Top Ten Songs to Listen to when you're down

So I'm currently laid up in bed with chest problems (which, thankfully are starting to ease up. Wednesday was HORRIBLE) which I suspect have been caused by stress and anxiety (thank you work). Hopefully by the time I return back to work on Tuesday I should be 100% okay again. That being said, I feel miserable. My mind is SCREAMING for at the very least a 5km walk, but my body baulked at barely 1km. I'm going stir-crazy, and I have writers block like you wouldn't believe. So I'm listening to what I like to call "downer music", which is what I listen to when I'm in a mood and the happy music I regularly listen to would just annoy the living daylights out of me. So Ima bring you all down with me, here are my top ten most depressing songs!

10. "Don't Don't Go Away" by Foxxie

I'm technically cheating here as both the Richardo Autobahn 12" mix and the Discowarp Main mix can be equally cathartic. The 12" mix though is better for those gloomy days where you just want to stare out of the window dramatically while the rain pours down.

9. "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel

If I ever do a top ten songs that piss me off, this song will be number one! I know I'm overreacting massively, but every time I listen to the lyrics (especially "Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes") I feel ready to slap someone. They just feel too condescending for me. Definitely one I listen to if I'm feeling miserable.

8. "Easier to Run" by Linkin Park

Linkin Park is definitely one of those bands you turn to when you're feeling down and sorry for yourself. This song is one for those days where every little mistake you've ever made decides to come back to haunt you. Isn't anxiety fun?

7. "Mandolin Rain" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Even if you take the defeatist lyrics out of it, the melody itself is just so melancholy and depressing that you just want to do something drastic. Ugh, this song is downer.

6. "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" by U2

This is my "who gives a shit anymore" song. The music coupled with the subtle irrelevancy of the lyrics makes you feel a bit disconnected from the real world, especially if you're already feeling isolated. I tend to treat this song with a bit of caution.

5. "Throwing It All Away" by Genesis

Oh come on, of course Genesis were going to find themselves on here. They have some really depressing stuff out there and for me, this one is the worst, with "Since I Lost You" and "Driving the Last Spike" coming dangerously close. This song is so completely defeatist it's not funny. Just throw up your hands and give up!

4. "I'm Goin' Home" by Hootie and the Blowfish

A song covered in death and loss, and with a guitar riff that sounds like it's just about ready to give up too, this song is great for wallowing in your own misery. Actually, the whole album is depressing really.

3. "Jesus of Surburbia" by Green Day

This was a staple of mine back when I was trapped in Oakey/Toowoomba. Especially "City of the Damned", which encapsulates my feelings about that place perfectly. There's a reason why I refer to Toowoomba as the City of Lud and everything west of it as the Wastelands, that place just leaves me feeling so hollow and trapped and there's just nothing there.

2. "Flame Trees" by Cold Chisel

Oh I hate this song. I hate this song so much. If "Jesus of Surburbia" captured how I felt about living in the Wastelands, "Flame Trees" is how I feel when I have to go BACK to those god-forsaken hell-holes (which, thankfully, just got rarer as Mum is now off to Canberra and hopefully we can get Nanna and my sister out of there ASAP!). I hate going back there.

1. "Don't Believe Anymore" by Icehouse

The Whitlams did an okay cover of this song, but the raw anguish and emotion of the original cannot be beaten; that saxophone crying in the background to Iva Davis chilling voice just rips at you. Yes, it is a technically a breakup song, but no matter what your circumstance, I challenge you to find a phrase that encapsulates the feeling of being so dejected, so miserable, so lonely, so given up...you will find yourself screaming "I don't believe anymore!" alongside Iva if you're feeling vunerable enough.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to "I Can't Dance" because man this was a downer! I can certainly be melodramatic when the mood hits me!