Depressing songs are, paradoxically, great fun to listen to in many cases. Especially if you have had your heart broken and you can sit and wail along to 'All By Myself' by Celine Dion or 'Without You' by Nilsson. But these are just your average typical heartbreak songs. The songs that I have chosen below go beyond being 'sad' songs, they venture into 'depressing the heck out of you' territory. These songs are epic in the scale of their misery, one of them has been virtually accused of inciting suicide. When you get to that stage with a song, you know you are onto a good melancholy fest. Hopefully the list below contains some sorrowful songs you know and 'love'. If you want to contribute your own depressing songs below, hopefully we can get a part two list going with even more misery to wallow to.
10. Sylvia's Mother - Dr Hook
"And the operator says 40 cents more for the next three minutes! Pleeeaase Mrs Avery I just got to talk to her!" Dr Hook are extremely popular in Ireland, a nation inclined to country music - especially among the older generations. I grew up listening to Dr Hook and Sylvia's Mother reached number 2 in the British charts, number 5 in the Billboard top 100 and number 1 in the Irish charts in 1972. The song deals with a young man who is pleading with Mrs Avery to let him speak to her daughter Sylvia with whom he had been in a relationship with. The relationship broke up and now he is begging to speak to Sylvia who is getting ready to leave town and go to Galveston, Texas where she is going to marry another man. He is unsuccessful in his badgering of Mrs Avery, he can hear her talking to Sylvia but he never gets to speak to Sylvia himself The song was written by Shel Silverstein and is based on autobiographical fact. Silverstein, who wrote the majority of Dr Hook's lyrics, had been in a relationship with a girl called Sylvia Pandolfi, but they broke up, he tried to revive the relationship but her mother Louisa told him the relationship was over. Sylvia's Mother is a classic country ballad which is probably one of the best songs ever to sing along to, especially whenever you have had a tipple or ten. It is however, a very depressing song which if you listen to the lyrics carefully will have you crying in your pint however cheesy you think Dr Hook are.