Day 22 – A Song To Listen To When You Are Sad
“The Wall” – Pink Floyd
Yeah, the whole album. There was a period of my life when I was prone to melancholy, and when I felt myself getting too far down in the dumps, I’d place this album on my record player in the hopes it would create rock bottom and I would begin my emotional ascent. Usually it worked.
Melodramatic? Yeah, a bit. I knew it at the time too. Thankfull I’ve gotten out of that phase of my life.
Seriously though, “The Wall” is a depressing album. Taken individually, there are some depressing songs, but as a whole the album is near suicide inducing. Well, if you look for it. It’s not a pleasant story, about a guy who had a rough life in post-WWII England, becomes a rock star, pushes everybody away through abuse and drug use, eventually culminating in an argument with himself in a self-imposed isolation. Talk about your descent into madness!
I listened to this album to help get me out of my funk because of the ending. It can be seen two ways, as fatalistic or with an optimistic point of view. I always chose the latter, no matter where I was in my life. This is what helped me use the album as a sort of emotional slingshot, getting to rock bottom, them an upswing at the end and the momentum would usually carry me to a much better place by the next day.
Now I just listen to the album and think Roger Waters was being too melodramatic.