A year or so ago, some friends and I did the 30 Day Song Challenge on Facebook, and every day for 30 days we had to post a song that described some situation or answered some question.
Day 22 asked us to post a song that we listen to when we’re sad, and I posted Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.” One of my friends asked why I would listen to a sad song when I’m sad, as opposed to a happy song which could, feasibly, put me in a better mood.
What…?
The only answer I could come up with was:
“I don’t know. Probably the same reason I listen to happy songs when I’m happy.”
I don’t know why I listen to sad songs when I’m sad. I didn’t (and still don’t) think it was that odd.
Maybe it’s that misery loves company. Maybe it’s that sometimes we just have to wallow it out before we can start getting better.
Whatever the reason, in the spirit of 15 Songs For Hope, Motivation, and Good Moods, I thought I’d post 15 songs to listen to when you’re sad, too.
Some are sad love songs, others deal with personal sadness or overall dissatisfaction with the world. I looked at other sad song lists around the Web and tried to include songs in this list that aren’t already on every other list out there, but inevitably a few powerful ones made the cut anyway.
- Simon and Garfunkel – “Sound of Silence” (“Hello darkness, my old friend…”)
- Gary Jules – “Mad World” (“Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow… No tomorrow, no tomorrow…”)
- R.E.M. – “Everybody Hurts” (“If you’re on your own in this life, the days and nights are long.”)
- Coldplay – “The Scientist” (“Nobody said it was easy, it’s such a shame for us to part… Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be this hard…”)
- Nick Cave – “O Children” (“We have the answer to all your fears; it’s short, it’s simple, it’s crystal clear; it’s round about, it’s somewhere here; lost amongst our winnings.”)
- Frank Sinatra – “Send in the Clowns” (“Losing my timing this late in my career.”)
- Sarah McLachlan – “Angel” (“There’s always some reason to feel not good enough, and it’s hard at the end of the day.”)
- Mazzy Star – “Fade Into You” (“I look to you and I see nothing… I look to you to see the truth…”)
- 8mm – “Liar” (“No I don’t miss you anymore, no I don’t think of you. It’s such a game to seem adored. No I don’t love you anymore.”)
- Patrick Watson – “The Great Escape” (“Bad day, looking for a way home, looking for the great escape.”)
- Cat Power – “Metal Heart” (“How selfish of you to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming.”)
- Slipknot – “Snuff” (“It took the death of hope to let you go.”)
- The Civil Wars – “Poison and Wine” (“I know everything you don’t want me to.”)
- Grizzly Bear – “Slow Life” (“Place your bets on chance and apathy.”)
- Johnny Cash – “Hurt” (“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, the only thing that’s real.”)
What songs would you add to the list?
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