Music Is My Medicine

**I recently started another blog http://shakabukukick.blogspot.com/ that deals more with writing and expression.  In doing so, I've rediscovered this blog and saw I recently passed 1000 views.  A drop in the bucket in internet terms, but I haven't written anything on here in a year and a half.  So I figured, what the hell?  Why not start this Another Blog About Music, etc. back up?  Here we go** 

Al Green once sang "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?"  It's an age old question that doesn't have one answer.  It's different for everybody how recovery is reached.  Recently my heart was ground to dust, and I've found that the best medicine has been music.  Here's a song below that has been a real comfort to me during this time.  It's "Guess I'm Doing Fine" by Beck.

Listening to this song, one may ask: "How does that make anybody feel better?"
I can see that point of view.  The lyrics are just heart-breaking and full of longing.  Beck's perspective in the chorus is him having a conversation with his ex after she asks him how he's doing since the break-up: "It's only lies that I'm livin'/ It's only tears that I'm cryin'/ It's only you that I'm losin'/ Guess I'm doin' fine".  It's enough to leave anybody in a crumpled pile instead of lifting their spirits.

The reason this has been a comfort to me and hasn't made me feel worse is that I have an ally to the feelings I'm going through right now.  Thank the universe that someone else knows what I'm going through!  I'm not alone.  An artist I've respected for years has experienced the exact same thing and articulated perfectly these devastating emotions in his song.

As an expressionist, Beck found catharsis by using these sorrows as art instead of letting them manifest inside himself.  Letting out what he was feeling and being honest allowed him to separate the experience from himself; made it easier for the weight to lift.  Beck became the owner of his heartache, not the slave of it anymore.

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As we all know, a break-up conjures up more than just heartache.  That is just one sensation out of what feels like billions of emotions stirred up in one's chest.  I found myself being the only one invested in the relationship in the last couple weeks, and it brought up this feeling of rejection and worthlessness.  I had bought Jack White's latest, Blunderbuss, Before things started going south for me, and didn't really listen to the lyrics of it at first.  The way I take in new music upon first listens is that I find myself listening to the instrumentation of a song first, then the words.  After the break-up I found myself ensconced in Jack White's lyrical output.  The song below, "Freedom at 21", I swear was written specifically for me.

That feeling of being willingly walked on to try and salvage a relationship that you want to continue when your partner is already in another head space:  Goddamn!!  I really heard "Freedom at 21" for the first time after my relationship's demise, then continued to replay the tune a million times in a row.

Everyone knows that music you listen to during and after a traumatic experience, whether it be a break-up, the death of a loved one, a car accident... it speaks to you in a completely different way and you are bonded to it.  They could be songs you've listened to for years, but that event sets off this chemical reaction that links you to it in a brand new way.  It may not always be pleasant; you may want to throw your stereo out of the window if a song comes on that reminds you of that memory (see you in the garbage, fun.).  But others are now your baby blanket, the comfort that you needed at the time.

What are some songs that have helped you through tough times?

I'll leave you with a classic, angry, break-up song, "Song for the Dumped" by Ben Folds Five.