Why Do I Love Sad Songs? - Under The Radar

I've been thinking lately about the songs that I'm drawn to, and the ones that I connect with emotionally. There was a day when I was digesting a steady diet of CCM Radio Music - which has a tendency to be overtly encouraging and happy.

But in the last year, I have fallen more in love with sad songs. The artists that inspire me tend to look through melancholy glasses. But why is this happening? Why am I growing less interested in the standard contemporary praise songs of today, and finding solace in the arms of minor chords? I don't feel any more sour or depressed... so why?      

Maybe the answer is found in the crafting of art itself. When a worship leader writes the new song "You're an Awesome, Huge God" (make believe title, albeit believable), they are doing so with the masses in mind.   They are envisioning their song being sung by thousands and on heavy rotation on K-Love. This vision isn't far off for those who write the next "positive and encouraging" hit for believers to sing along to in their cars. It's art for the masses. Nothing wrong with it... that's just what it is.

Yet some artists dig into their souls and reveal the brokenness, pain, struggle, and hurt that they are working out in their everyday lives. Their faith is an important part of the journey, but it doesn't serve as a spiritual Band-Aid on their sadness. We are let into an area of vulnerability and weakness. It is art for one; maybe to connect with one listener, or maybe just a song to work out something in that artist's own life. It's small. It's personal. It's sad. And I find myself diving into the deep end of this kind of art.

Jon Foreman (Switchfoot lead singer/songwriter) wrote an interesting article for the Huffington Post and said:
"I don't write songs when I'm happy. When I'm content, I take my wife out to dinner, I go surfing. I hang out with my friends and play ridiculous cover tunes when I'm happy. But when I'm depressed, I turn to look for something beyond this life. When I'm lonely and nothing makes sense and the world has lost its flavor I search for notes and words that usher in a transcendence that soars high above the tragedy. I look for song to understand the present tragedy in the context of a hope for a better world. I look for words that remind me of a bigger story, for songs that acknowledge the tragedy and move beyond it."

Well said, Jon Foreman. I don't need hope or inspiration when I'm happy and all is right with the world. Music helps me deal with my own weaknesses and the broken world around me.

To celebrate, I placed one of the most beautifully penned "sad songs" I've heard in some time on Episode #67 of "Under The Radar". I encourage you to read the lyrics to the whole song "Write One" by Tommy Sims.