Wednesday, October 15, 2008

who needs love when the sandwiches are wicked and they know you at the mac store?

Edit: For anybody who's reading this because (for some reason) I'm one of the first google hits for that Amanda Palmer lyric, I did actually write a much more Amanda-oriented post after I saw her show here in Chicago on December 3rd.

I read this on some random stranger's journal over at okcupid, but it's something I think about a lot. What do you listen to when you are hurt, feeling sad and lonely and rejected by somebody you love? Alternately, what do you read or watch? The answers over at okc ranged from Jeff Buckley (which I personally can get behind, although this time I'm not as stuck on Hallelujah as on Last Gooodbye and Lover, You Should've Come Over) to Weird Al (?) to reading Dorothy Parker. I wonder if more people immerse themselves in sadness or happiness? Longing or moving on? (Somebody also mentioned Since You Been Gone.) I personally tend to opt for anger shading into sorrow and bitterness. In order: Ani (when I was like 19), Dresden Dolls and Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, and now Fiona Apple and the other Jeff Buckley. I'd like to know what other people think, if you feel inclined to comment.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hm, I think my pick for emotional angsty moments is upbeat pop music. I don't listen to much pop music so that kind of limits me to, ummm, Apples in Stereo and the Beatles. Or at least that's what I turned to in such a mood this summer. In the past there have been Shostakovich string quartets and the first movement of Brahms 1, but I think I don't do a whole lot of listening to drown in my emotions. Same goes for watching and reading - something upbeat or funny, whatever I can get my hands on, but I think my usually mode of dealing is simply to make myself really busy and try to ignore the suffering; I go to concerts, I see shows, I get coffee with friends, I take on new projects, I spend extra time on my reading for class (although I guess I won't be doing that now..).

erica said...

old-timey bluegrass about long roads between us and how you got dumped for a girl in another county.
really.
:P

a said...

Madeleine: we deal with things completely differently! I brood and isolate myself and listen to angry sad music, and you get very active and listen to upbeat pop. That's really interesting, although I can't quite formulate any conclusions based on this. and Erica: I never for a second doubted that that's what you listened to ;)