Mental Health Awareness Month
Another year of trying to return to “normal” for everyone. It seems like “normal” either changed or wasn’t quite as good as we remembered for a lot of people. Each year I try to identify some songs that highlight the struggles of artists with addiction and mental health. The following are some songs that tell these stories and a few details about the people behind them. Whether you are struggling to find balance spending more time in the office or going through real trauma the results can be the same. I encourage you to make time for the things you love as it is always worth it.
Having done this for several years now I can say with absolute certainty that it is easier than ever to find artists giving personal accounts and details about the struggles they have faced. Some artists are opening up after years of silence, or shedding insight into struggles that you could only surmise before from their music. Money doesn't solve the problems of your heart, brain, or soul (though it certainly helps a ton and I’m open to any money anyone wants to give me). Please take the time to reach out to people you care about and let them know you are there for them. You’ll never regret a time you were there for someone you care about.
“I do my best to hide this lowdown feeling
I try to make believe there's nothing wrong”
The Man in Black, no not the one slapping people at the Oscars though that could certainly be lumped into a conversation about mental health, Jonny Cash, had more than his fair share of strife. When I think about Johnny Cash, I think about redemption, and not just because he has a bunch of songs about it, but he also lived it. His most popular albums were those he played at prisons, he was a man who believed in the potential for redemption, he saw inmates as humans worthy of art, grace, and love. He struggled with drugs, alcohol, and incarceration and longed for redemption. In his seventies he leaned on his faith to stay clean and walk the line and found some of the peace that had always eluded him in his youth.
“I don't believe in an interventionist god
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did, I would kneel down and ask him
Not to intervene when it came to you”
I’ve written about Nick Cave before and his dealing with the loss of his 15 year old son who fell off a cliff to his death, while high on LSD. Cave had to deal with that loss and you can really feel his pain in the works that have come out since that tragedy. Unfortunately this month Cave lost another son, this one fully grown. This time it was his estranged adult son who had been trying to reconcile his absence as a father when the boy was young. This son had been imprisoned multiple times for violence against women, most recently his own mother. One day after he was released from prison he took his own life. A series of tragedies that seems too much for any one family to hold onto. A mother mourning a son who had acted violently against her. Tragedy and violence seems to attract only more of both. I thought that when I got this far in my explanation of the suffering and tragedy that he has gone through that I would have a way to tie it back to his music or make a point. But I don’t have a good way to do so, it was just one of the stories in music I read this year that made me wonder how anyone can process that pain and tragedy. He must have so many strong feelings across the spectrum of anger and loss, and not for the first time. Maybe my point is to not put too much stock in your professional success as it will never be for the same stakes as your duty as a parent, friend, and guide for the people who you care about. The failures of those who you care about in the things that really matter will have a much greater impact on your life than anything else.
“And being clever never got me very far
Because it's all in my head”
Florence Welch said the inspiration for her new album was the desire for the feeling of togetherness during lockdown. Although Florence seems to be still thriving she isn’t too far removed from her own serious struggles with Anorexia and addiction. However, thankfully she is now 8 years sober and although she still deals with the negative self-esteem and worth issues that are so common with Anorexia she is managing them. She has a lot on her plate now between that and staying sober for over 8 years. She said "When you're sober it is unfiltered reality all day every day. You don't get a brain break". She also mentioned how hard lockdown has been for people "I really fucking empathize with anyone who did relapse in those two years because I think it was probably the closest I've ever thought about it.". Using her support system was key to her remaining healthy and happy “I have people I can talk to and that's one of the most important things for anyone – to keep talking about it. And not to be ashamed if those thoughts come up."
“Now it's him against them in a personal war
The mind snaps and economies collapse
When the one who works hardest gets the smallest reward”
Last but certainly not least is Ezra Furman, one of my all time favorite artists who I fell in love with from the very first song I heard and listened to every single other song they had made immediately after. For Ezra’s upcoming album which is the third in a trilogy she said “The biggest influence on the lyrics of this song is a conversation I had with a friend of mine. When Covid was first hitting, she was talking to me a lot about how ready she felt. She was like, ‘people who have been comfortable in life are freaking out right now. But queer people like me have been in crisis before. I grew up poor and my family kicked me out when I was a teenager. My world has already ended plenty of times before, and we queers know what to do: we take care of each other, we help each other out, we have a network of support for the crises we know will hit us from time to time.’
“And then she lost her job and ended up moving in with me and my family for like three months. And she was right, we were okay and we were taking care of each other.” She further elaborated and this is a point that I think is especially important during Mental Health Awareness Month: “Sometimes it feels like crisis is hitting more and more of the general population. They think the world is ending. But people who have been through a personal apocalypse or two have something to teach them. The world doesn’t end, shit just happens and if we don’t die we have to take care of each other.”
