Music/Poetry Therapy Thread--got a favorite to share?

[HereSince1628]

I'd like to know your favorite piece of music or verse, within the 4 paragraph rule and with proper attribution, that helps you through tough spots.

Maybe we can help each other through the power verse has to touch our emotions...

I've got a number of favorites, this is from the old days of 33.3 rpm albums...
In it I can relate my troubled emotions with "Wild grace" and the vision of "Bright storms" -- turbulent clouds of a thunderstorm interpreted as swans flying across the sun. It's got a very gentle, calming melody, for which I haven't found a free-link or Youtube.

It's listed as composed by Micheal Martin Murphy who performed on an vinyl 33 rpm album by the same name. That recording can still be purchased on-line as an mp3 for a buck. I know it was also performed by John Denver. The Micheal Murphy version has a very gentle melody.

Swans Against the Sun--

Wild grace, Has its own place
Has its own face, Prone to flight
Sky grown, Wind blow wing flown
Over air blown, Back to night
Flashing, Freely clashing
Love of chaos, Love of one
Bright storms, Rising free form
Wild swans, Against the sun
Spirit, None go near it
All men fear it, More than night
Some say, Love goes one way
And then one day, No more flight
This year, It is not clear
Just what ends here, Or what's begun
We are bright storms, Rising free form
We’re wild swans, Against the sun

[Tobin S.]

1. Here's one I really like right now

It mine and my finacee's song- "our song." Lyrics are in the video.

"Green Eyes" by Coldplay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijbeE6uY6DY

[HereSince1628]

2. Nice.

It's great to have a song that links you to someone.

[HereSince1628]

3. Another Coldplay...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrrdLO8fie0

My SO feels strongly about 'Fix You' as a caregiver's song.

It's easy to forget the commitment that significant people make to us
and how much they want to see us get well.

I relate to the line in it "When you get what you want, but it's not what you need."


When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

[HereSince1628]

4. "Be" Neil Diamond from Jonathon Livingston Seagull

Granted, this is unknown to non-baby boomers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEu9x9Y9Re0

or if you like the scratchy sound of an old vinyl LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wdB73KP18&feature=related

Neil Diamond

<clip>

Be
As a page that aches
for a word
Which speaks on a theme
that is timeless
While the Sun God
will make for your day

Sing
As a song in search of a voice
that is silent
And the Sun God will make
for your way
And

Dance
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the soul
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it

<clip.

[Forkboy]

6. Grew up listening to this.

Diamond was my father's favorite, so I heard this all the time (and I still like it). He was the first two concerts I ever saw.

[laylah]

25. Thank you for posting this link.

I first read Jonathan Livingston Seagull in my late teens, and still have the book. :hug:

[Forkboy]

5. There's really no one genre of music that fits me when I'm feeling messed up.

Sometimes it's upbeat music that gets me through, other times it's music that's as dark and brooding as my mood. There's actually a sub-genre of Black Metal called "Depressive/Suicidal Black Metal" and, strangely enough, that stuff has given me great comfort at times, as does a lot of depressing music. Maybe it's the whole "misery loves company" dynamic at play, I don't know. But for whatever reason, excessively dark music can often shake me out of a dark mood. I often find serenity in it.

An example of the upbeat stuff...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqgHosrqJ8o

And an example of the not so upbeat stuff...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Mhc4aWfx0

Either way, music has been the only constant in my life. I started buying my own music with my allowance money when I was 6. I'm now 43 and have never stopped getting into it (in fact, I'm more into it than ever). If anything will keep me alive it'll be music. Dark, happy, and everything in between. It's one of the very few things left that truly touches my soul anymore.

[HereSince1628]

7. Yes, sometimes the not so upbeat music better captures an emotion

than our own words. Being able to find those feelings can be cathartic.

Touching emotions is a tricky business I suppose. I've seen in online blogs about music therapy that care must be use music that gets a person down.

[Forkboy]

10. I would think that much of what I listen to wouldn't be good for others.

It's often very negative music, and I think that it can indeed be very dangerous for some. It may even be for me, but it doesn't feel that way inside when I hear it. I feel like there's someone who I can relate to, in a weird way.

Hell, my music probably isn't even good for so-called "normal" people. ;)

[HereSince1628]

11. Yes, I understand that feeling of resonance

and like the resonance of physical sound waves, mental resonance makes things louder. Unlike physical resonance it also makes them seem more true. And I think that is what people who caution about listening to the darker emotional stuff are talking about.

When things seem true me, I am much more likely to act on that seeming. And if that seeming is dangerous to me, that's where my actions may take me.

Still, the feeling of connection when I feel so unconnected is reassuring. We all grab on to what we can in the bleakness of our perceptions.

[HereSince1628]

8. 'Already Starting to Turn' by Andrew Paul Woodworth is a grey one

that captures how my tendency to split people, particularly psychiatrists it seems, into 'with me' and 'against me' and thus always destroying therapeutic relationships.

http://lyrics.wikia.com/Andrew_Paul_Woodworth:Starting_To_Turn


"...I know I must be caught
In between what
I want and should say
And we know
deep in the well of
my heart I really
want to stay
But I'm already starting to turn
Already starting to turn away..."

[Forkboy]

9. Yeah, those lyrics strike a chord in me as well.

Nice song though. Almost too nice. :)

[mopinko]

12. i've had an awful earworm for steve earle for a few months

now. i have a half dozen albums on my ipod, and shuffle them repeatedly. every time something changes with my situation, a different song speaks to me. i guess he has been through a lot, and it shows in his music. the rhythms really vary, and so do the moods. seems to just wrap around my heart and my brain.

[HereSince1628]

13. Sarah McLachlan---Arms of the Angel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVbkz_3lO3c

I'm never really sure what this is actually about--getting stoned,
WATSU therapy, a long hot bath. I'm pretty sure it isn't
about abandoned pets.

But it's one of those songs that captures the heartache of depression
and can wrap a sufferer in it in a way that is powerfully validating.



...Spend all your time waiting for that second chance
For the break that will make it ok
There's always some reason to feel not good enough?
And it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction, oh beautiful release ...

...The storm keeps on twisting, you keep on building the lies
That you make up for all that you lack
It don't make no difference, escaping one last time
It's easier to believe
In this sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness
That brings me to my knees

In the arms of an Angel, far away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie
In the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here

[HereSince1628]

14. Yepes - Chacona de J.S.Bach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEJGZAmAS2I&feature=related

[HereSince1628]

15. When I think about my therapist giving up on me...

and going on alone...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YXVMCHG-Nk

And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory...

And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial...

Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?

I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new

[HereSince1628]

16. I know I'm showing my age with these...Moody Blues--Question

I think about the lyrics of this song as being something of a conversation between me and my therapist
as in the lines:

"And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true.
But all the help you've been giving
Is mostly meant for you!"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmOZFAYeurY&feature=related

[JeffersonChick]

17. One of my favorites is "Ooh Child"

By The 5 Stairsteps

It's an oldie, but I myself only heard it for the first time about 10 years ago. Every time I hear it, it makes me feel loved. Warm. Embraced. Safe.




Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter

Some day, yeah
We'll put it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter

Right now
You just wait and see how things are gonna be
Right now...

[woo me with science]

18. Here is one for you:

Storm Warnings

The glass has been falling all the afternoon,
And knowing better than the instrument
What winds are walking overhead, what zone
Of grey unrest is moving across the land,
I leave the book upon a pillowed chair
And walk from window to closed window, watching
Boughs strain against the sky

And think again, as often when the air
Moves inward toward a silent core of waiting,
How with a single purpose time has traveled
By secret currents of the undiscerned
Into this polar realm. Weather abroad
And weather in the heart alike come on
Regardless of prediction.

Between foreseeing and averting change
Lies all the mastery of elements
Which clocks and weatherglasses cannot alter.
Time in the hand is not control of time,
Nor shattered fragments of an instrument
A proof against the wind; the wind will rise,
We can only close the shutters.

I draw the curtains as the sky goes black
And set a match to candles sheathed in glass
Against the keyhole draught, the insistent whine
Of weather through the unsealed aperture.
This is our sole defense against the season;
These are the things we have learned to do
Who live in troubled regions.

-Adrienne Rich

[phrigndumass]

19. "Weightlifting" by the Trashcan Sinatras ...

I discover the wheel and watch the buildings go by
you talk a little soft, turn off the radio
I just want to hear all the past times
the rushed hours, the endless lives
Don't become a burden
say the word and be free

You will find a great weight lift
easing your mind, a great weight lift
Just leave it behind, a great weight lift
and you will find a great weight lift

It's been a lonely winter hibernating away
you need a little sunlight on that face
How long can you stay in the darkness?
dust round the empty nest?
You could make your way out
if you lay down the load

You will find a great weight lift
easing your mind, a great weight lift
Leave it behind, a great weight lift
You will find a great weight lift
Just leave it behind, a great weight lift
and you will find a great weight lift

:)

[HereSince1628]

20. I found a free copy of the song by MMM

http://www.fullsongs.net/source/4/e314a07/download/michael_murphey_-_Swans_against_the_sun.html

We all are stormy at times,
it's comforting to think
that chaotic part of us can be seen
as something human and even poetic.

[HereSince1628]

21. Through the Dark...Alexi Murdoch

Someone's reaching for me now
Through the dark, reaching for me now
You need someone to hear you when you sigh
Someone to wipe away those tears you cry
Someone to hold you 'neath the darkened sky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPng8o3zDqM

[HereSince1628]

22. Disappearing Into You Rapheal...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVXrm6wVdv8&feature=related

[HereSince1628]

23. Bach--Prelude for Lute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-1ck_smC9k&feature=related

[HereSince1628]

24. No Answers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fNho-VSEac

[HereSince1628]

26. The more you take the more you leave.

Can you feel it in the dead of night?
It's all around but can't be seen.
Can you hear it in the parking lot?
It only speaks when spoken to.
Can you find it in the marathon?
The more you take the more you leave.
Can you see them in a pane of glass?
You know them but they don't know you.
I can see it now:
What gets lost but never found?
What could fasten two,
Yet only touches one?
Who could make it hurt,
As much as it did before?
(You could tie a string
Around the place where it used to show.)

[HereSince1628]

27. Linkin Park-In The End

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkbiB0QfU3s&feature=related

[Forkboy]

28. So far this year this has been my go to band for any mood, good or bad.

This just feels very soothing to me. Very nice in the dark, or on a rainy evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y544VF0I1-U

[HereSince1628]

29. A day without rain...

Yes, it's Enya, but not a vocal...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8AXlTwhJ0

[BrendaBrick]

30. Poem: Renascence by Edna St. Vincent Millay

...has brought be through some dark times. (I recite it aloud):

http://www.bartleby.com/131/1.html

[ncrainbowgrrl]

31. keep in mind that i'm also a migraineur and also have chronic pain:

"Give Me Novacaine"- green day

Take away the sensation inside
Bitter sweet migraine in my head
Its like a throbbing tooth ache of the mind
I can't take this feeling anymore



Out of body and out of mind
Kiss the demons out of my dreams



more to come...

[HereSince1628]

32. Bach, Toccata and fuge... dark but playful, with blinking lights

I've avoided posting anything new in this thread because I thought DU 3 was coming to sweep things away...
anyway, an interesting play of visual and auditory cues to help you manipulate your mood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9bhei_o&list=PLCFC07C182D347CD6&index=9

[mopinko]

33. du3 is still a ways away.

couple months.

[HereSince1628]

34. The Garden Valley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkEcp8rJt2I&feature=related

This is really not my home
Where are you my loving Jenny?
I'm afraid and all alone
There's no peace for me
Sitting in a stranger's room
Laying out a stranger's table
Shining empty like the moon
There's no peace for me

Chorus:
But in the darkness, struggle, cold
I think about a garden's light
Gentle as the leaves unfold
Reaching out across the bay
Distant and so far away...

...There is no peace for me

Now I know that feeling well
Immigrants deep sunken feeling
Standing at the gates of Hell
There is no peace for me
Burned out by their master's greed
Cruel exile, transportation
Robbed of every love and need
There is no peace for me

[HereSince1628]

35. On reckless risk-taking, depression and neediness...

Well, you're my friend, and can you see?
The many times, we've been out drinking;
The many times we shared our thoughts.

Did you ever, ever notice the kind of thoughts I got?

Well, you know I have a love;
a love for everyone I know.
And you know I have a drive to live
I won't let go.

But can you see its opposition,
comes rising up sometimes?
That its dreadful imposition,
comes blacking in my mind?

And then I see a darkness,
And then I see a darkness,
And then I see a darkness,
And then I see a darkness.
Did you know how much I love you?
Its a hope that somehow you,
Can save me from this darkness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqodCNWqS8c

[HereSince1628]

36. Buon Giorno Principessa

The following are all music from the sound tack of Life is Beautiful
This soundtrack has music that represents quite a range of emotion.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv6qVIPgLjo

[HereSince1628]

37. La Vita E Bella

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AU_6AGqpP4&feature=related

[HereSince1628]

38. Grand Hotel Fox

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37x3iGwvgT0&feature=related

[HereSince1628]

39. The Nothing Song

Sigur Ros

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dunpHC6CBYo&feature=fvst

You got to help me, baby.
I can't do it all by myself.
You got to help me, baby.
I can't do it all by myself.
If you don't help me, daddy,
gotta find somebody else.

[BrendaBrick]

40. This is one of my all time favorites

Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D Major Opus 35: Isaac Stern, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy Conductor - 1958:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7ffTiSMs8