Mixtape: Songs to combat depression

I know sometimes you want to wallow; so do I.  But sometimes you have to get on with it and keep on keeping on.  Music is one of the ways to do this.  I also recommend awesome friends, healthy food, exercise, friendly animals, sunshine if you can get it, and forcing yourself to leap straight out of bed in the mornings (when I am in the depths, if I don’t do this immediately, it drags me down until I can’t do it at all).

3,6,9 by Cat Power

Chan, for me, is always proof that I’m not alone.  The whole of the album Sun is good for such purposes but this song sums it up for me, I think.

Good Fortune by PJ Harvey

This song reminds me of good times – wandering the streets of Hong Kong, meeting my boyfriend – but it is a gorgeously optimistic song, made even more so by being from an unexpected source.

A Wall by Bat for Lashes

I’ve said it before but it has stuck with me.  It’s a brilliant and simple line, one that makes me feel better about the possibilities of life and that makes me admire Natasha even more.  ‘Where you see a wall/I see a door.’

Human Touch by Bruce Springsteen

I know Bruce doesn't like his happy early-90s output, but I really do.  Even the title of this song kind of sums up his effect on me.

Bled White by Elliott Smith

Every note of this lifts my spirits, and by the time he gets to the line ‘I may not seem quite right/But I’m not fucked, not quite’ – the triumph wells up in my chest until I literally cry with joy at the world.

The Future by Leonard Cohen

OK, a song of which the main chorus includes the line ‘I have seen the future – and it’s murder’ may not sound the most uplifting – but, I swear, it is.  For me, anyway.  I know I'm crazy, but it makes me laugh.