Ah yes, the dreaded last man on earth feeling... I pondered this one for a while. I was wondering whether, in fact, I did listen to music for such therapeutic use. I am still not sure if, in fact, I have specific doldrums music, but here goes:
When feeling low, I often go out to the record shops. The one obvious thing is that it gets you out of the house, but the other effect of this, in mulling it over, is that it satisfies, somewhat, the atavistic hunter instinct we seem to all have to a lesser or greater degree. The main thing though, is that being curious, it makes me look ahead to a new experience, instead of back with a penchant to wallowing in the tried and true. The joy of discovery, I guess. Nostalgia is not what it used to be. I guess the question is more in keeping with the notion of comfort food, so here goes insofar as records already on my shelf: for some reason the blues (often sad but not always, as most aficionados know) seems to take me out of that sad state of mind. Maybe it's the "hair of the dog" theory, who knows. I can't really believe that light, comic, silly music, like Spike Jones, would do the trick for me as well as Little Walter ("The Essential Little Walter"), Robert Nighthawk ("Live on Maxwell Street", "Bricks in my Pillow")or Junior Wells ("Hoodoo Man Blues"). Although far from the blues, but still on the blue side of life, "Streets of London" written by Ralph Mc Tell, whether performed by him or by Cleo Laine, have a similar effect. Jacques Brel can have the same beneficial effect, as does Irish music such as The Dubliner's "A Parcel of Rogues" EUCD 1061 ARC Music Productions or The Chieftans, especially the albums recorded live, the crowd often helps in sending that lonely feelinf packing. In closing, so that everything is not pathos, let me add Montserrat Caballé's "Music of Spain, Zarzuela Arias" which I never found on CD, or Victoria De Los Angeles "Zarzuela Arias" on EMI, Angel Studio on CD. So called "Do-Wop", in the light and lively genre, is one picker-upper also, how can the fun of these guys singing "Speedo", "Duke of Earl" or "Yakety Yak" not make you feel like there still is some good times to be had.
