Brighid's Guide to Melancholy
by Brighid Mooney

If you're anything like me, then you probably like to revel in your (hopefully infrequent) bouts of melancholy before you finally work up the nerve to shake it off. Predictably, music has always been my number one way of coping with the dark side of life, and as such, I offer you my favorite musical accompaniment to wallowing in life's inevitable periods of doom and gloom.

If you're feeling blue, then I highly recommend Chet Baker and his poor, sad trumpet. Apparently, his life was just as sad as his music, so throw on "The Thrill Is Gone" and sit in the dark and weep and weep. In a similar vein, Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue" from his album Imperial Bedroom, purposefully and wittingly traverses the same glum musical landscape. For an old soul sadness, there is Ray Charles, Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music. Country songs are the saddest of the sad, and Ray Charles singing "You Win Again" or "You Don't Know Me" is the most beautiful melancholy. If you have a heart at all, you will physically feel it breaking.

Or you can listen to almost anything from Elliott Smith, if it all gets to be too much. But proceed with caution. Listening to "Needle In the Hay" more than, say, 100 times in a row betrays a far more serious anguish than pop music is usually equipped to handle. Then there is "Gloomy Sunday," the "Hungarian suicide song," made most famous in the States by Billie Holiday, the original version of which supposedly prompted over 100 people to off themselves upon hearing it, including its author. Its lyrics were rewritten in English by Sam Lewis for the still sad but infinitely less fatal version we know today. For some of the bleakest lyrics you could ever hope to hear, there is also Richard Thompson's "The End of the Rainbow," a depressingly fatalistic view of the pointlessness of life.

For the not just heartbroken, but completely world-weary, there is a plethora of inspired misery to choose from. Tom Waits' classic "Dirt In the Ground" is a song that goes especially well with whiskey and despair. For those already well into the act of drowning their sorrows in an alcoholic reverie, I can only recommend Damien Rice's "Cheers Darlin'," for its somewhat inebriated expression of feigned acceptance, with raw heartache seeping through. With slightly less assumed bravado, there is also Ben Harper's "Please Bleed." Especially recommended is the live version heard on Live From Mars, with his desperate, cracking vocals and acoustic guitar.

For the especially somber, Bob Dylan's classic "Ballad of a Thin Man" is perfect for listening to over and over and over again on those days when you find yourself feeling "just like Dylan's Mr. Jones." And to complement this listless futility, there is the darkly atmospheric "Senor," from the less known Street Legal. Finally, for the most hopeless amongst you, there is "How To Disappear Completely" by Radiohead. Perfect for those days when life doesn't seem real anymore, and you just want to pretend that you're "not here," that "this isn't happening."

So, by now you should be feeling quite thoroughly dejected, perhaps lying on the floor in the dark, a nearly-empty glass of whiskey in your hand and a tear-stained vinyl record sleeve cushioning your head. But the good news is that once you've indulged your melancholy to the full extent of your capabilities, you should hopefully be more than ready to snap out of it. Because there's still so much left to see and even more left to do. Not to mention the vast reservoir of slightly more cheery music that is patiently waiting for your recovery. So Get Happy! Everything from Abba to ZZ Top awaits!

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