Self Pity Party - Week 1

So here it is. The inaugural Self Pity Party (albeit a bit late). 

Just a reminder this is a time for everyone to stop feeling strong, stop putting on that brave face and to just have a little break down time. To let it all in and let go. 

I think I've picked out 5 great tracks for today. My aim is to gently bring you down to the depths of self pity and then bring you back out and leave you on a higher note. Please read and listen as you go along, I've written it to be consumed that way. Might make less impact if you read it all and then listen. 

We start with an artist that I love, this guy got me through many a tough time with his upbeat and imaginative albums with sharp, killer lyrics. This song however I managed to miss until quite recently and then it totally side swiped me on the bus and left me fighting back the tears. So without further ado.

That was Watsky with "Dedicated to Christina Lee".

I'm sure that's a situation lots of us can relate to from when we were in high school. Rejecting someone because they weren't cool enough or being rejected because we weren't cool enough. Kids can be mean, kids can be cruel but more often than not kids just don't understand what they are doing or saying yet. 

Next up is a song I think I first heard played by Annie Mac and it was just stunning. The duet is really good, the lyrics are really heart-string tugging and the melody is great. It all goes together to make a hard hitting song for anyone who has been in a relationship that's reaching the end of it's life. Be that romantic or platonic, I think this still applies and hurts just as much. 

That was A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera with "Say Something". In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, 'A Great Big World' said that they expected her to use her usual large vocal style maybe somewhere at the end of the record. However when she came to record it that's not how she felt at all. Shes quoted as saying 'I want to let the song breathe and be open' and let's be fair, it's exactly what the song needed.

Now we've reached the depths of this weeks playlist, that was Damien Rice with "Greatest Bastard". There was a time where I couldn't hear this song without turning into a blubbering wreak, I feel it describes a past relationship I had so well it could have been written about us, and I'm still unhappy with myself about it.

Wasn’t Expecting That by Jamie Lawson is a song I describe as a stealth depressing song. It lures you in with lyrics of happiness and a life going well and then sucker punches you at the end. Combining that with his great voice and simple guitar you get a great song that always causes me to pause in thought when it's done.

Mr Hudson with Everything Happens to Me. That was our last track and hopefully one that you can laugh a little at. It's a special talent to take sadness and misfortune and to wrap it up in humour and entertaining lyrics.


Thanks for reading and joining me for the first week of this new feature and I hope to see you next Sunday.
Remember however bad it gets it can always get worse but it will get better eventually.

New blog announcement

A long time ago I fell in love with a radio show called The Musical Hot Water Bottle on Sunday nights with the amazing DJ Annie Mac. I was a faithful listener for many years, looking forward to that show on Sundays between 22:00-00 :00 (later it ran 22:00-01:00). It got me through many a terrible week and also was a lifeline after a very terrible break up.

Annie Mac has since moved on to doing the weekly new music show which is great in it's own right but it isn't a touch on the MHWB.

In the MHWB she had a feature I adored called The Self Pity Party. Four to five songs that were a little depressing or would pull your heartstrings. Songs about love, loss, pain and other things of that ilk. She billed it as a time during the week for everyone to stop feeling strong, stop putting on that brave face and to just have a little break down and let it all in and let go. Maybe have a little cry, maybe a little scream. A bit of cathartic letting go.

While her chillout show might live on with another host in the same time slot, the features that made that show didn't live on. I hope she wouldn't mind me appropriating the segment title, I think she might even approve of something she started living on with the same spirit she intended. 

I think I miss this feature more than I miss any other from the show, when it went off the air I really had to find time to do the same thing for myself. I started making mini self pity party playlists just for myself so i could vent and let go, if only for a moment. I still make them, not weekly any more (or sometimes daily in times of real troubles) so I thought why not make a blog out of them for other people to potentially enjoy. 

So to draw this ramble to a close, starting on the 17th I will be doing a 4-5 song post every Sunday called The Self Pity Party. Some will have themes, certain genres etc but all with the same theme. 

This weekend will just be a quintessential mix, 5 songs that really encompass the mix itself. Hopefully from there I will start to populate the blog with other things but that's getting ahead of myself.