Mental Health Songs

(This blog contains Explicit language) ……

Hello one and all! Welcome to another edition of Slop on the Top (this was a name suggested by Clive after an intense online research session and a mysterious hand injury he does not like to talk about) with your host the Divorced Dad. A few months ago when the world seemed less…. no actually skip that it was equally as shit. Ok, lets restart a few months ago I did a list, a playlist if you will, of my unusual breakup/ divorce/ fuck my world is ending songs. Now wasn’t that a fun filled edition of the show, it was full of some real toe tappers. I know for a fact that my next door neighbour Gwendaline started to shake her booty like a sumo wrestler fighting on an oversized jelly to some of those classics. Now let’s get those tushes on the dance floor again with this countdown of songs that nail mental health like ‘a nervous builder who is nailing his lover whilst biting his nails as he gently taps in the final nail to complete his bird house’. That’s a lot of nailing. So without further ado I present a collection of songs that really capture the essence of having a mental health condition, including the thoughts and feelings that arise alongside it.

1. Migraine- Twenty One Pilots

Let’s start with one of the best, in my opinion, shall we. It was only recently I discovered this little gem, like a malteser truffle admidst a sea of bountys. Though to be fair I rather like a bounty. I am a monster I am aware, no need to send the hate mail.
This song was hidden away in the back catalogue of the bands more well known, mainstream hits such as Heathens (the soundtrack for Suicide Squad) and Stressed Out.
However, Migraine is quite possibly the perfect song about mental health that captures the absolute battlefield within the mind that occurs. The song starts off a bit meh with a electric techno introduction but bare with it. It is worth it for the chorus: ‘Am I the only one I know? Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat, Shadows will scream that I’m alone But I know we’ve made it this far, kid’.
Damn, it is unreal how accurate that is. If I had to point at where the pain of my mental health stemmed from it would be ‘behind my face and above my throat’. I think that hearing that chorus during my lowest point made me realise I wasn’t alone in this world feeling absolutely ‘mind fucked by a 12 inch strap on’.
The band later goes on to sing;
‘it’s me suspended in a defenceless test being tested by a ruthless examiner. That’s represented best by my depressing thoughts’. Again nail on the head. It is countless the amount of times my mind throws horrific questions that I am forced to excruciatingly answer correctly or otherwise go completely stir crazy in the process. As a side note the grades for this test stand for:

A- A little bit shit
B- Bad
C- Crap
D- Dear fuck, this sucks hulk cock
E- Everything has gone to the shitter.
F- Fuck my entire life in every single fucking crevice and fold.

Seriously if you haven’t heard this song and have a mental health condition (or to be honest even if you don’t) go listen to it now. Whilst you are listening make sure to check out Twenty One Pilots other songs with a special mention to their song Car Radio.

2. Little Talks- Of Monsters and Men

I am sure I read somewhere this song was actually about dementia or a deceased husband talking to his wife. However, that is the beauty of music it is open to any interpretation, for instance, in my head the macarena is actually about the rise and fall of the Nazi party. It isn’t in the slight but I can bloody well think it is.
This song to me screams mental health. A devoted and loving man comforting and reassuring his wife who feels she is slowly losing her grip on reality. Just listen to these lyrics: 1. ‘Some days I don’t know if I am wrong or right’
‘Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear’. See what I mean. Ok, still not convinced?
2. ‘I don’t like walking around this old and empty house’ ‘So hold my hand, I’ll walk with you my dear’. 3. ‘The stairs creak as I sleep. It’s keeping me awake
It’s the house telling you to close your eyes’. This really reminds me of a partner having to constantly reassure their suffering other half whilst their mind conjures up the most horrific thoughts.
The lines ‘and some days I can’t even dress myself’
‘It’s killing me to see you this way’. This makes me think of someone being at their lowest, not having the energy to get dressed or even get out of bed. With that comes the thought of the pain it must of caused their partner to see them that way, the person they love and is their whole world.
That ‘old voice’ in their head, the real them, was desperately holding them back from total collapse and their partner missing the ‘little talks’ with them. Then the inevitable conclusion that ‘soon it will all be over, and buried with our past’ as they remember how they used to play outside when they ‘were young and full of life and full of love’. They watch their loved one disappear until all that was left was a ghost’ which tears the relationship apart.

3. Imagine Dragons- Demons

So Imagine Dragons are without question my favourite band in existence so couple this with the fact that pretty much all of their songs have at least an undercurrent of mental health it was incredibly hard to pick just one song. It was like trying to pick a flavour of Walkers, they are all amazing in their own way but if you have more than one you are just being a greedy bastard.
Therefore, I truly encourage anyone with mental health issues to do a deep dive into their songs. From the rock ballad that is Radioactive which is such a fantastic emotional release to shout at the top of your lungs to Zero that summarises how it feels to feel like a nobody. However, Demons is the choosen one.
When you feel at your lowest you tend become a recluse pushing away the people you care for most in order to protect them from what you become. Or as the band sings ‘I wanna hide the truth. I wanna shelter you. But with the beast inside. There’s nowhere we can hide’. The fear that if they ‘get too close’ they will see the darkness inside and you are desperately trying to ‘save that light’ within them. Also as a footnote I really encourage you to listen to my friend Carley Varley’s cover of this song that she did for this page. It is so genuinely beautiful, moving and heart warming. https://www.facebook.com/105988011324726/posts/140443967879130/

4. This is Me- The Greatest Showman

So, I guarantee this will be completely new to you. I will bet you all a packet of wotsits. If you don’t like wotsits then I apologise profusely. That is nearly 11,000 packets of wotsits. Now I don’t know the going rate of wotsits but my servants and bodyguards (they use to look after Justin Bieber and if they can keep that annoyingly talented prick safe I feel they are worth the money), who I now have in abundance after becoming somewhat internet famous, advise me it is about 65p. That works out at about £6000 on cheesy savoury snacks, that figure is relying on Morrisons (other supermarkets are available) having a fantastic deal on these snacks. Now I could just use the money as some kind of grand prize but stained orange, cheese powdered fingers are priceless. Side note: wotsits are one of the only foods that make your fingers look like what you have eaten.

I have digressed as usual. There was a small film, who I don’t think many people watched. It had Wolverine Jackman in and the only remaining sane (now built like a fucking action man on steroids) Disney child actor, the others are too busy swinging on demolition balls and whatever the fuck Lindsay Lohan has been doing with her life. It was called The Greatest Showman and within it, there was a song called ‘This is Me’. It is an incredible song about embracing your flaws and stop being ashamed of all your scars. Mentally I have so many scars I look like leatherface but I should not have to be shunned for this. As the song says ‘I am brave, I am bruised I am who I’m meant to be, this is me’.

5. Help- The Beatles

So, I bet you all a packet of quavers… I am joking, we all know who the Beatles are. They are the ones who lived within the vibrant covered submersible and repeatedly demanded to hold my hand, I was not ready for the commitment. Anywho, they took a break from their normal upbeat songs to deliver ‘Help’. These lyrics are essentially someone pleading for… take a stab in the dark here… chocolate… sorry I mean ‘help’. It is simple but so apt at conveying the desperation you feel when you just need well… help, (hey they say the word about a hundred times in a two minute song so I can repeat it a few times myself).

Bonus song: one of my go to songs to cheer me up is ‘Here Comes the Sun’ which is guaranteed to make you realise ‘its alright’.

Honourable mentions:
Pompei- Bastille
Bad day- Daniel Powter
Mad World- Gary Jules
Survivor- 2WEI
In My Blood Shawn Mendez
Fireflies-Owl City

Let me know below your suggestions for your top mental health related songs……….