Usually when I'm depressed (or just sad) I like to listen to sad music. Oddly enough, it makes me feel better.
These last few days I've felt myself slipping into a depression. It's a slightly scary feeling especially when you have a happy-go-lucky 7 month old wanting your attention when all you want to do is lay in bed. I fake happiness because babies can pick up on your emotions easily and the last thing Ick deserves is unwarranted sadness. Well, today begins the weekend Ick's dad has him from Wednesday to Sunday.
After dropping Ick off at his dad's parents' house I decided to go drive around and listen to the "Sad" cd I made the other day. The first song on the cd is my newest musical obsession: "Ain't No Reason" by Brett Dennen. (Check out the video on YouTube.) The lyrics that get me the most are: "There ain't no reason things are this way / That's how they always been and they intend to stay. / I can't explain why we live this way / We do it everyday."
The song is about our world and our lives. The seeming randomness of bad things happening, hungry children in other countries, broken soldiers who fight for our freedom, people making 5 cents a day to make clothes (I picked that amount out of thin air, by the way), working your whole life for nothing with nothing at the end but death, slimy politicians, prisons full to the brim, our pride in money and the things it buys, our eagerness for war, the hatefulness people harbor for each other, and the pain we harbor within ourselves.
I know it seems like a lot to cover in one song under 4 minutes long, but he does it. And every time I watch the video I cry. It's deep and touching... And doesn't change my life one bit.
Which, ironically, is kinda the point of the song.
I've listened to this song about 25 times in the last two days and after about the 3rd time in a row, I feel a little better. I can't explain the healing effect sad songs have on me, I just feel it.
The sad songs on my "Sad" cd vary quite a bit. This is a social awareness song. Others are love songs, cheatin' songs, death by whiskey songs, suicide songs, and just some slow, seemingly sad songs that only make sense when you're deep down in that depression. The artists include: Wallflowers, Keith Urban, Sister Hazel, Brett Dennen (duh), The Fray, Counting Crows and more.
If you'd like the full playlist, send me an email, I'd be happy to send the list. :o) Well, and sad that you want my "Sad" list, but I can't help but understand.
But, like the sunrise following the darkest night, I'm soon craving "Mandolin Moon" by Sister Hazel or "Hillbilly Bone" by Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins.
It's nice to know, though, that when I start to feel blue, I have a carefully picked playlist to help pick me up.
