Songs about Mental Health

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Kent Davis
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:35 AM

For songs about people with mental health issues, it's hard to beat the Child ballads. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

#4 "The Six King's Daughters" - serial murder
#13 "Edward" - varies by version, but all with serious family issues
#75 "Lord Lovel" - narcissism, depression, maybe a hint of suicide
#84 "Barbara Allen" - ditto
#173 "Mary Hamilton" - infanticide
#200 "Gypsy Davy" - adultery, child abandonment
#243 "The House Carpenter" - ditto
#274 "The Drunk Husband" - alcohol abuse
#277 "Dandoo" - domestic violence

Kent

Subject: Lyr Add: BEHIND GRAY WALLS (Richard Thompson)
From: GUEST,Bardford
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:23 AM

Richard Thompson's "Behind Grey Walls":


I took my darling down
I took my darling down
To that big grey house down the lane
And then the doctor said
He said it's in her head
She's never going to be right again
I kissed my love goodbye
She didn't blink an eye
They took her down the hall
She never looked back at all

CHORUS
Behind grey walls
Somewhere there's a soul
Behind grey walls
She's out of control
Crying out for help
No one can hear
O Lord have pity on her
O Lord have pity on her

My darling walks the floor
My darling walks the floor
She walks every minute that she can
I heard my darling say
I heard my darling say
She don't know who I am
Cigarette burns down her arm
Said she tried to do herself harm
Tied her arms in the back
Trussed her up like a sack

CHORUS

I saw my darling's face
I saw my darling's face
It looked so pale in the distance
She stared out from her room
Into the dying gloom
And I saw her poor tears glisten
Pills to keep her calm
More punctures than a
junkie in her arm
Tied her down on the bed
Seventy volts through her head
CHORUS

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:21 AM

Barry, thanks for posting your song. I wanted to reference it, but couldn't find it.

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: open mike
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:12 AM

go to the search box and put in crazy and check the D.T. lists dozens..

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: open mike
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:07 AM

"The Dutchman" was written by Michael Smith...yes, it is about Alzheimer's
"Crazy" was written by Willie Nelson.

Subject: Lyr Add: YOU WOULDN'T KNOW IT TO LOOK AT ME (Finn)
From: Barry Finn
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 11:40 PM

For the young ones with neurological impairments.

"You Wouldn't Know It To Look At Me"
(Tune: Australian, Trad. "One Of The Has Beens")

"You're not listening to me are you deaf in both ears.
Don't you see what you've caused, have you been blind all these years.
Could you just give an answer, so I know you're not dumb.
For Christ's sake, you bird brain has a cat got your tongue"?

Chorus:
I'm as cute as any other kid, I can run, jump & shout.
You wouldn't know it to look at me, at times I can't work things out.
I'm not stupid, I'm not lazy, I try very hard.
With a little compassion I could go pretty far.

Well, school is a torture, the teasing won't quit.
My thoughts go off track and my aide has a fit.
There are some things I excel in, so much that I'm bored,
You wouldn't know it to look at me, it takes all that I'm worth.

The kids scorn & laugh at me, I don't have a friend.
You can feel my heart break, I wonder when this will end.
The mistreatment & abuse I take, it's really a crime,
But I'm told to ignore it, though it happens all of the time.

Chorus:

I know it's hard on my family, I can't change a thing.
The aunts & uncles blame it on my folks & say it's poor upbringing.
The love & affection others get all the time,
I only hear people yell at me, when I ask where is mine.

I never feel comfort, no shoulder, no hug.
My support system's gone, they' to me, was pulled out like a rug.
No one understands me, can't they just read the signs
Most choose to ignore them, it's as if they've gone blind

Chorus:

I may be mildly autistic or just plain O.C.D.
I may twitch with Tourette's, or have A.D.D.
If you see me cross my eyes, instead of my T's
You wouldn't know it to look at me that I have special needs.

Chorus:

Copyright Barry Finn

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Matt_R
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 11:33 PM

Isn't Steve Goodman's "The Dutchman" about a guy with mental problems? Or is it just Alzheimer's?

There's always The Kinks' "Schizophrenia"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPMYkITzxn0

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 11:30 PM

Canadian songwriter James Gordon has a CD called "1 in 5", which he describes as "12 songs about mental health issues".

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 11:30 PM

Oh, Doctor Freud
Oh, Doctor Freud!
How we wish you had been
Differently employed...


and Crazy...crazy for thinking you loved me...and I'm crazy--crazy for thinking you cared...

A

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 11:29 PM

Buddy Tabor, a Juneau Alaska artist, has a song that I can hardly bear to listen to, about a kid in trouble in school before he is put on Ritalin, and now he has trouble sleeping and has bad dreams at night.

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Beer
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 11:06 PM

David Massengill's "Jesus the Fugitive Prince".
John Prine's "Billy the Bum".
maybe John Prine's "Hello in There".

Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 10:38 PM

What about Suicide Is Painless from the movie "MASH?"

Richard Cory and A Most Peculiar Man, both by Simon and Garfunkel.

There's a list of thirty classic rock songs about mental illness .

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Leadfingers
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 10:36 PM

Phil Coulter's Scorn Not His Simplicity - A mentally handicapped child is the subject and its in the forum - Lots of stuff - put the Title in Search (NOT in DT yet )

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Melissa
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 10:18 PM

(Boom-Boom) Ain't It Great to Be Crazy
I Live in a Split Level Head (Napoleon XIV)
Twisted (didn't Joni Mitchell do a version of that one?)
They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! (Napoleon XIV)

Subject: RE: Songs about Mental Health
From: Effsee
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 10:00 PM

"I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats comes to mind.
Ralph McTell's "The Ballad of Dancing Doreen"...working from aged memory banks here!

Subject: Songs about Mental Health
From: TonyK
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 09:51 PM

I'm looking for songs containing lyrics about people with mental health issues. I'll be talking to some college counseling students about stigmas in Mental Health and would like to back it up with examples from the popular media. Psycho killer comes to mind, qu'est-ce que c'est? Any ideas are welcome.

Tony

[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]