A few months ago we talked about "Shake it off" songs, that help you get over the rough patches. Today, I want to go the opposite direction. Sometimes a person craves the songs that hit a deeper chord and help fully open up the emotional expression. I once put together a mix of these songs - not quite sad, more melancholic - but it was lost so long ago that I'm not sure I could list more than two or three of my selections.

If you were putting together such a list, what would it look like? Would you pick songs that are sad in terms of lyrics, or sad in a more sonic fashion? I know that personally the music makes a bigger impact than the lyrics when it comes to this kind of mood music. Indeed, I'd often pick songs that aren't so much "sad"

To kick it off, here's a couple of nominations:

Death Cab For Cutie's "Transatlanticism"
Cloud Cult's "There's So Much Energy In Us"
Chumbawumba's cover of "New York Mining Disaster 1941"
Joseph Arthur's "In The Sun"
"Into the West"
Willie Nelson's cover of "The Scientist"
Neko Case's "I Wish I Was The Moon"

So... what's good for melancholy?