Good Songs (About Mental Illness)

I'm a sick guy in desperate need of anti-depressants and possibly anti-psychotics (okay, maybe not the latter) So I enjoy dark music from that off-Broadway place in the skull I can relate to: Not everything's hunky-dorry, not everyone is from the Hills and not everyone likes the shallow music of Lady GaGa. Now, now, I'm not one for the Teen Angst top 40. I don't find songs like Green Day's 'Basket Case', Disturbed's 'Down with the Sickness' or Papa Roach's 'Last Resort' particularly deeper then Rihanna's 'Disturbia'. That said, I'd like to share some songs that come from the dark side of brain and pull it off without sounding emo.

Amanda Palmer: 'Runs In The Family'

"My friend has problems with winter and autumn
they give him prescriptions, they shine bright lights on him
they say its genetic, they say he can't help it
they say you can catch it but sometimes you're born with it."

What I love about this song is miss Amanda (fucking) Palmer shows us how Mental Health is often misunderstood: No one knows how it works, if its real or not, or how to fix it. Dealing with mental health's biggest obstacle is explaining it to those around you, weather they be your friends, co-workers or even your family.

Barenaked Ladies: 'Light Up My Room'

"There are luxuries we can't afford
But in our house we never get bored
Because we can dance to the radio station
That plays in our teeth"

This song highlights the tin-foil hat kind of crazy, the kind of crazy the people who think the CIA put tracking devices in their skulls have. The kind of crazy that watched Cops, X-Files and Unsolved Mysteries in the 90's.
Note: This song really isn't about being insane but about living next to a Hydroelectric Power plant, go figure.

The Beatles: 'I Am The Walrus'

"Boy you've been a naughty girl
you've let your knickers down"

The sixties must have been a real headache for the seventies. This song exemplifies the crazy you get when you've taken far too much acid. At the time it must have seemed pretty deep; all that knocking down of the social bindings like gender identities and social norms, but the morning after I bet it seemed pretty awkward.

Billy Joel: 'Piano Man'

"The waitress is practicing politics
while the business men slowly get stoned
they're sharing a drink they call 'loneliness'
but its better then drinking alone"

Although I would definitely classify alcoholism as a mental illness, which is definitely what this song is about, there's another theme that hits hard with me: loneliness. I've had stretches where I've not spoken to a human being for days, even weeks, and nothing makes you want to blow your brains out like having no friends. Nothing like trying to start a conversation with a cashier at Wal-Mart just because you're just so alone. So alone.

The Breeders: 'Mad Lucas'

"I don't like dirt"

Germaphobia! Okay, maybe that's pretty weak. But its re-enforced by the brushing of the snare which sounds eerily like a washing machine.

Geto Boys: "Mind Playing Tricks On me"

"The more I swung the more blood flew
then he disappeared and my boys disappeared too
then I felt just like a fiend, It wasn't even close to Halloween
It was dark as fuck on the streets
and my hands where all bloody from punching on the concrete"

If some one psychoanalyzed the Geto Boys, they'd probably come up with a diagnosis of 'Parnoid Schizophrenia' either that, or a large case of 'fucked up'

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

(Written under the Influence of Lou Reed)