The ultimate feeling sorry for yourself song is....

[Jockice]

Jealousy by Pet Shop Boys. Through messing around on youtube I chanced upon a live version of this, and as usual on hearing it I'm in bits. Tears running down my face and everything. And that's even despite not having been in that position for several years the line 'I lie alone, the clock strikes three, and anyone who wanted to could contact me' cuts through to my very soul. I've been there, god have I been there.

It doesn't fit into the category of crap songs that emotionally affect you. Because it's a great song. I'd say it was probably Neil and Chris's best ever single, but I can't play it too often because it always does this to me. Every single time. I even saw them on this tour, and...well, for once I'm thankful I could only get one freebie ticket.

Anyone want to argue with this? I don't fancy your chances though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH31ZGlXvXY

[holyzombiejesus]

What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted? Oof, never forget listening to it on repeat (well, kept rewinding the tape) on a coach back from Middlesbrough, January 2nd 1995 after getting dumped on NYE and having to still sleep over at the cow's house because I'd booked a ticket.

[jobotic]

Francois Hardy - All Over The World

My World is Empty Without You - Supremes or Afghan Whigs

I could be here all day.

[alan nagsworth]

Elliott Smith - Everything Reminds Me of Her

The song in itself is a total admission of self-pity, so it stands to reason that anyone with a shred of a connection to it would wear it like a big fucking badge at 3AM, down to the last glass of the second bottle of merlot and considering a nightcap of the whiskey in the kitchen cupboard, chain smoking fags in their bedroom, having already listened to a bunch of other Smith songs whilst consciously building up to this one, the zenith of sad.

It's not even something I still find hard to cope with any more. That relationship ended nearly five years ago. I'm more in love with my partner now than I ever have been with anyone else in my life. But fuck it, sometimes opening old wounds for no reason whatsoever other than to indulge the misery you know existed once and has the right to exist again for this one lonely hour is irresistible. Alcohol is a fucking nightmare.

[jobotic]

Elliott Smith - Everything Reminds Me of Her

The song in itself is a total admission of self-pity, so it stands to reason that anyone with a shred of a connection to it would wear it like a big fucking badge at 3AM, down to the last glass of the second bottle of merlot and considering a nightcap of the whiskey in the kitchen cupboard, chain smoking fags in their bedroom, having already listened to a bunch of other Smith songs whilst consciously building up to this one, the zenith of sad.

It's not even something I still find hard to cope with any more. That relationship ended nearly five years ago. I'm more in love with my partner now than I ever have been with anyone else in my life. But fuck it, sometimes opening old wounds for no reason whatsoever other than to indulge the misery you know existed once and has the right to exist again for this one lonely hour is irresistible. Alcohol is a fucking nightmare.

Damn right. It's been 25 years here but i can still have a weep remembering how i felt.

[sevendaughters]

Peter Hammill, 'This Side of the Looking Glass'

Look at this cover. LOOK AT IT.



All the song titles reflect this general navel-gazing songwriterly importance - 'Over', 'Alice (Letting Go)', '(On Tuesdays She Used to Do) Yoga', 'Betrayed', 'Time Heals' - to the point of near parody.

Its self-seriousness and lyrics and delivery combine to a perfect storm of despondency

I'm lost, I'm dumb, I'm blind,
I am drunk with sadness,
sunk by madness,
the wave overwhelms me,
the mirror repels me,
the echo of your laugh
drifts through the looking-glass
and I am alone.

I think because of its commitment to this mood and continuing in spite of how eminently mockable it is - as well as being really well-written with a nice arrangement - makes this album the ultimate sad bastard record, with this song its emotional apex/nadir.

Join me, won't you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv91WoqYcMs

[Jerzy Bondov]

The first thing that comes to mind is Hurt - the Nine Inch Nails one - not just self-pity but self-loathing. Real abject misery. 'Everyone I know goes away in the end...' Yeah too right they fucking do Trent.

But actually my favourite feeling-sorry-for-myself NIN song is the lesser known And All That Could Have Been. Get away from me, I'm no good, just leave me alone, please... just fuck off yeah. "I am tainted". I really used to wallow in this.

[Lordofthefiles]

Who Knows Where The Time Goes:

https://youtu.be/OkOB57UcYk8

Gets me all "...fuckin' 'ell I'm gonna diiiiiie", "...closer every day", "what's it all about?".
*slumps*
*darkness decends*

[Norton Canes]

"AAAAHHHH WON' LET YOU DAHHHHHNNN... WON' LET YOU DAHHHHHNNN AGAIN..."

[samadriel]

"Keeping My Hands Tied", by Ammonia.

"Creep" by Radiohead is probably the most obvious contender for this thread.

[drummersaredeaf]

But actually my favourite feeling-sorry-for-myself NIN song is the lesser known . Get away from me, I'm no good, just leave me alone, please... just fuck off yeah. "I am tainted". I really used to wallow in this.

The entire record that this is from is seriously miserable. My own wallowing track used to be one of the instrumentals - Leaving Hope. Whenever I find myself listening to this a bit too often I know it's time to mix things up a bit.

A lot of the music in that era was written with 'the end' in sight, and I wonder if this bunch of curiosities were considered a bit 'too much' for The Fragile. It's one of my favourite records, but there's signs of serious sadness all over it. La Mer was written in some sort of coastal alienation episode where Rez had ostensibly gone to write music, but later stated to it was to kill himself. There's hints written throughout - the following track, The Great Below, seems to be quite literally about getting in the sea.

[Bennett Brauer]

Maybe Todd Rundgren's 'Torch Song' for me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJqDA7MZ_zU

And anything by Christian Le Vaux.

[BlodwynPig]

Dusty Springfield

Baby blue

[greenman]

Probably something by latter day Hollis like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGRI2o191Cc

[Brundle-Fly]

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times by The Beach Boys is perfect for self-indulgent, dewy-eyed strolls along a canal in the rain.

[Sin Agog]

Abner Jay's I'm So Depressed (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RKpflHueZAk)

[Deyv]

Elliott Smith - Everything Reminds Me of Her

Also The Biggest Lie on his self-titled album. Wrenching in a way a million songs are trying hard to be, but also aware of how cliched it is.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Anything That's Part of You by Elvis, during which a despondent King actually contemplates ending it all. It could easily descend into kitsch, this song, it's so resolutely self-pitying, but it becomes quite majestically sad due to the utter beauty and sincerity of his vocals coupled with Floyd Cramer's delicate piano part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovbvnXsj5lI

[Gulftastic]

'I'll Sail This Ship Alone' by The Beautiful South.

[Deyv]

'I'll Sail This Ship Alone' by The Beautiful South.

I'd choose Blackbird on the Wire as the more overtly self-piteous, even if the narrator doesn't burn himself alive at the end. "The tears I knew I'd cry fall unnoticed down below..." I get the feeling Blackbird is a more personal song with real feeling behind it. The Beautiful South had a period where Heaton wrote a lot of songs that could be (accurately) described as self-pity. Miaow and Blue is the Colour-era.

Still, I'd probably choose Jacqui Abbott singing I'll Sail This Ship Alone over any version of Blackbird on the Wire.

[Jockice]

I'd choose Blackbird on the Wire as the more overtly self-piteous, even if the narrator doesn't burn himself alive at the end. "The tears I knew I'd cry fall unnoticed down below..." I get the feeling Blackbird is a more personal song with real feeling behind it. The Beautiful South had a period where Heaton wrote a lot of songs that could be (accurately) described as self-pity. Miaow and Blue is the Colour-era.

Still, I'd probably choose Jacqui Abbott singing I'll Sail This Ship Alone over any version of Blackbird on the Wire.

Prettiest Eyes isn't self-pitying but it is absolutely gorgeous. Their best single. And from the latter album I always liked The Sound Of North America with its opening line about a ginger Elvis Presley who no-one knew was king. And then the crippled Muhammad Ali and the homeless Greta Garbo, 'the real life living legend who no-one wants to meet.' Yes, I am listening to it at the moment. And yes, I am crying.

A bit like Madness, the Beautiful South are probably best known by the public for their jollier stuff, but some of their melancholic material is brilliant. One Better Day is another song about homelessness that makes me weep. 'The feeling of arriving when you've nothing left to lose.' I mean, fucking hell.

[Deyv]

Prettiest Eyes isn't self-pitying but it is absolutely gorgeous. Their best single. And from the latter album I always liked The Sound Of North America with its opening line about a ginger Elvis Presley who no-one knew was king. And then the crippled Muhammad Ali and the homeless Greta Garbo, 'the real life living legend who no-one wants to meet.' Yes, I am listening to it at the moment. And yes, I am crying.

Yes, great songs! Agree about Prettiest Eyes being their best single too, although Good as Gold is a strong contender. Miaow is my favourite album by them, Blue may have beaten it had they not included that Artificial Flowers cover. Have Fun has some of the best lyrics he's written with "the skeleton of life that love decays" and "you're the final match to the holder of this flickering flame." Also agree with you about Madness. Heaton was their support act in 2010, which makes perfect sense really.

I'll stop de-railing now, sorry.

[Jockice]

Yes, great songs! Agree about Prettiest Eyes being their best single too, although Good as Gold is a strong contender. Miaow is my favourite album by them, Blue may have beaten it had they not included that Artificial Flowers cover. Have Fun has some of the best lyrics he's written with "the skeleton of life that love decays" and "you're the final match to the holder of this flickering flame." Also agree with you about Madness. Heaton was their support act in 2010, which makes perfect sense really.

I'll stop de-railing now, sorry.

Derail away. My thread, my rules.

[Johnboy]

Blue by Joni Mitchell  (all of it)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

'I'll Sail This Ship Alone' by The Beautiful South.

Oh yes, great song.

Similarly, Neil Diamond's I Am, I Said may well be the towering apotheosis of self-pitying, solipsistic melodrama. People sometimes snigger at this song, and I understand why, but I do love it dearly. It's genuine, heartfelt, an earnest man singing earnestly about his deep-seated loneliness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxDyXK93o6g

You can easily picture Neil writing this at 3am, alone and adrift in his LA apartment, gazing at an empty chair. It's magnificent, an epic orchestral monument to utter desolation.

[buzby]

I'm Not In Love, obvs.
Also, Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye & Kimbra, though that is probably an accident of the timing of it being playlisted with my personal situation

[famethrowa]

Gotta be Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOVECbr-vsc

those waves of early polysynths, sheets of grey clouds

[Butchers Blind]

Matthew Sweet - Someone To Pull The Trigger
https://youtu.be/6yHLNf0bJlM

When I was going through a bad break up years back.

[chveik]

Townes van Zandt - A Song For
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grklxwt-xss

too late to wish I'd been stronger etc.

[Urinal Cake]

Roxy Music- A really good time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTevoxhUxHU