Maybe its because it is February or maybe because Congress can’t get its sorry ass in gear to pass military aid for Ukraine, or maybe you were just born with clinical depression and this shit happens periodically so you just do whatever you have to in order to cope and not harm yourself or be a burden on others.
I have been depressed for months. On the face of it songs about depression or that are depression adjacent seems like a lousy idea for Another Saturday Night, but try as I may to pick something else, I just have to be true to myself do it and I suspect it may even turn out surprisingly well.
I will start off with
Ballad of a Thin Man by Bob Dylan
This song is the one of the gnarliest blues I have heard. It’s in a minor key, there is a creepy horror film sound organ and they lyrics are dark and absurd and they make me laugh which is some of the best no prescription medicine for depression. He sings about running into a geek a carnival character that bites off the heads of chickens who asks him how it feels to be such a freak. That was no respect before Rodney Dangerfield. I especially love the verse below:
You have many contacts
among the lumberjacks
to get you facts
when someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To all give a check to tax-deductible charity organizations (Hell Yeah!)
The next selection is
I Got The Blues by the Rolling Stones
I love the horn section and the key changes and these do something to my brain chemistry where pharmaceuticals come up short.
Next up is a song that means somebody who defeats evil sprits (Duppy).
Evil Spirts is a great metaphor for clinical depression. People ask me why am I depressed. Do you know what is causing it? Unfortunately, I often have no idea why I am depressed. Maybe its neuro chemicals (more than likely it is a confluence of factors) but it may as well be evil sprits. It doesn't really matter because it isn’t as simple as changing one thing. Usually I have to change several things and that enables me to surf the wave of depression or hold up somewhere in the storm until the storm passes. I like the lyric “Don’t try to cold me up!” I know exactly what that means. Its like someone throwing a boat anchor to a drowning person. Not helpful…
Duppy Conqueror — Bob Marley and the Wailers
One song that almost never fails to pick me up is
Down Under by Men at Work
When I was a kid I thought the lyric was he just smiled and gave me a piece of my sandwich. It was so unexpected and I thought the guy from Brussels with Muscles was a bully, but about a year later an older girl in my neighborhood set me straight about Vegemite.
It has melancholy verses and the flue solo is kind of sad and beautiful, but the chorus sounds reassuring an hopeful yet apocalyptic.
Last up Bang on the Drum All Day — Todd Rundgren
Music always been my refuge and this song is a bout that sort. Plus there is a bass solo with echo or reverb on the bass which is cool because bass almost never has echo or reverb added to it.
Now lets rip the roof off this mother lover!