Sad vs Depressing

[CTListener]

Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks (1974).

"Goodbye Papa (Michelle)
It's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky;
Now that the spring is in the air"

:'( :'(

But again, what a toe-tapper!

That was the truly irritating thing about it. Jacks gave it this sing-song delivery that betrayed a total ignorance of the tone and content of the song. Kind of the way I feel when I hear Herman's Hermits' take on "Silhouettes on the Shade" and compare it to the Rays' original, although the singer there fears only that his girlfriend has found someone else, not that his life is ending.

 

[CTListener]

"D.O.A" by Bloodrock is depressing. Made for an intriguing song to be heard on "American Top 40" for the two weeks it spent near the bottom of th Top 40 in 1970.

It was the musical equivalent of "Please, God, I'm only 17!," the letter written from the viewpoint of a dead accident victim that Dear Abby used to reprint every year (and perhaps still does) to warn teens to be careful when they get that first driver's license.

True, although I think DOA is about somebody dying of injuries sustained in an airplane crash.

"I remember ... we were flying low, and hit something in the air." IIRC, there were stations that would not touch "D.O.A.," and that, just as much as its macabre content, was the reason for its poor national chart performance.

 

[deltas69]

airplane or car crash where the occupants were boozing or doping..i was told the reason for non airplay was the ambulance siren in he song..at that time i believe it was against fcc regs to broadcast any type siren over the air so as not to confuse motorists and possibly cause a real accident..could be bull for all I know...we did play it..briefly

 

[johnbasalla]

After doing some internet searching, multiple sites say that BLOODROCK II, the album that contained "D.O.A.", was released in October, 1970 on Capitol Records. The single, "D.O.A.", hit the charts in January, 1971.

"Seasons In The Sun" avoids being depressing due to its catchy nature. Same with "Silhouettes" by Herman's Hermits.

 

[oldies76]

"Seasons In The Sun" avoids being depressing due to its catchy nature.

It's a sad song, also "Alone Again (Naturally)" is sad. I think the same can be said for 1976's "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago

 

[CTListener]

Ronnie Milsap had a country hit with a song called "Nobody Likes Sad Songs." It was as sad a song as you're likely to hear! Seems the song's protagonist -- Milsap himself, as a singer/pianist working at a bar -- has just lost his girl so he's been playing more and more downbeat numbers at work. Now he has the feeling the bar owner's going to fire him because, yep, "nobody likes sad songs."

 

[SolidGold16]

How about "Rocky" by Austin Roberts? I think it was the follow-up single (or maybe it came first?) to "Something's Wrong With Me". It has a fast, upbeat tune about his wife dying...

We had lots of problems yeah but we had lots of fun
Like the crazy party when our baby girl turned one
I was proud and satisfied
Life had so much to give
Til the day they told me that she didn't have long to live.

(chorus)
She said, "Rocky I've never had to die before, don't know if I can do it..."

Now it's back to two again
The little girl and I
Looks so much like her sweet mother
Sometimes it makes me cry
I sleep alone at nights again
I walk alone each day
And sometimes when I'm about to give in
I hear her sweet voice say, to me

"Rocky, you know you've been alone before
You know that you can do it
But if you'd like to lean on me
Take my hand, I'll help you through it" (through it)
I said, "Baby, oh sweet baby
It's love that sets us free
And I told you when the world would end
Your love was safe with me"

 

[rnigma1]

I was also thinking about "Rocky," and its similarity to "Honey," but it was more up-tempo.

"Run, Joey, Run" was too laughably melodramatic to be sad ("Daddy please don't! It wasn't his fault! He meeeeeans soooo much to me!"). On the other hand, David Geddes' other song, "The Last Game of the Season," tries harder for pathos. The cover version by Kenny Starr is worse because Kenny was trying too hard to wring the tears.

 

[radioman148]

"Joey's Last Big Game" by Linda Gaye Scott (anybody remember that one?)

 

[CTListener]

airplane or car crash where the occupants were boozing or doping..i was told the reason for non airplay was the ambulance siren in he song..at that time i believe it was against fcc regs to broadcast any type siren over the air so as not to confuse motorists and possibly cause a real accident..could be bull for all I know...we did play it..briefly

The siren thing doesn't sound likely. There were sirens all over R. Dean Taylor's "Indiana Wants Me" (another song in which the singer dies at the end) around the same time and every station was on that one. It went top 10.

 

[amfmsw]

Actually, the 'siren' sfx exclusion was for commercials, and was voluntary as part of the NAB Code. I still turn and crank my head in the car when I hear contemporary ones on the radio...it pisses me off. It really IS quite a distraction.

 

[firepoint525]

Ronnie Milsap had a country hit with a song called "Nobody Likes Sad Songs." It was as sad a song as you're likely to hear! Seems the song's protagonist -- Milsap himself, as a singer/pianist working at a bar -- has just lost his girl so he's been playing more and more downbeat numbers at work. Now he has the feeling the bar owner's going to fire him because, yep, "nobody likes sad songs."

Milsap's saddest song was "Almost Like a Song." He even sang that "it was much too sad to write."

 

[firepoint525]

"Seasons In The Sun" avoids being depressing due to its catchy nature.

It's a sad song, also "Alone Again (Naturally)" is sad. I think the same can be said for 1976's "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago

Peter Cetera comes off like a WUSS in that one! It's similar to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by the Temps, or "Baby Come Back" by Player.

 

[CTListener]

Kenny Starr's "Blind Man in the Bleachers" got a lot of country fans teary-eyed on its way to No. 1, got enough pop radio exposure to hit No. 58 on the Hot 100.

 

[johnbasalla]

I posted (or thought I posted) this information yesterday, but it appears to be missing.

Bloodrock's "D.O.A", came off of their second album which was released in October, 1970. The single, "D.O.A.", first hit the Billboard Hot 100 in January, 1971. I discovered this through an internet search, and Joel Whitburn's history of the charts books.

 

[unitron]

"Seasons In The Sun" avoids being depressing due to its catchy nature.

It's a sad song, also "Alone Again (Naturally)" is sad. I think the same can be said for 1976's "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago

Peter Cetera comes off like a WUSS in that one! It's similar to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by the Temps, or "Baby Come Back" by Player.

Yeah, but the "character" in the Temps song still sounds man enough to grab Cetera's body and beat everyone in Player to a bloody pulp with it.

 

[unitron]

I posted (or thought I posted) this information yesterday, but it appears to be missing.

Bloodrock's "D.O.A", came off of their second album which was released in October, 1970. The single, "D.O.A.", first hit the Billboard Hot 100 in January, 1971. I discovered this through an internet search, and Joel Whitburn's history of the charts books.

I must have hallucinated you hallucinating that, because I remember seeing it as well.

 

[CTListener]

"Seasons In The Sun" avoids being depressing due to its catchy nature.

It's a sad song, also "Alone Again (Naturally)" is sad. I think the same can be said for 1976's "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago

Peter Cetera comes off like a WUSS in that one! It's similar to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by the Temps, or "Baby Come Back" by Player.

Yeah, but the "character" in the Temps song still sounds man enough to grab Cetera's body and beat everyone in Player to a bloody pulp with it.

David Ruffin was no wuss. He did the same sort of high-testosterone pleading in a lesser Temps hit, "All I Need."

 

[Thomps2525]

Several US radio stations have already started playing Christmas music, so we're once again going to be hearing NewSong's 2000 hit, The Christmas Shoes. In the song, a little boy is trying to buy new shoes so his mother, who has cancer, will look nice if she dies that night. The song was turned into a book...and then the book was turned into a movie. Sad...or depressing?

 

[hornet61]

Depressing

Motels - Take the L out of Lover and It's over.