My Mix Tapes

DEPRESSION
Sometimes you just have to make a mix of the depressing songs ever...
Seasonal, situational, or just a slump - what get's you through it?

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Fuck You St. Valentine / If Winter Ends - By: Joseph - 02/12/08


Fuck You, St. Valentine / If Winter Ends
DATE: 02/11/08
SUBMITTED BY: Joseph
EMAIL: murrayjf3@gmail.com
LOCALE: Buffalo, NY
MIX TAPE CATEGORY: Depression
MIX TAPE TITLE: Fuck You, St. Valentine / If Winter Ends
OVERALL COMMENTS: 
Seasional Affective Disorder is always amplified by good old St. Valentine. So here it is, a mix about being sick to death of a cold and lonely winter. As if February in a cold city wasn't bad enough, I started reading "Love in the Time of Cholera" - super choice on my part! V-Day brings to mind unrequited love, coupled with an extremely long winter, you get the a mix of depressing music. LITTOFC and Matt's Break Up mix, "In the Absence of Each Other", helped inspire this chipper mix.
 
SONG TITLE  -  ARTIST
Track 1: A New Friend (February) - The Good Life The Good Life - Album of the Year - A New Friend
COMMENTS:

"A Valentine's Day party,
I didn't think you'd show.
You don't like making entrances alone;
you've got a new friend...likes to go to movies,
likes to drink red wine.
Sounds familiar, better hold on tight
- a film school drunk can be so hard to find."

TRACK 2: Winterlong (live)- Neil Young Neil Young - Live At the Fillmore East - Winterlong (Live)
COMMENTS: Winter is the worst time to be single - hand's down... you've got holidays, and then the cold abyss that follows. Oh, and The Pixies do a stellar cover!

"I waited for you winterlong. . . it's all illusion anyway"
TRACK 3: When It's Cold I'd Like to Die - Moby Moby - Everything Is Wrong - When It's Cold I'd Like to Die (LP Version)
COMMENTS:

As if February wasn't cold enough, you've got St. Valentine around every corner reminding you unrequited love. Kill me!

"Where were you when I was lonesome?
Locked away with freezing cold..."

TRACK 4: Angel in the Snow - Elliott Smith Elliott Smith - New Moon - Angel In the Snow
COMMENTS:

As if Elliott Smith stood a chance at not making this mix. This rarity, released on New Moon, is sadly beautiful - perfect for the unrequited in all of us.

"I'd say you make a perfect
Angel in the snow
All crushed out on the way you are
Better stop before it goes too far
Don't you know that I love you?
Sometimes I feel like only a cold still life
That fell down here to lay beside you"

TRACK 5: Winter - Joshua Radin Joshua Radin - We Were Here - Winter
COMMENTS: I think this is was featured in the excellent film "Garden State". Waiting for winter to end with nothing to do but think about you.

"Your voice is all I hear somehow
Calling out winter
Your voice is the splinter inside me
While I wait..."
TRACK 6: Half Past April - Rainer Maria Rainer Maria - Past Worn Searching - Half Past April
COMMENTS: It's not even April, and I long for this situation. The male/female duel vocals are phenomenal - Rainer Maria did it best.

"I know I've been (wrong) unbearable
these past four weeks
have been wrong "
TRACK 7: I Just Wasn't Made For These Times The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (40th Anniversary) - I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
- The Beach Boys
COMMENTS: Yes, The Beach Boys - not saying anything new, but Pet Sounds is really phenomenal. I think about this song whenever the weather teases us with a warm day and then drops 30 degrees to bring you back to the cold winter hell. "I guess I just wasn't made for these times..."
TRACK 8: Moon River - Morrissey Morrissey - World of Morrissey - Moon River
COMMENTS: Morrissey does a haunting nine and a half minute version of this classic. Spring is just around the bend; "it's always just around the bend. . ."
TRACK 9: I Get Along Without You Very Well - Chet Baker Chet Baker - The Best of Chet Baker Sings - I Get Along Without You Very Well
COMMENTS: Feel the despair in Chet Baker's vocals; follows the Moz nicely!

"I get along without you every well
Of course I do
Except perhaps in spring
But I should never think of spring
For that would surely break my heart in two..."
TRACK 10: Solitude - Billie Holiday Billie Holiday - Billie Holiday's Greatest Hits - Solitude
COMMENTS: Winter is a time of solitude, of hibernation. When you find yourself stuck inside alone curled up to the space heater, listening to Billie Holiday over and over again, you know that winter is just too damn long!

"In my solitude you haunt me
With reveries of days gone by
In my solitude you taunt me
With memories that never die"
TRACK 11: I See a Darkness - Bonnie Prince Billy
COMMENTS: 'Cause there's no fucking sunlight!
TRACK 12: Get Lonely - Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely - Get Lonely
COMMENTS: The Mountain Goats do depressing very well. They also do humor - best of both worlds. An excellent band with an excellent track off the album of the same name.

"I will rise up early and dress myself up nice
And I will leave the house and check the deadlock twice
And I will find a crowd and blend in for a minute
And I will try to find a little comfort in it
And I will get lonely
And gasp for air
And send your name off from my lips
Like a signal flare"
TRACK 13: If Winter Ends - Bright Eyes Bright Eyes - Letting Off the Happiness - If Winter Ends
COMMENTS: "I dreamed of a fever
One that would cure me of this cold, winter set heart
With heat to melt these frozen tears
And burned with reasons as to carry on
Into these twisted months I plunge without a light to follow
But I swear that I would follow anything
If it would just get me out of here"
TRACK 14: Not Even Jail - Interpol Interpol - Antics - Not Even Jail
COMMENTS: This begins a closing set of borderline hopeful songs... consider it a pick-me-up. Nothing's alive in winter!

"I'll lay down my glasses,
I'll lay down in houses,
if things come alive.
I'll subtract pain by ounces,
Yeah, I will start painting houses,
if things come alive"
TRACK 15: Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska - Atlantic City
COMMENTS: Nebraska is a great album. This song's about running away; complete with the hope that comes with it.

"Now, baby, ev'rything dies, honey, that's a fact...
Now our luck may have died and our love may be cold
But with you forever I'll stay
We're goin' out where the sand's turnin' to gold
Put on your stockin's baby, `cause the night's getting cold
And maybe ev'rything dies, baby, that's a fact
But maybe ev'rything that dies someday comes back"
TRACK 16: You Can Never Hold Back Spring - Tom Waits Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards - You Can Never Hold Back Spring
COMMENTS: This is the end all - from Orphans (a must own), a beautiful song about hope and despair. A must-hear for all!

"You can never hold back spring
You can be sure I will never stop believing
The blushing rose, it will climb
Spring ahead or fall behind
Winter dreams the same dream, every time
Baby you can never hold back spring
Even though you've lost your way
The world is dreaming, dreaming of spring"

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