24/9/2017

​Being blue, having the blues, whichever way you call it, one of the basic colors has become a symbol for sadness, bad thoughts, depression… Usually, it is something that stops you in your tracks, negative thoughts become overwhelming, and you can hardly do anything productive.

It is certainly something that whoever that has something to do with writing has, like everybody else, felt at some point or the other. But “feeling blue”, even when the problems that are troubling you are great, is something that can actually be turned into a personal advantage.

Again, music examples, and here the number that can be pointed out are quite extensive, if not limitless. You can start with Joni Mitchell’s simply titled, but deep “Blue”, any version of “Blue Monday”, whether it is the Fats Domino song or New Order’s excursion into electronics. If you want to get a bit more complicated you can get the way of Dave Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo A La Turk”, or even as sophisticated as George Gershwin’s “ Rhapsody In Blue”. Even one band thought that they are so permanently ‘blue’ that the named themselves the Blue States.

And that’s only scratching the surface. We can only guess, but judging by the titles it could be an educated one, that the authors of all of the above had some ‘blue’ feelings when they wrote them, or, even more importantly, were simply at some point or other, inspired by them.

The number of literary works, lyrics, poems, whatever inspired by some sort of trouble or negative feelings, whether they have ‘blue’ in their title or not is probably even more extensive.

All that points to at least two things - not only can you use your negative thoughts and feelings, even depression as an element of inspiration that can produce good writing, but trying to write down your  ‘blue states’ can actually be that positive click that can turn things around for you. It could mean reaching the idea that will make you realize how you can get out of a situation that seemingly has no exit.

As far as the soundtrack to that is concerned, you can be spoiled for choices, and that is a positive thing in itself, too!

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