Pretty much all of the songs on Disintegration qualify. Even the less well known ones, like "Pirate Ships" and "Homesick," which are agonisingly beautiful.
"Prayers For Rain" bears a special mention. Not only is the tune really sad but it's also full of cheery verses such as "You shatter me your grip on me a hold on me So dull it kills. You stifle me. Infectious sense of Hopelessness and prayers for rain."
The ironically titled "Boys Don't Cry" as well, also a case of Lyrical Dissonance.
"Cut Here" might make one sob like a little girl.
Especially if you know what it's about: The late Billy MacKenzie of The Associates, a friend of Robert Smith, who committed suicide in 1997. In the song, Smith laments not having spent more time with his friend.
For some, "The End of the World" is especially potent, what with the "just a boy and a girl" language, and Robert Smith's emotional delivery.
"Want" is about no matter how hard you want something, it'll eventually become worthless. The guitar riff doesn't help either.
And "There is No If." If you're happy when you hear it, it makes you sombre and reflective. If you're sad... Well, God help you. "Hysterical Grief" doesn't even cut it.
For a relatively upbeat song, "Doing the Unstuck" is quite a depressing song about losing hope.
"A Forest" from Seventeen Seconds Those final lines: "The girl is never there. It's always the same. I run towards nothing, again, and again, and again, and again..." are perhaps the saddest conclusion ever. Especially when comparing it to everything that went wrong in your own life.
"Pictures of You" also counts, especially when a Softer and Slower Cover was used in a famous anti speeding commercial in Australia.
Robert Smith performed a new arrangement of the song with Quartet Voluté for Dead Good, a documentary about death. The string quartet arrangement makes it feel sadder, and in the film's official trailer, it's accompanied of images of photos of the departed as displayed at funerals.
"Apart" from Wish is quite depressing, it's about a failed relationship where two ex lovers long for each other and wondering how they became so distant. "He waits to hear her say, "Forget" But she just hangs her head in pain and prays to hear him say, "No more, I'll never leave again" and the chorus are standouts, "How did we get this far apart? We used to be so close together. How did we get this far apart? I thought this love would last forever".
The B-sides "Adonais" and especially "It Used To Be Me" from the Wild Mood Swings era are definitely this.
