Insanity
and awesome songs about it :)
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77n1mDf6Iqo
I decided to kick things off with this one, mostly because I actually did sing it in school. You see, for drama class last semester, we used to have these assignments called, "Don't be boring"s. The basic premise was that one had to get up in front of the class and do something, anything, that was not boring. For my first one, I choreographed and performed a short solo lyrical style dance to "Superman" by Five for Fighting, which we had heard the other day in our literature class because our teacher was cleverly relating the song to the tale of Icarus and Daedalus, as she was talking about the many interpretations of literature. I heard it and immediately thought it was beautiful and perfect to dance to, and so when I heard about the DBB's (short for don't be boring's), I quickly resolved to do a dance to it. In hindsight, I think I might rather have danced to "I'll follow you" by Shinedown, a song I have liked for longer and have long thought of choreographing a dance to, but dancing to Superman was nice too.
Then, for the second DBB, I sang this song. It was pretty epic, singing this song in front of my class. I really did get into it, swinging my hair around and dancing a little (or more than a little) and singing with my whole heart even though I couldn't shove a pitch into a bucket and carry it from a foreign dimension to myself (an attempted quirky slant on the phrase "I can't carry a tune in a bucket"). I even did the insane laugh that first occurs at 1:50. It was pretty epic. By the way, if you think this version of the song cuts off abruptly, that's because "Brain Damage" is almost always played with "Eclipse" immediately after it, and they're designed to flow into one another, though they are two distinct songs. I chose not to do Eclipse in my DBB mostly because I don't really know the lyrics to that one like I know the lyrics to Brain Damage. Brain Damage really does have very clever lyrics, like the part about the paper holding the lunatics' folded faces to the floor, and it takes you a moment to realize that he's talking about news stories, or at least it did me. I don't find this song to be a story, truly, so much as a series of images pertaining to the theme of insanity. It's also got a beautiful, quirky, wonderfully insane sound to it--it's hard to pin down how and why, but it just sounds crazy, just with the way it is. And I mean, the crazy laugh is simply superb, not just at being crazy, but at adding to the whole wonderful crazy feel of the song. It's a pretty thorough analysis of insanity. I'll see you on the dark side of the moon, my friends.
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX4yks_R_FU
One thing I really love about this song is how, from the very first notes, it has such a great energy to it. You will probably have to adjust your volume between these two songs, or at least I did, since "Brain Damage" is significantly quieter than it, but both are extremely good songs. It's a very peppy song, and very fun for we crazy people ;) It's also got this pride to it, almost like "Yeah, that's right, I am crazy. Jealous?". "I like crossing the line, and slowly losing my mind. Are you okay? 'Cause I feel fine! Maybe it's me, I'm just crazy." And maybe I like that. The song just says, I'm crazy and I love to be. It's got this real happiness and it's so enthusiastic about being crazy. It's easy to get swept up in this song and it's very singable and fun. I actually just found it not all that long ago on youtube, where I was listening to other Shinedown songs I already knew, and I happened across this song, and it pretty quickly became one of my top insanity songs. It's a more modern song than a lot of the songs on my list, but I really like it. It just says "proud to be crazy" all over it :)
Then, there's also "the Sound of Madness" by Shinedown, which I really thought about putting on this list, but ironically, to me, that one is less about being crazy, though the title seems to indicate otherwise. It's a good song, too, though.
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqUa_G1h3pw
In this song, madness is kind of more like a tangent than the main theme, but I mean, it is titled "Lunatic Fringe", after all. I also thought it proper to include it being as it was actually the first song that came to my mind in class on Friday, partly since I'd already been listening to it earlier that day. It even sounds kind of crazy, especially the opening part and then how it transitions into the main part. And the main part as a whole sounds awesome and crazy. It's kind of a paranoid sounding song, a little, and you can imagine it being the ramblings of a mad man, though I don't know what the actual meaning of the song is. But it says lunatic over and over, so it must be about insanity, am I right? And you've got to love that "Uh-oh-oh-uh-oh" part, and how you just have to head bang to it, at least a little. It's just got such a power behind it. I almost feel like it's also about a spy organization or something, in a way, but at the same time they're all crazy. I almost feel like the lunatic fringe is the name of a place. I would like to go explore that place very much. It might remind me of the violet mist.
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoyAg75PsTA
This is somewhat of a different style of music than I typically listen to, actually, but I heard it one day when I was listening to an older, non-classic rock, music station on the radio and it was just really catchy. I like the lyrics and their connection with madness, too--"You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for...'cause you might enjoy some madness for a while...and you wouldn't want me any other way." ;) Crazy people pride! Like the Shinedown song, it really has this "Yeah, I'm crazy" feel to it. It's also got a rather playful tone to it, and it's kind of humorous and very bouncy. It's really having fun with being crazy. It's like he's constantly trying to make someone chuckle at his insanity and to get them to just have fun being crazy with him, or like he's just trying to make someone smile. It's like, c'mon, just be crazy with me for a little while, it'll be fun! I just might be the lunatic you've been looking for ;)
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbgtVFlyCQ
Back to my standard classic rock, we have a great one from Pearl Jam. The influence of insanity is somewhat arguable in this one. It's at very least a tangent in the song, but I think it's a little more than that. Insanity is probably most apparent in the line, "dark grin, he can't help when he's happy he looks insane", but really, the part about chasing thoughts like butterflies makes sense as being about insanity also. The one with whispering winds lead him away also seems insane, like he's in his own little dream world and following winds around. This one's less about crazy pride, though, but it's still a very strong song. I think there's much more story to this song than I really understand, but I still like it. It just sounds like it's talking about a crazy person, really. And I'm pretty sure it is. It fits.
and awesome songs about it :)
We were on the subject of music in Creative Writing today, and as I thought about what song I would like to be singing in that moment, I realized that many (though not all, I should note) of my favorite songs, especially those I like to sing aloud, seemed to center on a common theme: insanity. Then, when I started thinking about songs about insanity, I thought of even more good songs. And then I thought, hey, this could be a blog post. And so, this is a blog post about songs about insanity, some of which I thought of singing in class today in CW while everyone else was singing with the happy atmosphere of a Friday afternoon, despite the fact that they were mostly singing atrocious country songs. Sorry, I can't help it, I just despise the majority of the country songs people are into these days. I don't like most of the songs in the first place, and then they play them over and over again, and they play them on the bus and in art class and everywhere and it's just like grrrr.... and they just get stuck in your head all the time! So annoying. So, no country songs on this list. Just epicness and insanity :)All of these are songs that I love and can play over and over, and that I'm actually happy to have stuck in my head.
I decided to kick things off with this one, mostly because I actually did sing it in school. You see, for drama class last semester, we used to have these assignments called, "Don't be boring"s. The basic premise was that one had to get up in front of the class and do something, anything, that was not boring. For my first one, I choreographed and performed a short solo lyrical style dance to "Superman" by Five for Fighting, which we had heard the other day in our literature class because our teacher was cleverly relating the song to the tale of Icarus and Daedalus, as she was talking about the many interpretations of literature. I heard it and immediately thought it was beautiful and perfect to dance to, and so when I heard about the DBB's (short for don't be boring's), I quickly resolved to do a dance to it. In hindsight, I think I might rather have danced to "I'll follow you" by Shinedown, a song I have liked for longer and have long thought of choreographing a dance to, but dancing to Superman was nice too.
Then, for the second DBB, I sang this song. It was pretty epic, singing this song in front of my class. I really did get into it, swinging my hair around and dancing a little (or more than a little) and singing with my whole heart even though I couldn't shove a pitch into a bucket and carry it from a foreign dimension to myself (an attempted quirky slant on the phrase "I can't carry a tune in a bucket"). I even did the insane laugh that first occurs at 1:50. It was pretty epic. By the way, if you think this version of the song cuts off abruptly, that's because "Brain Damage" is almost always played with "Eclipse" immediately after it, and they're designed to flow into one another, though they are two distinct songs. I chose not to do Eclipse in my DBB mostly because I don't really know the lyrics to that one like I know the lyrics to Brain Damage. Brain Damage really does have very clever lyrics, like the part about the paper holding the lunatics' folded faces to the floor, and it takes you a moment to realize that he's talking about news stories, or at least it did me. I don't find this song to be a story, truly, so much as a series of images pertaining to the theme of insanity. It's also got a beautiful, quirky, wonderfully insane sound to it--it's hard to pin down how and why, but it just sounds crazy, just with the way it is. And I mean, the crazy laugh is simply superb, not just at being crazy, but at adding to the whole wonderful crazy feel of the song. It's a pretty thorough analysis of insanity. I'll see you on the dark side of the moon, my friends.
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX4yks_R_FU
One thing I really love about this song is how, from the very first notes, it has such a great energy to it. You will probably have to adjust your volume between these two songs, or at least I did, since "Brain Damage" is significantly quieter than it, but both are extremely good songs. It's a very peppy song, and very fun for we crazy people ;) It's also got this pride to it, almost like "Yeah, that's right, I am crazy. Jealous?". "I like crossing the line, and slowly losing my mind. Are you okay? 'Cause I feel fine! Maybe it's me, I'm just crazy." And maybe I like that. The song just says, I'm crazy and I love to be. It's got this real happiness and it's so enthusiastic about being crazy. It's easy to get swept up in this song and it's very singable and fun. I actually just found it not all that long ago on youtube, where I was listening to other Shinedown songs I already knew, and I happened across this song, and it pretty quickly became one of my top insanity songs. It's a more modern song than a lot of the songs on my list, but I really like it. It just says "proud to be crazy" all over it :)
Then, there's also "the Sound of Madness" by Shinedown, which I really thought about putting on this list, but ironically, to me, that one is less about being crazy, though the title seems to indicate otherwise. It's a good song, too, though.
In this song, madness is kind of more like a tangent than the main theme, but I mean, it is titled "Lunatic Fringe", after all. I also thought it proper to include it being as it was actually the first song that came to my mind in class on Friday, partly since I'd already been listening to it earlier that day. It even sounds kind of crazy, especially the opening part and then how it transitions into the main part. And the main part as a whole sounds awesome and crazy. It's kind of a paranoid sounding song, a little, and you can imagine it being the ramblings of a mad man, though I don't know what the actual meaning of the song is. But it says lunatic over and over, so it must be about insanity, am I right? And you've got to love that "Uh-oh-oh-uh-oh" part, and how you just have to head bang to it, at least a little. It's just got such a power behind it. I almost feel like it's also about a spy organization or something, in a way, but at the same time they're all crazy. I almost feel like the lunatic fringe is the name of a place. I would like to go explore that place very much. It might remind me of the violet mist.
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoyAg75PsTA
This is somewhat of a different style of music than I typically listen to, actually, but I heard it one day when I was listening to an older, non-classic rock, music station on the radio and it was just really catchy. I like the lyrics and their connection with madness, too--"You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for...'cause you might enjoy some madness for a while...and you wouldn't want me any other way." ;) Crazy people pride! Like the Shinedown song, it really has this "Yeah, I'm crazy" feel to it. It's also got a rather playful tone to it, and it's kind of humorous and very bouncy. It's really having fun with being crazy. It's like he's constantly trying to make someone chuckle at his insanity and to get them to just have fun being crazy with him, or like he's just trying to make someone smile. It's like, c'mon, just be crazy with me for a little while, it'll be fun! I just might be the lunatic you've been looking for ;)
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe500eIK1oA
The alblum picture of this song has got to be the best visual image of insanity of any of these songs' covers. I love how, instead of a head, it's just all these amazing colors and butterflies and swirls coming out. I think it's a wonderful, beautiful metaphor, and it really fits. This song perhaps stands out a little in this list as being one of the more modern, and it's also more mainstream/pop kind of music than, say, the Shinedown song on this list. It is like the other songs, however, in its bouncy, joyous, "Yeah, I'm crazy!"-ness. It continues this multi-point analysis of crazy with the other songs; really, each of these songs kind of looks at insanity from a different angle. It has a very good sound to it, and such a cool flow to it, and a rhythm that makes it really fun when you're singing it. I also like how it has this storyline to it--while, again, I don't know the official meaning behind really any of these songs, my friend and I always used to say this was a song some guy sang when the folks showed up to take him to a mental asylum. You can just imagine him answering the door and going, "Hello, I remember when I lost my mind," and then he tells the asylum people, "you really think you're in control?" just like he's messing with them. It's really this spirit of a crazy person explaining how they're crazy. It also has a laugh, though not quite as good as the Pink Floyd one. I mean, the song is entitled, "Crazy", for goodness's sake! It's just fun :)
Back to my standard classic rock, we have a great one from Pearl Jam. The influence of insanity is somewhat arguable in this one. It's at very least a tangent in the song, but I think it's a little more than that. Insanity is probably most apparent in the line, "dark grin, he can't help when he's happy he looks insane", but really, the part about chasing thoughts like butterflies makes sense as being about insanity also. The one with whispering winds lead him away also seems insane, like he's in his own little dream world and following winds around. This one's less about crazy pride, though, but it's still a very strong song. I think there's much more story to this song than I really understand, but I still like it. It just sounds like it's talking about a crazy person, really. And I'm pretty sure it is. It fits.
from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdLt3Afjrg
Insanity is more of a tangent than a theme in this song, which is really about pressure and love, but I would venture that insanity is still important in this classic song (which was also on the list of songs I was thinking about doing for my second DBB). In a way, it's kind of saying how societal pressures can drive you insane. Insanity is most visible in the line shown in the screenshot above, but then there's also little references, like the one slightly odd line about kicking one's own brains around the floor, and also the part about screaming, "let me out!" These sound very much to be about being driven insane by societal pressure. I also really like the powerful message about love in this song. It's another strong song, and while insanity is kind of vague in it, I'd say that it's definitely there. It's just that love is more important in this song than insanity is.
Overall, this is actually a pretty good cross-section of the music to which I listen. It shows songs from most of the genres and the vintages to which I listen. I suppose I always connect with songs about insanity and find them really fun, so perhaps that's why I have such a stash of them. I could probably even come up with more, but this is really a pretty good list. I almost want to quote the beyond-the-violet-mist sign-off I used on a post way back when this was my digital camera blog here, but I think I should really make a new sign off, so perhaps here I'll just refer you to October 2011 under my archives, the post entitled, "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon". I also feel tempted to quote the, "We're all mad here" line from the newer Alice in Wonderland movie here, but if I stuck that in front of a beyond the violet mist, it'd probably violate some copywright. Hmm...
Insanity is a highly valued personality trait in our flourishing society beyond the violet mist. ;)
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