Good Self-Pity Songs
Posted by David Foster on March 26th, 2014 (All posts by David Foster)
Rambler, Gambler by Ian and Sylvia
Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Linda Ronstadt
Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Warren Zevon
Dublin in the Rare Old Times, The Dubliners
I Who Have Nothing, Ben E King
Acres of Corn, Iris DeMent / Tom Russell
Others?
March 26th, 2014 at 7:56 pm
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams
March 26th, 2014 at 8:15 pm
Ruby, don’t take your love to town Kenny Rogers.
March 26th, 2014 at 8:18 pm
You licked a fine time to leave me, Lucille Kenny Rogers.
March 26th, 2014 at 8:45 pm
ISTR something from Hee Haw with the refrain “doom, despair, and agony on me.” Does that count?
March 26th, 2014 at 9:18 pm
Tuesday’s Gone
March 27th, 2014 at 12:08 am
“On my own” by Carol Bayer Sager. I’m listening to it now.
March 27th, 2014 at 9:07 am
“Things Have gone to Pieces” by Van Morrison, covering a George Jones song.
“Make the World Go Away” – very powerful on the sound track for “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”
March 27th, 2014 at 9:40 am
Shotgun Blues
March 27th, 2014 at 11:40 am
“Nobody loves me, everybody hates me,
Think I’ll go eat worms.”
I’ve always wanted to do a punk cover of that.
March 27th, 2014 at 1:41 pm
“Sloe Gin”, Joe Bonamassa, written by Bob Ezrin/Michael Kamen
“Sloe gin, sloe gin
Trying to wash away the pain inside
Well I’m sick and I’m all done in
Standing in the rain
And I feel like I’m gonna die
I’m so damn lonely – ain’t even high…”
Several Youtube versions available, about 8 minutes
March 27th, 2014 at 2:39 pm
IF you approach it with the right sarcastic and morbid state of mind; in view of our economy and body politic …
“Happy days are here again” [Democrat party theme].
Subotai Bahadur
March 27th, 2014 at 3:27 pm
Woody Guthrie singing I Ain’t Got No Home In This World Anymore. These days, the ideology comes through more than it did when I was younger.
Which led me to discover I Got no Iphone.
Billy Bragg also sings “I Ain’t Got no Home..,” but I prefer Woody’s version. Which reminds me that three months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, I bought a used cassette of Billy Bragg songs, one of which was “The Internationale.” At the time, his singing this song was in full-fledged support of the ideology that the regimes behind the Iron Curtain followed. Which made listening to the song after November 1989 rather amusing.
There is a more recent version of Billy Bragg singing The Internationale at Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Concert in 2009. In the video, Billy Bragg informs the audience that 20 years ago, he and Pete Seeger were at the Vancouver Folk Festival when Pete informed Billy Bragg that he was going to dedicate The Internationale “in memory of the protestors at Tianamen Square.” Given Pete Seeger’s support of Stalinism in previous decades, I found it rather amusing that he would dedicate a song used by Stalinists to support those struggling against latter day Stalinism.
Doublethink, doublethink, doublethink. Three times.
March 27th, 2014 at 4:53 pm
The Cowboy Rides Away George Strait.
March 27th, 2014 at 5:33 pm
How about “Mr. Lonely” – Bobby Vinton. That’s a real wallow in self-pity.
Lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
I have nobody for my own
I am so lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
Wish I had someone to call on the phone
Now I’m a soldier, a lonely soldier
Away from home through no wish of my own
That’s why I’m lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
I wish that I could go back home
Letters, never a letter
I get no letters in the mail
I’ve been forgotten, yes, forgotten
Oh how I wonder, how is it I failed
Now I’m a soldier, a lonely soldier
Away from home through no wish of my own
That’s why I’m lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
I wish that I could go back home
March 27th, 2014 at 6:53 pm
That reminds me of this one
One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) by Sinatra
March 27th, 2014 at 7:12 pm
Excellent offerings all. I played in a band in college which ended up singing mostly heartbreakers – cry-in-your-beer songs.
You can cure it with this, by John Denver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16AzQcd5-wg
March 27th, 2014 at 10:35 pm
“Alone Again (Naturally)” by Gilbert O’Sullivan
That song always got to me when I was a kid.
March 27th, 2014 at 11:06 pm
The hell with this pity party. How ’bout some Nice Surf Music instead??
March 27th, 2014 at 11:07 pm
Whipping Post –Allman Brothers
I been run down, I been lied to,
I don’t know why I let that mean woman make me a fool.
She took all my money, wrecked my new car.
Now she’s with one of my goodtime buddies,
They’re drinkin’ in some crosstown bar.
Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Good lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.
My friends tell me, that I’ve been such a fool,
And I have to stand by and take it baby, all for lovin’ you.
Drown myself in sorrow, and I look at what you’ve done.
But nothin’ seems to change, the bad times stay the same,
And I can’t run
March 28th, 2014 at 8:27 am
To every thing there is a season
A time for fish, a time for bicycles
A time for pity parties, a time for surf music
And always time for lunch
March 28th, 2014 at 11:03 am
“Mama Tried” by Merl Haggard
“I turned 21 in prison,
Serving life without prole.
Mama tried to raise me better,
but her pleading I denied.
I’ve no one else to blame
“Cause Mama tried.”
March 28th, 2014 at 11:17 am
No One Cares About Me – John Mellencamp
Hurt – Johnny Cash
March 28th, 2014 at 4:36 pm
amy winehouse ‘i’m no good’
1920-1921 crash: ‘ain’t we got fun’
There’s nothing sure
The rich get rich and the poor get poor
In the meantime, in between time
Ain’t we got fun? C’mon
Every little summer, every little winter
Don’t we got fun?
Twins and cares, dear, come in pairs, dear
Still we have fun
When I first saw you
I had but one thought
And then you chased me
Oh, until you were caught
Ain’t we got fun?
Ain’t we got fun, fun, fun?
I’m not too clever
But I might just say those words over
Thank you, kind sir, I don’t mind, sir
Ain’t we got fun?
Our rent’s unpaid, dear
And we haven’t a bus
But smiles were made, dear
Oh, for people like us
There’s nothing sure
The rich get rich and the poor get poor
In the meantime, in between time
Ain’t we got fun? C’mon
March 28th, 2014 at 5:22 pm
Speaking of depression songs, this one is from the Great Depression:
Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?
March 29th, 2014 at 3:08 am
I keep hearin’ you’re concerned about my happiness
But all that thought you’re givin’ me is conscience I guess
If I was walkin’ in your shoes, I wouldn’t worry none
While you ‘n’ your friends are worried about me I’m havin’ lots of fun
Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do
Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town
As long as I can dream it’s hard to slow this swinger down
So please don’t give a thought to me, I’m really doin’ fine
FLOWERS ON THE WALL — The Statler Brothers
You can always find me here, I’m havin’ quite a time
Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do
It’s good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright
Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete
Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do
Don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do
March 29th, 2014 at 3:45 pm
Pulled into Nazereth, was feeling ’bout half past dead
just looking for a place where I could lay my head
“hey mister can you tell me where a man might find a bed?”
He just grinned and shook my hand
“No” was all he said
March 30th, 2014 at 2:07 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wp2cmL-gEM Emmylou Harris and Mary Black: Green Hills of West Virginia. I don’t know if this is a “feel sorry for myself” song, but it brings tears to my eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5T5Gt-_0Lw Wildwood Flower w Carter Family. Ditto comment.
Let’s see if this comment passes the spam-o-meter. Previous comment did not,
March 30th, 2014 at 7:28 pm
Mr. Pitiful, Otis Redding
My Friend, Jimi Hendrix
Just My Imagination, The Temptations