When my wife left me (taking all the furniture, my son, and various other items) I turned to music for solace.
The song that helped cheer me up best was Good Enough For Now. That music do you play for theraputic reasons?
Mozart. Anything from the Requiem to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (however you spell it…)
Certainly I have used music as an emotional enhancer on many occasions be them sad or joyous.
I find it hard to respond to the OP because the music I listen to changes with time and situation.
I can recall being deliriously in love and having Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” really blow me away.
I reflect that I was crushed after a tough break up and would sit and wallow in my pity while blasting “Black” by Pearl Jam.
I love music, I love how it has the power to magnify our ups and downs. It allows us to fly with love and to lie in pits of grief.
My love for all forms of music has led me to the work I am in. I spend 8 hours a day surrounded by it and I couldn’t be happier.
- NM
You spelled it correctly, TroubleAgain.
There’s lots of songs that can be played in many moods.
But when I am sad over something, and I need a song to make me smile, there is no substitute for Rush’s The Analog Kid. The pace and romantic lyrics never fail to bring a smile to my face, and a shiver down my spine.
Ooooh, ooooh, ohhhh!!!
I forgot this, of course. If I want to give myself a kick in the butt, a musical pep talk, a power speech so to say:
Ode an die Freude (“Ode to Joy”), the final act of Beethovens IXth Symphony.
"Alle menschen werden Brüder sein"
Surprisingly I find mellow… or your quote ‘sad-songs’ good to listen to and relax and forget about things… (Richard Marx, Jim Brickman style stuff) … I try to sway from ‘lyrical’ composition … I perfer more instrumental, scenescaping type of music… that is what helps ME.
If I’m feeling down I usually pick up my guitar and play. I find it more theraputic creating music than just listening to it.
Baloo, it depends on my woe. There are songs tailored for every depression out there. For example:
Ben Folds Five, Song For the Dumped (a pissy, screw-you song)
Barenaked Ladies, Call and Answer
Chicago, Look Away
Michael Bolton, How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
Matchbox Twenty, Back to Good
Peter Gabriel, I Grieve (City of Angels soundtrack)
Of course, since I like classical stuff, there’s some great melancholy pieces out there:
The Theme from Schindler’s List
Winter, (the Four Seasons)
Come Josephine, in my Flying Machine (Back to Titanic CD)
Actually, I don’t know if it’s just me - but the more depressive the music, the more easy it is to relate to it. Sure, there is music to suit every mood but it’s easier to empathise with a dark song.
Most of my favourite bands/musicians write a lot of ‘depressing’ music:
Radiohead, Travis, Muse, Richard Ashcroft, David Gray, Coldplay…
The best “bitter breakup song,” in my mind, is Aimee Mann’s “Could’ve Been Anyone” from her album Whatever. Representative lyrics:
“So we all make mistakes, it just figures you’d make me the biggest one;
I was saving it up, now it’s spent and I don’t know what I spent it on.
Now I find if you try hard enough, you can wear it down 'til it’s just about gone, 'til you could’ve been anyone.”
My favorite is Gorecki’s 3rd Symphony - the version with Dawn Upshaw singing - so sad and beautiful with a tinge of hope…
For an upbeat mood I like the Gypsy Kings. Spiritualized and Widespread Panic send my spirits soaring - great for driving and feeling alive. Classic jazz (Coltrane, Davis, Cannonball Adderly, Dave Brubeck, etc.) is great for relaxing with a glass of wine and conversing with friends. Give me Johhny Cash and Hank Williams Sr. for heart wrenching, soul tearing, haunting sadness (and a few whoops and hollers too). Beethoven and Orf for adrenaline bursts. Dvorak and Shostakovich. Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, etc. etc. etc.
Cold - “And when I leave, I don’t know what I’m hoping to find, and when I leave I don’t know what I’m leaving behind…” GREAT choice.
My tastes kind of vary…usually when I’m down I want to wallow a little, so my picks are all kinda depressing. I’ve made…5 tapes of them all, so I don’t have to keep switching CDs. Here’s a sample:
“Untitled,” The Cure (Actually, the whole Disintegration album)
“Losing It,” Rush
“Silent All These Years,” Tori Amos
“The Show Must Go On,” Queen
“Lousy Lullaby,” Marry Me Jane
“Jezebel,” 10,000 Maniacs
And then I put on “I Will Survive” and blast myself out of my bad mood. 
Pink Floyd and The Smiths got me through high school.
Everything But The Girl got me through my first divorce.
The Ultimate Disco Party Album got me through my second divorce (BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!)
Enya helped my soul searching and meditation on becoming a better person.
Now, I don’t get depressed, I get silly. Really. If I start feeling lonely, depressed, or just bummed about life, in general, I put on something loud and obnoxious (e.g. Green Day), and jump around the room, dancing and acting like a fool. I’m happy again in minutes and usually tired enough not to think about whatever it was that was depressing me before.
If it’s frustration in a relationship, (dating or a friendship) I tend to go for Alanis Morissette’s “Not the Doctor.” The rest of the Jagged Little Pill album works pretty well, too, but NTD is where I funnel most of that energy.
When my grandfather died, I played Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods. When depressed, I have a preference for music with intricate story lines to lose myself in.
When school has me stressed, I go for something I can sing too–loudly. Sheryl Crow music is the best for that–although I’ll confess to Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman!” too.
For sexual energy, Lenny Kravitz’s 5–in particular, “Fly Away”–really gets the juices flowing. Literally. Heheheheh.
And when wanting to mellow out and relax, I play Mozart. My fav is the Amadeus sooundtrack.