History BittersweetEnding / Music

* Music/{{Voltaire}}: "The Last Halloween Party" ends with the world being overrun by zombies ''and'' hostile Martians, and Manhattan in chaos. The final verse is still a massive [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming moment]] because the protagonist reconciles with his teenage daughter, apologizing for not being more understanding but swearing that he loves her no matter what, after having risked life and limb to brave the zombie horde and find her. The two of them share a father-daughter dance at the titular party, alongside some other ravers, who have holed up in a club to [[WhileRomeBurns have a blast]] before they all die. As a nice little bonus, the last line notes that the Martians haven't killed everyone yet, suggesting there's hope humanity can win this thing yet.

* Ludo's The Broken Bride the protagonist is reunited with his wife for One Last Day, but ultimately decides to die with her in the car crash, rather than living without her

* Music/{{Jhariah}}: ''The Great Tale Of How I Ruined It All''. The story follows a lone man in an apocalyptic world where everyone has been brainwashed by a cult. They destroy the city, but he retreats into a room for safety. As it goes on, he realizes that it was ''his'' own fault for not having stopped them earlier. By the final song, he's taken control as the leader of the cult and has them rebuild the town. The thing is, he's still guilty and feels like the same thing will happen over again.
-->''In the lens through which some eyes will see\\
This tale is one of failure\\
And though I don’t think I’m your enemy\\
I’ll never be your savior\\
And in the lens through which some eyes will see\\
This tale is one of victory\\
And though I don’t think I’m a failure\\
I don’t deserve your sympathy''

* ''{{Music/Gloryhammer}}'': Two of the band's albums qualify.

* ''Creator/DemonsAndWizards'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZE9F-ZoRN8 "Fiddler on the Green"]]: The two dead children who were meant to be each other's soul mates are united in a peaceful afterlife. They're still dead, though.

* The [[GoldFever Gold Rush]] era folk-song "Sweet Betsy From Pike" tells the story of the titular woman and her boyfriend/husband Ike traveling to California. They survive numerous hardships, almost starve, fend off hostile Indians and successfully arrive... only in the last verse to get a divorce. (Although many recordings of the song don't include this, ending simply with the arrival.)

* Music/{{Vocaloid}} producer Music/{{mothy}}'s "Kept Waiting for a Response" might not be canon to the ''[[Franchise/EvilliousChronicles Story of Evil]]'', but as [[WhatCouldHaveBeen one of the endings mothy originally had in mind]] and closely tied to what he eventually went with it certainly qualifies. [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Riliane]] fully regrets her actions, is redeemed and dies a happy death among the children she raised in an orphanage, but her twin Allen and many other people died because of her and in the end, she can't really get her one last wish- she wishes to have a response to a letter she sent years ago... but the letter was to the already dead Allen and she knows that, even as a boy gives her a fake reply and she smiles and thanks him.

* In Music/SteeleyeSpan’s ''Mackerel of the Sea'', the narrator’s WickedStepmother, who has turned him into a loathsome worm and his sister Maisery into a mackerel, is forced to change the narrator back, and he becomes "the bravest knight that ever your eyes did see". However, his sister swims away from the shore, staying a mackerel, and is never seen again. It’s implied she only stayed close to the shore to comfort her brother.

** ''Space 1992'' ends with the Hootsman sacrificing his life in order to destroy the earth and create the Galactic Terrorvortex, through which [[BigBad Zargothrax]] flees. However, the creation of the Terrorvortex means that the Kor-Vilrath no longer have a means to escape the 18th Hell Dimension, and Angus [=McFife=] XIII is on the tail of the evildoer.
** ''Legends From Beyond The Galactic Terrorvortex'' ends with Zargothrax's death at Angus' hands. However, during the battle Zargothrax stabs Angus with the same Knife of Evil he used to corrupt Sir Proletius, Grand Master of the Knights of Crail, and Angus chooses to walk into the fires of Sciehellion and die over becoming a tyrant just as evil as Zargothrax and even more powerful.

* The song "Encoder" by dubstep band Pendulum ends on this ultra cathartic note, complete with incredible instrumentation:

* The ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'' series ends with Bret, Jemaine, and Murray all being deported back to New Zealand, where Bret and Jemaine resume their old jobs as shepherds. Though they're still able to make music without the added pressure of having to make money off of it.

* The [[GoldFever Gold Rush]] era folk-song "Sweet Betsy From Pike" tells the story of the titular woman and her husband Ike traveling to California. They survive numerous hardships, almost starve, fend off hostile Indians and successfully arrive... only in the last verse to get a divorce.

* The ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'' series ends with Bret, Jemaine, and Murray all deported back to New Zealand after it comes to light that they're illegal immigrants, where Bret and Jemaine resume their old jobs as shepherds. Though they're still able to make music without the added pressure of having to make money off of it.

** In ''Tindharia no Tane'', [[spoiler: the heroine Parsley ends up giving up her life to change the laws that rule the world, while main character, Salt, is left behind taking care for the world she left behind]].
** In ''Griotte no Nemurihime'' [[spoiler: one of the twins that serve as main characters to the story, Rosa, is absorbed into a song that makes her disappear forever. The story ends with the main characters throwing into the sea a crystal that contained her final song, which expressed her feelings for her sister, Citra.]]
** And finally, in ''Koboreru Suna no ARIA'', which serves as a prequel to Griotte no Nemurihime, [[spoiler: the heroine Seshiara is forced to sing for years in an attempt to restore the weakened sunlight, until the point in which she falls dead from exhaustion. Her husband Forgeit learns about this much later, and this causes him to become crazy and turn into the antagonist for Griotte. The finale of the album shows Forgeit dying as apparently, Seshiara's spirit comes to take him to the afterlife. Unfortunately, both were [[DoomedByCanon doomed by the canon]]...]]

* Ludo's The Broken Bride [[spoiler: the protagonist is reunited with his wife for One Last Day, but ultimately decides to die with her in the car crash, rather than living without her]]

* Music/{{Vocaloid}} producer Music/{{mothy}}'s "Kept Waiting for a Response" might not be canon to the ''[[Franchise/EvilliousChronicles Story of Evil]]'', but as [[WhatCouldHaveBeen one of the endings mothy originally had in mind]] and closely tied to what he eventually went with it certainly qualifies. [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Riliane]] fully regrets her actions, is redeemed and dies a happy death among the children she raised in an orphanage, but her twin Allen and many other people died because of her and in the end, she can't really get her one last wish- she wishes to have a response to a letter she sent years ago... [[spoiler: but the letter was to the already dead Allen and she knows that, even as a boy gives her a fake reply and she smiles and thanks him.]]

* The [[GoldFever Gold Rush]] era folk-song "Sweet Betsy From Pike" tells the story of the titular woman and her husband Ike traveling to California. They survive numerous hardships, almost starve, fend off hostile Indians and successfully arrive.. only in the last verse to get a divorce.

* The song "Encoder" by dubstep band Pendulum ends on this note:

In conjunction with the music it ends up being one of the most cathartic moments in music history.

"For everything that could have been
Well, at least we took the ride
There's no relief in bitterness
May as well let it die"