In the mood for moods

Apropos of my mood this week, the details of which I'll spare you, I've been seeking out depressing music to console/embolden my feelings of despair. Okay, so the feelings aren't exactly up to the level despair. Maybe more like... extreme grumpiness.

Anyway... I got to thinking about sad music in general and I started compiling a list of what I think are some of the most heartbreaking songs in my collection.

1. My Mom - Chocolate Genius Any song about one's mom getting Alzheimer's... well... 'nuff said.

2. Family Life - Blue Nile This one I discovered fairly recently, but... wow. Like a ton of bricks.

3. Pink Moon - Nick Drake (entire album) Ever wondered what an album recorded by a guy so depressed he couldn't stand up would sound like? Well, now you know.

4. Lover You Should Have Come Over - Jeff Buckley Another album that is full of pathos, if only because it was his only complete one. This song, in particular, does something to the heart. Like tears it out of your chest and pees on it. Triumphantly.

5. Anna Begins - Counting Crows Is this song sad, or just cathartic? Or tragic? Hmmmm. I'm leaving it.

6. Dear Chicago - Ryan Adams Something about his voice on this song... something about how it cracks at the end. Makes you feel like the world is cracked.

7. Angel - Jimi Hendrix (Demo acoustic version on an old tape from high school) One of the most delicate examples of the fact that Hendrix was really a kick ass singer. Another song about a dead/dying mom. A sure tearjerker.

8. Not Dark Yet - Bob Dylan Really, the whole Time Out of Mind album, but this song in particular, with all its connotations of mortality. And somehow, he's still kicking.

9. Mercy Street - Peter Gabriel There's a lot of pathos on this album too... and in no song more than in this one.

10. Keep Me in Your Heart - Warren Zevon How can you not feel it when a guy with terminal cancer records an album knowing it will be his last? Good god.

11. Hold On - Tom Waits I think it was my sister that said that this song sounded like a classic from the first time she heard it. Like it could have been written 30 years ago. Lyrically, just amazing.

So... if you're in the mood for moody music and haven't heard some of these tunes... track 'em down. And you might also want to pick up some Prozac.

jbg