# Songs About Mental Illness? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252 "2019-12-22T20:09:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/61 "2019-12-24T16:27:20Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > Just Another Nervous Wreck by Supertramp is about loneliness and depression. Rick also wrote “Asylum”, and I can’t think of any songs Roger did that were about mental illness. The closest thing was “The Logical Song” and that’s not quite that. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/62 "2019-12-24T18:35:32Z")
_The Electric Co._\*\* by U2 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/63 "2019-12-24T18:47:00Z")
Am surprised I’m the first to mention **Crazy Train** by Ozzy. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/64 "2019-12-24T19:33:20Z")
Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal had two albums dedicated to mental illness [Normal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_(album)) [Abnormal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abnormal_(Bumblefoot_album)) Great albums ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/65 "2019-12-24T22:42:51Z")
[However Much I Booze](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ-jdQMI4UM)– The Who ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/66 "2019-12-24T22:51:12Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Kinky Friedman’s The Ballad of Charles “Texas Tower” Whitman, based on a true event. > > Cat Steven’s Sad Lisa is about depression. I think Cat Steven’s/Yusuf Islam’s struggles with mental illness are fairly well documented. The line that I find remarkable is from “Sitting”: _I feel the power growing in my hair._ Whenever I hear it, I think, “nicely put, I bet you did.” It seems like such a perfect description of some phase of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/67 "2019-12-25T02:24:44Z")
- pretty much anything ever written by Syd Barrett - the Beatles song “Dear Prudence”. [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Prudence)[youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-fQTetggZ4) - Eels - [Things the Grandchildren Should Know](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVZ87aJiytk) - pretty much anything by Wild Man Fischer [Deep State](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nUfkr1Q3YqWrrkn_RZtm0JmEDce63Qg1k) ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/68 "2019-12-25T02:37:19Z")
Lots of good ones here. My contribution: [Fire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaHEusBG20c), by Arthur Brown Lyrics: I am the god of hellfire and I bring you Fire, I’ll take you to burn Fire, I’ll take you to learn I’ll see you burn You fought hard and you saved and earned But all of it’s going to burn And your mind, your tiny mind You know you’ve really been so blind Now’s your time, burn your mind You’re falling far, too far behind Oh no, oh no, oh no! You’re gonna burn Fire, to destroy all you’ve done Fire, to end all you’ve become I’ll feel you burn You’ve been living like a little girl In the middle of your little world And your mind, your tiny mind You know you’ve really been so blind Now’s your time, burn your mind You’re falling far, too far behind… * * * Guy sounds pretty nuts to me. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/69 "2019-12-26T21:27:50Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > If you can think of examples of songs about mental illness by those who were mentally ill, even better, since its coming from a familiar place, as opposed to someone writing about something they don’t know. > > Pink Floyd - Brain Damage > > I think Roger is intelligent and was troubled, but he had it under control… Someone like Jim Morrison did not have control. Perhaps “Break on Through” is one of many, since many of his lyrics are surreal and can be interpreted differently, where Roger is very direct. Just about every song Kurt Cobain wrote/performed with Nirvana would qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/70 "2019-12-27T15:29:12Z")
The Old 97s’ “Lonely Holiday”: Thought so much about suicide Parts of me have already died ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/71 "2019-12-27T18:12:28Z")
**Beyond The Realms Of Death** by **Judas Priest**. The lyrics describe a man who becomes catatonic and then just dies having lost the will to live. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/72 "2019-12-27T18:20:14Z")
**Bodies** by the **Sex Pistols** A graphic song and apparently based on a real person. It’s lyrics are about a young woman having an abortion following a rape by a nurse at her mental institution. Not mentioned in the lyrics but she would carry the aborted foetus around with her in a clear, plastic bag. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/73 "2019-12-27T19:13:54Z")
Am I really the first person to mention Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/74 "2019-12-28T00:39:15Z")
Porcupine Tree, [Blackest Eyes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh9osYZNilU). _I got wiring loose inside my head I got books that I never ever read I got secrets in my garden shed I got a scar where all my urges bled_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/75 "2019-12-28T02:22:19Z")
I’m pretty sure that Chris Mars\*'s song “I, Me, We, Us, Them” was inspired by (written from the perspective of?) his brother, who was institutionalized with schizophrenia; but I haven’t been able to find a cite online. \*(Chris Mars was the drummer for The Replacements. The song is on his first solo album, _Horseshoes and Hand Grenades_, which is really quite good.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/76 "2019-12-28T15:38:00Z")
Another Tom Paxton one about depression [Wish I Had a Troubadour](https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=YXYHXquIL_KyggfpyLawDw&q=wish+i+had+a+troubadour+lyrics&oq=wish+i+had+a+tro&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0j0i22i30l3.1181.3834..6898...0.0..0.103.1004.15j1....2..0....1..gws-wiz.......0i10.R9tIzCBEIhQ) Wish I had a wind, I’d bring it by A gentle western wind to dry your eyes A southern wind to keep you from your crying I’m still trying ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/77 "2019-12-28T22:48:25Z")
At age 12 a friend gave me a 45 RPM record that changed my life, Tom Lehrer’s MASOCHISM TANGO b/w POISONING PIGEONS IN THE PARK. Is masochism illness or excitement? Is bird slaughter aberrant behavior? Going back further, we have an impending liquor-fueled cerebral hemorrhage in THE BAND PLAYED ON: _“But his brain was so loaded, it nearly exploded.”_ And [Johnnie Ray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnnie_Ray)’s CRY isn’t exactly level-headed. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/78 "2019-12-29T15:01:30Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I don’t think Willie Nelson was really Crazy. Same goes for Patsy Cline - maybe even more so. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/79 "2019-12-29T15:20:52Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Mental illness is a common theme is Pink Floyd’s music, so I guess it depends on how much of the song needs to be specifically devoted to it, and just how obvious/overt the link must be, to consider the song to be “about” mental illness. A good portion of their catalogue might fit the bill. One early member of Pink Floyd (Syd Barret) was primarily responsible for two of their early hit singles - “See Emily Play” and “Arnold Layne”. Great songs but extremely bizarre. As I understand it, most people in North America have no knowledge of those singles. They seem to be a British phenomenon. Many people in North America first became aware of Floyd with their albums “Animals” or the one with the prism on the cover. But Pink Floyd created some great music before those albums. Syd Barret was also the driving force on “Interstellar Overdrive” which was a very strange song the band would play live for a variable length of time. Sometimes they would play it for 5 minutes and sometimes they would play it for as long as 30 minutes. Syd Barret had a vision for the band which consisted of them being a highly experimental band. I believe it is generally recognized that Barret sadly kind of mentally unravelled early on and he became psychotic and had to leave the band. It was at that time that David Gilmour and the rest of the more “commercial” oriented members joined and that is when they had all their success with the albums that so many people know as “Pink Floyd”. Syd Barret was recognized as some kind of genius who went insane. That was a real shame. But his departure opened the door for the commercial Pink Floyd that most everyone knows. Very sad. There are some excellent documentary films about Pink Floyd that discuss their early years. They are very easy to find. If anyone would like, I will post some links to them. But I’m pretty sure most anyone will be able to find them. If anyone needs some help to find them, I would be happy to post some links for you. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252/80 "2019-12-29T15:27:31Z")
I’d say that the presence of a shopping cart suggests mental illness in Dramarama’s “Work For Food”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-mental-illness/845252.md?page=5)