Sick Sad Tunes
So,
you’ve just gone through a break-up, you’ve had a shitty day at work, or you’re
just having one of those weeks where life decides to pile it onto you. Not all of
us have the strength to say fuck it,
and move on, and you know what, that’s fine. You just have to get through it.
How one can get through a craptastic time varies from person to person but more
often than not, it’s usually music that people turn to for comfort or guidance.
Some of us want pop tunes to shake us out of our bad funk, others find its
better when they can find a tune to relate to. You’re feelin’ sad, and you want
to know that what you feel is perfectly valid and normal – I get that! So, here
are some rad sad anthems that’ll hopefully ease your tired old soul and help
get you through this bad patch because remember: it’ll get better.
7)
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead –
Stars
The
thing about this song is that it’s not too obvious with its sadness. You kind
of have to escape into Stars’ own pretty
little world for a moment and try to understand. Sometimes you’ll find that
their world will correlate with yours. Your
Ex-Lover Is Dead, is ultimately a break-up song but not your typical one. There’s
not much anger. There’s not much heartache. It’s kind of about that point after
a relationship is over, when he or she pops into your head, and you can’t even
remember the last time you thought of them before that moment, or the last time
you ever loved them. It’s sad, but it happens.
Notable Lyrics: “It's nothing but time
and a face that you lose. I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose… I’m not
sorry I met you. I’m not sorry it’s over. I’m not sorry there’s nothing to save.
I’m not sorry there’s nothing to save.”
6)
The Ice Is Getting Thinner
– Death Cab for Cutie
Oh,
Death Cab. They’ve gotten me through
a multitude of lousy experiences. While this song can be as relevant to a
romantic break-up, I’ve found that it’s just as fitting for a platonic break-up. Death
Cab for Cutie have a bittersweet way of telling you the things you don’t
want to hear, but probably should – not in an angry or tired way, but they’re just
helping you find a conclusion.
Notable Lyrics: “We’re not the same, dear,
as we used to be. The seasons have changed, and so have we… And when spring
arrived, we were taken by surprise when the floes under our feet bled into the
sea, and nothing was left for you and me.”
5)
It’s All Over – The Broken
Family Band
I
remember the first time I heard this song and seven seconds in, I was like,
“Shit. Crippled by feels already.” If the music doesn’t instantly make your
heart sink a little, then the combination of the lead singer’s voice and the gut-wrenching
lyrics will do it for sure. It’s an overall beautiful, emotional song with a
crazy build up towards the end that kind of helps you to break the sadness out
from your body and turn it into something all on its own, something separate
that you go back to again and again.
Notable Lyrics: “I could bind your
beautiful wrists, and shut your beautiful eyes, with the drugs, with the drugs,
with the drugs, and kick your beautiful doors in. Oh, shame on your beautiful
friends, ‘cause it’s all over. It’s all over.”
4)
Me – The 1975
“I
just poured my heart out and you’ve got your tits out.” These were the slurred
words of Mr. Matthew Healy after
singing ‘Me’ at their concert at the Enmore Theatre in July, 2014. Funny, but
ultimately heart-breaking. Matty Healy
is notorious for always smoking and drinking on stage, and though it’s become
more of a prop for him now, when The
1975 start to play ‘Me’, it’s
apparent why Matty needs it with him on
stage, the audience shutting up (some stripping down…) and feeling a second
hand sadness as he’s on the verge of tears singing this song. I don’t think
anyone will properly know or understand why he wrote this song, but every
sadness holds an element of mystery, doesn’t it?
Notable Lyrics: “I put your mother
through hell, don't you mind? I hurt your brother as well, don't you mind,
don't you mind? Oh, I was thinking about killing myself, don't you mind? I love
you, don't you mind, don't you mind?”
3)
Unloveable – The Smiths
I
could’ve probably just put The Smiths’
8 different times on this list and be content with that decision. I mean, it’s
easy for Morrissey to creep in and
become our spirit animal when we’re feeling blue. The Smiths are the epitome of an angst-filled indie pop band. Unloveable is a lonely little anthem for
those of us who just don’t feel good enough for the one’s they love. Not all of
us are blessed with a mass amount of self-esteem and it feels like hell from
time to time but heck, we still get by. It’s not uncommon to feel this way,
though, and I guess that’s just a sad truth.
Notable Lyrics: “I know I’m
unloveable. You don’t have to tell me. I don’t have much in my life, but take
it; it’s yours.”
2)
Love Will Tear Us Apart –
Joy Division
Though
the title is pretty self-explanatory, Love
Will Tear Us Apart is a song about those relationships that at first were
unbreakable, but eventually found a way to disintegrate. It’s never as simple
as that, though. The song was released just after Ian Curtis’s death, eventually leading most to realise that the
song’s themes and lyrics and such explore the events prior to Ian’s death. It’s always been a strange
thought to me that love is the thing that tears us apart, but it happens,
doesn’t it? Then again, doesn’t that kind of taint the meaning of love? Oh,
let’s not go down that road.
Notable Lyrics: “Do you cry out in your sleep, all my failings
exposed. And there's a taste in my mouth, as desperation takes hold. And it’s
something so good, just can't function no more. But love, love will tear us
apart again. Love, love will tear us apart again.”
1)
If Winter Ends – Bright
Eyes
Bright Eyes fall into the same
category as The Smiths and Joy Division, I like to think. They’re
all bands to keep in your pocket when things aren’t so grand. The thing about Conor Oberst, lead singer and
multi-instrumentalist of Bright Eyes,
is that he allows his sadness to just ooze through everything about his music – the way he sings, the lyrics, the
messy riffs – which is why I’ve decided to put If Winter Ends at number 1 on this lil’ list of sad tunes.
Notable Lyrics: “But I fell for the
promise of a life with a purpose, but I know that that’s impossible now… I give
myself three days to feel better, or else I swear I'll drive right off a
fucking cliff, 'cause if I can't learn to make myself feel better, how can I
expect anyone else to give a shit? And I scream for the sunlight, or a car to
take me anywhere.”