Perpetual Blueness: 15 Sad Songs I Love

Feeling blue really sucks, and it seems I've spent the majority of my life in perpetual blueness. However, one of the upsides of the downside is the infinite plethora of music out there tailored to the expression of melancholia. I've put together a little list of 15 of my favorite sad songs. When it comes to feeling blue, these ditties hold the cobalt crayon for me. When I get to a low place, I often find it difficult to interpret what I'm feeling.

Luckily, these songs do it for me.

15. "Holocaust" - This Mortal Coil. The Scene: Goth and spare, sung in a pleading tenor, allowing the crushing lyrics to smolder through. Favorite Line(s): "You're a wasted face/You're a sad-eyed lie/You're a holocaust". Overall Message: Nobody gives a shit, and we're all in this alone.

14. "A Case of You" - Joni Mitchell. The Scene: Though covered beautifully by two of my favorite singers (Tori Amos and k.d. lang), no one will ever touch Joni Mitchell's original lament of a heartbroken artist. Favorite Line(s): "Part of you pours out of me/in these lines from time to time". Overall Message: You were my muse, now you're gone, and I like to drink.

13. "In This Heart" - Sinead O'Connor. The Scene: Sung a cappella, O'Connor harmonizes with with velvety bass voices in lush, layered rounds. Favorite Line(s): "I am waiting for you/For only to adore you/My heart is for you". Overall Message: You're a blind schmuck. I'm here waiting for you.

12. "Unusual Way" - from the musical "Nine". The Scene: A musical theater ballad that captures eloquently the pain and yearning of unrequited love. Favorite Line(s): "You can't tell what it's like to be me looking at you". Overall Message: You'll never know what you do to me because you only see me as a friend, and now I'm a co-dependent blob of Jell-O.

11. "Someone Else's Story" - from the musical "Chess". The Scene: My other musical theater pick on this list, a girl bemoans her squandered chance at true love. Favorite Line(s): "She realized she'd left him behind/And sadder than that she knew he wouldn't even mind". Overall Message: You never realized what you could've had, and I'm a dumbass for not nabbing you when I stood a chance.

10. "Hallelujah" - Jeff Buckley. The Scene: The oft-covered Leonard Cohen classic, performed to aching perfection by the late, great Jeff Buckley. Favorite Line(s): "But love is not a victory march/It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah". Overall Message: You destroyed me for any future love or happiness. Thanks a lot, kimosabe.

9. "Boxing" - Ben Folds Five; Bette Midler. The Scene: Though I enjoy Ben Folds, I've never heard his version of this stunningly unique song. I only know Bette Midler's passionate interpretation, in which she uses her voice like a series of blows in a boxing match. Favorite Line(s): "Well sometimes I punch myself as hard as I can/Yelling 'Nobody Cares!', hoping someone will tell me how/Wrong I am". Overall Message: I'm getting old. All I have to hold onto are past glories.

8. "My Father" - Judy Collins; Patti LuPone. The Scene: Judy Collins wrote and originally recorded it, but Patti LuPone's masterful cover is beyond compare. Favorite Line(s): "I sail my memories of home/Like boats across the Seine/And watch the Paris sun/As it sets in my father's eyes again". Overall Message: Dad never moved us to France as he had promised, but I didn't break my promise to my own spawn.

7. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Johnny Cash (with Rosanne Cash). The Scene: The famous Simon & Garfunkel song of hope and support becomes something quite different in Johnny Cash's hands (with lush, powerful back-up from daughter Rosanne). Favorite Line(s): "All your dreams are on their way/See how they shine". Overall message: I'm always here for you.

6. "Easy's Getting Harder Every Day" - Iris DeMent. The Scene: Iris DeMent, in her unique, plaintive soprano, captures the agony and emotion of a withering marriage. Favorite Line(s): The entire song is gorgeous, picking a single line or lines is impossible for me. Overall Message: I'm stuck in this unfulfillment.

5. "Don't Forget Me" - Marianne Faithfull. The Scene: I've always been a fan of Marianne Faithfull's tortured, scratchy voice: it's an instrument that's seen and done it all...and lived to tell about it. This song levels me every time I hear it. Favorite Line(s): "When we're older/And full of cancer/It doesn't matter now/Come on, get happy/'Cause nothing lasts forever/And I will always love you". Overall Message: Remember me no matter what...and keep sending the alimony checks.

4. "My Life" - Iris DeMent. The Scene: Another Iris song that I absolutely adore, this one's gotta be one of the best sad songs ever. I've blogged about it before as I often feel it is my own soul being expressed in its deceptively simple lyrics. Favorite Line(s): "An' my life/it's tangled in wishes/and so many things/that just never turned out right". Overall Message: I may have failed, but I've still got some good points.

3. "Lied Ist Aus (Frag' Nicht Warum Ich Gehe)" - Marlene Dietrich. The Scene: Hell if I know, it's in German. All I can tell you is the title translates to "Don't Ask Me Why I Cry". It's Dietrich's heartbroken, husky crescendo that always brings a lump to my throat. Dietrich's voice is the story here, and it transcends language. Favorite Line(s): Hell if I know, it's in German. Overall Message: Hell if I know, it's in German.

2. "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" - Edith Piaf. The Scene: One of Piaf's signature songs, this one tells of a life and love affair lived to the fullest, as only Piaf could express it. Favorite Line(s): "But no tears will be shed/There'll be no one to blame/Let it always be said/We attempted what came" (translated from French). Overall Message: I messed up. You messed up. And it was all worth it.

1. "Over the Rainbow" - Judy Garland. The Scene: It's Judy and I'm gay. 'Nuff said. (Note: for the quintessential version, listen to the Carnegie Hall concert recording). Favorite Line(s): "If tiny little bluebirds fly/Across the rainbow/Then why oh why can't I?". Overall Message: Somewhere, someplace, there's got to be some sense and happiness in this world. Now Liza, get Momma her pills.