one overlook "The Way We Were?"
Your blog is fantastic, quite obviously a labor of love and one that I will most certainly follow.
Hope you can check out my new effort: The Platypus Maximus Media Filter.
Yup, some of the worst music ever made, and you wonder why so many people offed themselves in the early 70s.
ReplyDeletecheck out 1CLUB.FM, they have a 70s lite channel that plays all of these, i listen alot and just laugh now
I've just discovered your website and love, love, LOVE it! Very good list here including several songs that readily came to my mind... and a few that I apparently need to go back and listen a bit more closely to!
ReplyDeleteBut at the top of my list has to be "Rocky" by Dickie Lee. I guess it was a country song, and maybe a one-hit wonder, but as a kid I could cry any time I heard it. The same theme was also used in a '70s TV movie called "Sunshine" where the young wife dies of cancer, leaving her husband alone with a baby daughter. Due to the movie's popularity, they went so far as to develop a half-hour sitcom based on it that jumped ahead a few years with the father & growing daughter, but the original premise was just too painfully depressing and it was quickly dropped. Hard to laugh at the father's challenges of raising his daughter alone when all you can remember is crying your eyes out over those terrible hospital scenes of mom losing her hair and desperately writing a journal to leave her daughter after she died. I hope someone was fired over that brilliant idea!
Anyway, thanks for the memories and keep up the great work! :-)
Great choice with "sunshine", MTM. I actually have this soundtrack on vinyl and will be creating a post on it shortly.
ReplyDeleteGlad you dropped by!
While not a radio "hit", you might want to consider the song "Solitude" from Black Sabbath's third album Master of Reality.
ReplyDeleteBoth musically and lyrically, it stands as one of the most melancholy tracks ever recorded.
"My name, it means nothing. My fortune is less.
My future is shrouded in dark wilderness.
Sunshine is far away. Clouds linger on.
Everything I possessed, now they are gone."
And it just gets darker from there!
I can't believe no-one has mentioned "Patches" by Clarence Carpenter. Or was it from the 60s?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again - Naturally" and Terry Jacks "Seasons in The Sun" helped push many a person to commit suicide!! God, how I hate those 2 songs and damn them both for writing and the record company for releasing them!!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Daniel by Elton John?
ReplyDeleteHolding on to Yesterday by Ambrosia
ReplyDeleteThe Grand Tour by George Jones.
ReplyDeleteStep right up to get your heart torn out.
The folks at the dinner table are great! These were perfect songs while driving Vega's and Pinto's.....
ReplyDeleteWhere can I download these songs for free?
ReplyDelete