Question:
What rock/pop songs got you through? The country music genre is omitted because so many country songs are about pain. Everyone has had their moments of personal pain. I am writing an article about the healing power of rock/pop music. I would like to know what songs got you through a difficult time, and a brief explanation of "why?" I will begin by offering my own.

Choices:
Everybody Hurts; REM/ I am a chronic pain patient with no hope of ever being painfree. I still work everyday as a clergyman in a parish of over 2,000 members. The reminder that I do not have a monopoly on pain keeps me from wallowing in self-pity
When September Ends;Green Day/ It helped me deal with the loss of my own father last year
The Weight of the World; Elton John/ identified with the need to "enter midlife with grace and dignity."
In My Life; The Beatles/ I've buried too many good friends. This song provides catharsis.
Cold Turkey; John Lennon/ after a series of back to back surgeries my system was saturated with opiates. I went cold turkey and walked through hell itself for almost two weeks. This song allowed let me know someone else had been there and survived.

 

"Until You Come Back To Me" Aretha Franklin's version of the Stevie Wonder song. This helped me through a forced seperation from someone I loved. She was younger and from a wealthy family, me a bit older and quite a bit poorer. Her dad wanted her to steer clear of "poor". Luckily time fixed the age gap but daddy's influence won out eventually. She came back but not for good. Aretha poured out the soundtrack to that era.

Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" is my favorite album of all time. I see it as personal blasphemy for me to listen to this album without listening to all of it or to burn or tape a song from it as that breaks up part of the whole. I view it as a 10 part song. That said, this album/song is where I retreat on bad days. Turn off the lights, crank up the volume and go through the motions of getting lost in the album/song. "Shelter from the Storm" is the healing part of the album, a place of rest and hope- the hope is there if I can see it. See it I usually do and then get drenched with "Buckets of" mind-soothing "Rain" to rinse off the frustrations of love & life that Dylan has sung about and I've felt the need to escape from momentarily.

"Baja" The Astronauts, The Aqua Velvets, The Blue Hawaiians etc. When my dad passed back in '94, I found release in, all of places, surf instrumental music. Maybe I went there because I could find no lyrics to express how I felt. There were other personal losses at the same time, losses of life & love, and I retreated into surf instrumentals further. Maybe it was the era the first wave of surf represented- carefree and fun. Regardless, my favorite surf tune is "Baja". It's an adventure song, it's "Shelter from the Storm" in reverb form (for me, it is!) and it helps wash away some of the grime of life.

As far as pops dying, I was listening (and doing major exercise) to U2's War at the time, in 1983, and those songs were extremely pertinent to dealing with death since the lyrics are SO blood-soaked.

My mom died on New Year's Day, 1986 (no more U2), so I was completely obsessed with the Smiths at the time, and there's far too many for me to mention, although "How Soon Is Now?" is far-too-great not to mention.

I really like that Aretha selection above. I listened to that song on my car radio for probably a year straight when I was going to college, even if I had no girlfriend. I could dream, right? Who says things weren't better in the OLD DAYS? (Hey. I've been happily married for 18 years and have a 14-year-old daughter, so don't mind me.)

These aren't really rock/pop songs, but some songs that helped me get through hard times (feeling depressed and what not) are:

Aim- Cold Water Music
The Postal Service- Brand New Colony
The Decemberists- Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect

Several songs off of Beck's Sea Change helped me through a tough period a couple years ago. Particularly the songs "Lost Cause," "Already Dead," and "Guess I'm Doing Fine."

For me, it's "Born To Run." It works for me on so many levels. I put this album on whenever I feel like crap, which is to say a lot. The piano flourishes in it just kill me.

The one song that comes immediately to mind is "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. There are a lot of versions, but the two I like most are by John Cale and Rufus Wainwright. I'm not sure why this brought so much solace. At the time I was going through a time that led to a divorce, and the lyrics are powerful. At the time I think I felt like crying out to God, or anything I thought might help.

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:
Several songs off of Beck's Sea Change helped me through a tough period a couple years ago. Particularly the songs "Lost Cause," "Already Dead," and "Guess I'm Doing Fine."

good call. sea change is such a depressing album, but i mean that in a good way. one of my fav beck albums.

I don't treat music as a coping mechanism. You are all crybaby wussy-heads. lol

quote:

Originally posted by SanchoPanza!!!:
I don't treat music as a coping mechanism. You are all crybaby wussy-heads. lol

I admit I am a wussy-headed crybaby. There are circumstances for which I need a crutch. I do not employ "faith-language" in these forums since I am a clergyman and respect the fact that this forum values the perspectives and opinions of people from all walks of life, and various religious backgrounds as well. Therefore, if I had to choose a vehicle that empowered me through identification,comforted me with a higher perspective of the probelm, and the need to be "shaken up" and told to "move on!", music would be that crutch and source of inner strength. The lyrics and mystical power of melody found in music crosses every divisive line (race, gender, socio-economic, social class, etc.) thus, connecting us with others in a way that is life-giving. As a clergyman, I can't resist closing with a pop song with which I identify, allowing me to know that someone (in this case Lennon/McCartney) has witnessed this experience. "Father McKenzie, look at him working, busily writing a sermon that no one will hear, no one comes near."

I don't know if I'd say it "got me through", but one song that always makes me feel better if I'm depressed is "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Queen.