Author: Michelle

Sad songs say so much

 

I’m causing a mild sensation
With this new occupation
I’m permanently glued
To this extraordinary mood so now move over
Let me take over
With my melancholy blues
–Queen/Melancholy Blues

 

I was singing along with the iPod on my way home from work (as usual) and decided something: I really like singing along to sad songs. I really like sad songs in general. When I’m happy, they make me even happier. Being happier is always gooder, right? When I’m sad they make me sadder. Nothing cheers me up like a good sing-a-long mope during my commute home from work. It’s very cathartic. Yes, people do look at me funny. No, I don’t give a shit.

On the commute to work, I also sing  but I tend to focus on the more upbeat tunes. No one wants to mope at work. That is clearly untrue–let’s just say that I don’t want to mope at work. I prefer veiled hostility to moping.

A really clever girl would put a list of people here and let you all  play pin the sad song to the person. A really mean clever girl. I prefer to be more passive-aggressively mean, but by all means do feel free to out yourself as the reason I love any particular song in the comments.

 

Everybody Hurts — sad REM. Obviously, I sing this one on my commute home when I am stuck in traffic. So hold on. Also a great video.

Almost Blue— sad Elvis. Being sad in love is the saddest sort of sad. Elvis is the master of the super-literate sad song. Also the creepy sad song. Just listen to  I Want You for some proof.

No Birds Today— sad Cowboy Junkies. Desolation and isolation are a great musical combination.

Am I Blue —sad Bette. Old school melancholy.

Melancholy Blues and Love Of My Life–sad Queen. No one does sad like Freddie. I miss him.

Atlantic City— sad Bruce sings about sad America and the losers therein. Everything dies, babe, and that’s a fact.

Ne Me Quitte Pas— sad,  pitiful, forlorn Jacques Brel. This would probably win the contest for Saddest Lyric Ever. At one point he offers to be the shadow of her shadow, the shadow of her hand, the shadow of her dog if she will just not leave him. If you’ve ever had someone not love you back, this is your song. The linked video has a handy translation for the non-francophones.

Creep— sad Radiohead. I was far too old to be a Loser Teen when this came out, but if I had been this would totally have been my anthem. I have been known to play this several times in a row. Huh. Maybe I am a loser teen…

Too Drunk To Fuck— OK. This isn’t sad. It’s funny. Well, not if it happens to YOU. If it happens to you, it’s sad. I could out some guys here, but I won’t.

The Crane Wife 1, 2 and 3 –sad Decemberists. This grouping of songs is one of my favorite sad song cycles of the last 10 years. It’s about 15 minutes of music based on a Japanese folk tale, and it’s about the sadness of loving someone to death because you don’t understand them.

Boys of Summer –sad Don Henley singing “I see you walking real slow and smiling at everyone” Kills me. KILLS me. And I don’t even like Don Henley. Definitely reminds me of someone in particular.

Breakeven—sad the Script. They’re right–when a heart breaks, it doesn’t break even at all.

Stubborn Love—sad Lumineers. The sadness of being in love with someone who is just going to hurt you, lie to you, and probably ruin your life. And you love them anyway.

 

OK–pick a song and tell us all why you are the reason it makes me sad!!!

I’m not going to get any takers on that, am I?

It doesn’t have to be true, you know.

Just make some shit up. That’s what I do.

 

 

Actual conversation at work

Me: if I get hit by a bus, please note that the urgent ticket is taken care of.

Co-worker: that seems unlikely, since we’re in the middle of the basement. Maybe a bus being transported by air could crash through the atrium.

Me: hmmm. It’s more likely that a helicopter would crash through the atrium and decapitate me.

Co-worker: that’s a way more rational scenario.

Other co-workers all nod in agreement.

Do you (re)read me?

 

I’m writing ’bout the
Book I read
I have to sing about the
Book I read
I’m embarrassed to admit it hit the soft spot in my heart
When I found out you wrote the
Book I read

–Talking Heads/The Book I Read

 

What does a person do when she’s trying to save up all of her unread books for her vacation? She rereads old favorites. In my case, that means it’s Jane Austen Fest here in Tigard.

To be honest, I’m a year round re-reader. If I like a book, there’s a good chance I will read it at least twice. If I love it, the number goes up to infinity. I like to blame my mother for reading the same books to me over and over as a child. I’m sure no one else’s mothers ever did that. Actually, it’s because I read so quickly the first time it’s only a little more than a skim for story and flavor. I slow down for stuff that’s more content rich, or for non-fiction but I really read a book seriously when I read it the second time. If I love it when I read it the second time, it will go on the infinite read loop.

I’ll pull “Emma” off the shelf for the zillionth time(it’s a virtual shelf at this point) just to read what Knightley says to her when he finally confesses his love, and then go back to the beginning and read it all again. And again. Even after multiple re-readings, I’m happy when they end up together in the end,

People wonder if knowing the ending ruins the book for me, and it doesn’t a bit.I cry when beloved characters die, and laugh when they say something funny–even when I know it’s coming.

After multiple readings, the characters in my favorite books might as well be family.

Family I’ve picked for myself who never complain when I ignore them for years at a time.

 

Additional note: I don’t mind book or movie spoilers, either. I’m sure there have been studies done on those who hate spoilers and those who don’t mind or like them. They should add that to standard personality tests.

 

 

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