Trying to Feel Better
Do you have any songs that you listen to when you’re feeling down? My best friend tells me that he listens to Billie Holiday. So many times, I’ve been told that I have bad taste, I’ve almost come to embrace it as part of my sense of self. Well, not bad taste. Everyone thinks that their own taste is wonderful, but I’m perfectly happy to have a little chip on my shoulder on the subject of taste. You call it bad taste; I call it my taste.
When I’m feeling crummy, there’s a song that always makes me feel better. I love this song, and the fact that I love it totally appalls many people. In fact, quite a few people have told me that it shows that I have bad taste. It’s “Frankenstein” by the New York Dolls. So many times, I’ve been told that this is just an awful song, but I really, really like it for some reason. Yes, I know that it’s totally overblown and over the top, a bombastic mess, and that’s a large part of why I like it. I like it even when I’m feeling good, but when I’m feeling rejected for being a freak or not fitting in, it makes me feel better for some reason. Admittedly, it’s not exactly, “uplifting,” but when you’re feeling marginalized, what other people find uplifting doesn’t always help.
Well, I’m asking you as a person
Is it a crime
Is it a crime
For you to fall in love with Frankenstein?
And is it wrong
Could it be wrong
Is it wrong just to want a friend?
I think it’s easy to see why someone who feels constantly out of place might like this song.
So now you’re telling me
That any time you could just go home
Well, this place here, you know it is my home
So where am I gonna go?
Hmm. Not feeling better yet. I might have to play it again twice as loud.
fojap 
Music can completely rule my mind in a positive or negative way. . I cannot even attempt to sleep with it on. I suppose one of the most uplifting songs that I go for when down is below. Don’t watch the stupid Video but ingest the music.
OR
Pull it out of your ass and be the one I admire? Love comes in all forms.
I do know what you mean. I generally can’t work with it on, and if I do it will affect what I do. I never understood the concept of “background music.”
Thanks for the songs.
By the way, did I ever mention that my sister was a modern dancer that danced professionally. I know that’s sort of a non-sequitur. It’s just some odd free association about music and creative work.
I admire her! When I grow up I will be a dancer!!! YEP
Me too!
Many times I work with music playing in the background and I think I don’t hear it half the time.
I could never do that. When I hear music, I frequently feel like it’s plugged directly into my brain and it overrides anything else. Sometimes, in a restaurant or a bar I have difficulty following a conversation. That’s not necessarily bad- it’s just the way it is.
Are you feeling better?
I find dead silence not conducive for me to work in.
Yes, thank you, I’m feeling a little bit better.
I mostly just listen to miserable music when I’m miserable. I guess I like wallowing in it. Besides, there’s so much great miserable music out there!
A song I always find uplifting when I feel down is My Way by Frank Sinatra.
That would definitely be a good one.
Volume is definitely a factor! Works for me…
If I recall correctly, at the beginning of the movie Velvet Goldmine words appeared on screen that said, “Despite being completely fictitious, this film should nevertheless be played at maximum volume,” which was an obvious reference to the beginning of The Last Waltz. Loud can be very, very good.
;o)
I don’t feed my sadness with sad songs, I try and make myself dance. Sometimes it’s like pushing water uphill but you have to make yourself happy.
Zumba is what lifted me out of my depression and it’s the best thing still.
And don’t forget to take Vit. D. It really makes a difference!
I’m not really sure I’d call Frankenstein sad. I find it strangely affirming.
I hadn’t heard about vitamin D.
Music. Besides bacon perhaps being the key to my general sense of satisfaction, music is indeed part of the essence of my soul. We are most of us cast from a different mold usually when it comes to music, I am an old classic rocker. I can listen to anything that fits that category, and not much else. I am not such a fan of the lyrics as I am the music. If it doesn’t take me someplace with audio intricacies of fine musicianship and quality sound then its just so so. Don’t pound me with repetetive chord changes, GO Somewhere! Do something interesting that takes my brain for a ride, something that can be uplifting, driving, and interesting all at the same time. Ahhh music.
I can be in a terrible mood, pop in a cd and rearrange my bad day instantly by getting drawn into a good song. There is just not much else to say except that music indeed soothes the beast. I hesitate to try and recommend something uplifting that would lighten your mood fojap, I don’t know which way your tastes lean, but I’m gonna go with Roll on Down the Highway and Let it Ride by BTO, Were an American Band by Grand Funk, Warrior or Emerald by Thin Lizzy, heck their entire album Boys are Back in Town is pretty good, Dog Eat Dog by Ted Nugent, Lights Out by UFO, maybe Long Cool Woman by the Hollies, Barracuda by Heart, Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull, Train Train, by Blackfoot, Highway to Hell AC/DC, Blue Collar Man by Styx, Money by Pink Floyd again the whole album Dark Side of the Moon is good, Get Your Wings and Rocks by Aerosmith 2 more entire albums of good driving rock. So much good stuff out there and so little time.
Give classic rock a chance!
I like quite a lot of that, as it happens. I’m in my late forties, so I grew up with much of that. Jethro Tull was the first big stadium type concert I ever went to go see. Admittedly, I went because I liked the boy who asked me. A minister’s son – don’t ask me why that’s what I recall about him.
Give this a look and listen. Cutest little girl in the world singing one of my favorite folk songs “Froggie Went a’ Courtin'” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOnmfzeDUoA&list=FLoQATGhmPVfXvAGUtCHaVwg&index=37
“Zoologic Miscegeny Achieved Mouse Frog nuptials, Relatives Approve”
Does make one wonder what the offspring will look like, eh? I’ve read that the melody to this song goes back as far as Queen Elizabeth’s time. I wonder if it was she who first copulated with an amphibian.
You’re familiar with the Smith Anthology, right?
I’m not actually. What is it? I likes to learn things.
It’s the Anthology of American Folk Music, compiled by the very eccentric Harry Smith. There are lots of really fun things on it. The quote I gave is from the liner notes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_of_American_Folk_Music
Here’s another:
And another:
Great stuff. I’ve not looked over this in any detail. I will though.
Actually, I am familiar with it. The name just took a while to sink through the fog of my aging brain.
That happens. I was actually a little surprised when you said that you didn’t know it.
Some days, I’m lucky I’ve remembered to wear pants before I leave the house.
I’ve never gone out without pants, but I’ve stepped out of my apartment without shoes and only realized it because my feet felt funny. I can’t even blame that on age. I first did that in my twenties.
Sadly, I really can’t blame my silliness on age either. But I do. It makes me feel better.