Smiths top tunes when you're down, says survey

A record by Mancunian miserablists The Smiths has been voted the best song to listen to when you’re down.

I Know It’s Over topped a poll of tunes which people turn to when they are depressed, broken-hearted or just having a bad day.

Written by Morrissey, the song is taken from the 1986 album The Queen Is Dead.

It begins with the lines: “I can feel the soil falling over my head/And as I climb into an empty bed/Oh well. Enough said.”

The Songs That Saved Your Life poll was carried out by BBC radio station 6 Music and voted for by thousands of listeners.

It reveals “the songs you cry along to, the ones you shout at, and the tunes that just make you feel a whole lot better” for those having “a bad day, week or year”.

REM’s Everybody Hurts and Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart are also favourites.

But amongst the gloom there are a few uplifting tunes on the list.

Girl All The Bad Guys Want by Bowling For Soup is at number two, and The Darkness make the top 20 with I Believe In A Thing Called Love.

The poll is part of a 6 Music campaign exploring the connection between music and mental health.

Top 20

1 The Smiths – I Know It’s Over

2 Bowling For Soup – Girl All The Bad Guys Want

3 REM – Everybody Hurts

4 The Cure – Pictures Of You

5 Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees

6 Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

7 Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb

8 Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel – Don’t Give Up

9 Blur – This Is A Low

10 The Beatles – Good Day Sunshine

= Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge

12 Tori Amos – China

13 Portishead – Glory Box

14 Al Green – Tired Of Being Alone

15 Mercury Rev – The Dark Is Rising

16 Lou Reed – Pale Blue Eyes

17 Spiritualised – Stop Your Crying

18 The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love

19 Faithless – Insomnia

20 Polyphonic Spree – Light And Day