Saddest opening lyrics?

I wish I could please you tonight
But my medicine just won't come right
I'm walking on a wire, I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling

-Linda Thompson, "Walking on a Wire"

or

just because i don't say anything
doesn't mean i don't like you
i open my mouth and i try and i try
but no words came out
without 40 oz of social skills
i'm just an ass in the crack of humanity
i'm just a huge manatee, a huge manatee
and besides you're probably holding hands
with some skinny pretty girl who likes to talk about bands
and all i want to do is ride bikes with you
and stay up late and watch cartoons

or the classic:

turn around
every now and then i get a little bit lonely
and you never come around
turn around
every now and hten i get a little bit tired
of listening to the sound of my tears
turn around
every now and hten i get a little bit nervous
that the best of all my years have gone by

"He said, 'I'll love you, until I die.'"

I changed my name in search of fame/to find the Midas Touch
Oh I wish I never wanted then/what I want now, twice as much

Mommy, Mommy, Mommy
Look at your son
You used to love me
But now I 've got a gun

V - "1926" (as covered by Thalia Zedek)

I saw you're older
You looked like death
Had been at your face

Fugazi - "Shut the Door"

I break the surface so I can breathe
I close my eyes so I can see
I tie my hands to be free
Do you ever feel free?

-elliott smith; the song 'clementine'

or, better yet..

"i wanna die
i wanna die
down south loosiana
and the gray evenin sky

i wanna die
i don't care how i'm gettin out
down south loosiana
and the lonesome highway sound.."

-jolie holland; the song 'i wanna die'

Remember that one, everybody? Yeah, probably not a revelation to almost anyone, but it fits the bill, though, doesn't it?

We were in a small cafe
You could hear the guitars play
It was very nice
Oh honey it was...paradise.

Lover
there will be another one
who'll hover
over you beneath the sun
Tomorrow
see the things that never come
today

Telepopmusik, "Smile"

May just be the way it's sung, but it kind of kills me every time.

or

"It doesn't matter if we all die"

Oh, I’ll break them down, no mercy shown,
Heaven knows, it’s got to be this time,
Watching her, these things she said,
The times she cried,
Too frail to wake this time.

Oh I’ll break them down, no mercy shown
Heaven knows, it’s got to be this time,
Avenues all lined with trees,
Picture me and then you start watching,
Watching forever, forever,
Watching love grow, forever,
Letting me know, forever.

-The Left Bank

The blind man can see
Put a match to his eyes
I’ll show you another who sings as he cries

I cannot be whole
As the beggar who sighs
But I’ll show you another who knows as he dies

Richard Thompson

When I was a boy
The moon was a pearl
The sun was a yellow gold

When I was a man
The wind blew cold
The hills were upside down

...just typing the lyrics makes me feel a bit sad - The rest of the song is even sadder.

And if you want me to wait forever, I will
And if you say that you'll love me never, you will

You're sitting down to dress
and you're a mess
You look in the mirror

You look in your eyes
Then you realize

Everybody goes
leaving those
who fall behind

"I was waiting in the bar, where you you?"

"Rex's Blues" Townes van Zandt

--The Kids (Lou Reed, "Berlin")

Bl00dbin 'Shame About The Husband'

also saddest closing-ish lyrics:

you won't be happy with me
but give me one more chance
you won't be happy anyway

Ride the blue wind high and free
She'll lead you down through misery
Leave you low, come time to go
Alone and low as low can be

-TVZ

My love is dead and buried yonder
Beneath the weeping willow tree
What wrecks my life and makes me wonder
Is because he died for me

-Carter Family

also saddest closing-ish lyrics:

you won't be happy with me
but give me one more chance
you won't be happy anyway

― fervently nice (Treeship), Monday, July 29, 2013 4:49 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

knowing he is capable of writing songs like this -- and about 1/2 of his songs on the 90s albums, through 69 love songs are near this level -- it's disappointing to me that his recent material is mostly kitschy, conceptual bullshit

the saddest stephin merritt lyric is, i think, from "as you turn to go": "I know I'm not supposed to say I'm sorry / I know you've had more loves than Mata Hari / But you know you're the star of my life story / And I'm so sorry."

Also Momus's voice is lovely in melancholic mode. I wish he wrote more songs in that vein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW6YQYlftCE

Cause I lost my job two weeks before Christmas
And I talked to Jesus at the sewer
And the Pope said it was none of his God-damned business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oKFkc19T3Dk

xp- It's kind of hard to pinpoint the saddest Merritt lyric because it also depends on the context of the music. That line from "As You Turn To Go" is wonderfully sad but on top of my head i can think of at least 3 or 4 worthy contenders.

also OTM that Momus's best songs are the sad ones.

Many rivers to cross,
but I just can't seem to find
my way over.
Wandering, I am lost,
as I travel along
the white cliffs of Dover.

Many rivers to cross,
and it's only my will
that keeps me alive.
Well, I've been licked,
washed up for years,
and I merely survived
because of my pride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgzWqfZo8fY

"Good times for a change"

HER
PLACENTA
FALLS
TO
THE
FLOOR

I am saddened to hear "The bugger in the short sleeves fucked my wife," the first line of Guts by John Cale.

"It was only one hour ago. It was all so different then."

With a growing sense of dread
And a hammer in my head
Fully clothed upon the bed
I wake up to the world that I've been living in

I got a call
I got a phone call from my mother
Your dad is changing
He is becoming something other

"I see myself on TV, I'm a faker, a paper clown.
It's clear to all my friends that I habitually lie; I just bring them down."

-- the Who, "However Much I Booze"

"I should have forgotten you long ago, but you're in every song I know"

Busby Berkeley Dreams by Magnetic Fields

"The last horizons I can see are filled with bars and factories / and in them all we fight to stay awake" - Last Horizons, Gin Blossoms

I can hardly bear the sight of lipstick
On the cigarettes there in the ashtray
Lyin' cold the way you left them
At least your lips caressed them while you packed
And a lip print on a half-filled cup of coffee
That you poured and didn't drink
But at least you thought you wanted it
That's so much more than I can say for me

George Jones - A Good Year For The Roses

I was raised by snakes
I lie all the time