Early on we commissioned an article from one of our favorite writers on How Listening to Sad Music Can Make you Feel Better – if you fancy some science to this question, go check it out 😉
Jenna Writes:
More often than not, I turn to music when I need to lift myself up. I don’t only listen to music when I’m with friends or to boost an already good mood. Sometimes, when I’m feeling low, the right song is all I need to put myself back together. Each of these tracks does that for me. I think it’s the relatability of the lyrics and the tone that reminds me, in its own way, that everything will be okay.
Read why Jenna listens to sad music to make her feel better.
Jon Writes:
“Martha” by Tom Waits – Taken from his 1973 debut album Closing Time, ‘Martha’ is a heart-on-the-sleeve story of missed opportunity and unrequited love told in the form of one side of a long distance tekephone conversation between two old flames. “Old Tom Frost” calls his lost love Martha out of the blue and reminisces about their youth, hoping to arrange a meeting in person where they might “talk about it all”. From a songwriter who was still in his early twenties, it’s a perceptive insight into the mind of an older man looking back on his carefree heyday when there were “no tomorrows”, heartbreakingly realising much too late that he may have squandered the love of his life. The final lines of the last verse never fail to send a shiver down my spine as Waits sings, resignedly, earnestly: “I guess that our being together was never meant to be/But Martha, Martha, I love you, can’t you see?”
Read why Jon listens to sad music to make him feel better.
Ariana Adds:
Taylor Swift – The Manuscript: It’s a reflection everyone could relate to on how you reminisce on your past and things that profoundly hurt you or meant so much, but how overtime they don’t impact you in the same way, and through reflection in a way you find your own way of healing.
Read why Ariana listens to sad music to make her feel better.
Andrew Write:
Lord, I’m Discouraged – The Hold Steady
I mean, it’s the most bleak story. This guy is in love with the love of his life and she becomes a heroin junkie. And he does everything to save her, but at some point, you have to let it go. It’s so bleak. As he says at the end, “you know, I mostly just pray she don’t die“. I mean, yeah, but it’s amazing because it has one of the best guitar solos in it. And in the idea that sad songs can be cathartic, I always found just the rawness of the lyric and the story could be matched against how cathartic the guitar solo is. So, yeah, definitely one for that.
Beam Me Up – Pink
Oh wow. I mean, talk about a song that you should listen to after a loved one has died. I mean, it’s as real as it gets. I’ve written about this track on music to grieve to, but yeah, it’s a beautiful track. If a loved one of yours has died, you probably don’t want to listen to this too soon, because it’ll leave you sobbing on the floor. But once you can handle the fact that they’re gone, it’s a beautiful, beautiful track.
Death Dream – Frightened Rabbit
I’m just still saddened by the loss of Scott Hutchison, the lead singer of Frightened Rabbit. Just a lovely, lovely human being who took his own life because he couldn’t manage his depression, and he wrote about it so beautifully in so many of his songs. And I’m just sad for Scott. Just sad.
Sleeping Pills – Suede
One of my favorite nineties UK bands. Similar to the Hold Steady track, when somebody you love is just taking themselves out – whether that’s through drugs or alcohol or any of the other addictions. Anything that they can occupy themselves with or remove themselves from the planet. It’s just so sad. And this is one of those beautiful tracks that you’d think wouldn’t come from a hard indie rock band. But it’s gorgeous, and it’s the plaintiff cry of, you know: don’t take the fucking sleeping pills, give me the time they kill. I mean, how beautiful is that?
The Queen and the Soldier – Suzanne Vega
I remember listening to this very early on as a college kid, maybe in my first year. And it so resonated with me because it’s so obtuse, it’s so revealing of how insane human nature is, and that people will do things against their own interests, or what they think are their own interests. Again, it’s so bleak, and the music is so sad, and the harmonies are so amazing. It’s just one of those tracks that I learned how to play, and I can play and sing it, and I know all the lyrics. Because when you deliver it well, people are kind of slack-jawed at the end of it. But yeah, it reflects how life can be tragic and that it doesn’t have to be that way. And yet the true tragedy is that we often choose it.
Read why Andrew listens to sad music to make her feel better.
Track Listing
- The Night We Met – Nath Brooks
- Black Friday – Tom Odell
- iwbtotsy – Brenn!
- I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes) – The 1975
- Train Wreck – James Arthur
- The Manuscript – Taylor Swift
- Martha – Tom Waits
- Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want – The Smiths
- A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss) – Glasvegas
- Fugitive Motel – Elbow
- Beautiful – Clem Snide, Eef Barzelay
- Once in My Life – The Decemberists
- Brick – Ben Folds Five
- Sublime – David Devant and His Spirit Wife
- Depreston – Courtney Barnett
- Believe It When I See It – Ron Sexsmith
- Sleazy Bed Track – The Bluetones
- Lord, I’m Discouraged – The Hold Steady
- Beam Me Up – P!nk
- Death Dream – Frightened Rabbit
- Sleeping Pills – The London Suede
- The Queen and the Soldier – Suzanne Vega
- Gravity – Embrace
- Creep – Radiohead
Playlist Image by Eric Tuazon on Unsplash
This playlist is part of The Human Collective. Each week we take a prompt and create a playlist and accompanying articles. This week we were looking at how sad songs can make us feel better. Learn more about The Human Collective here.
