“I could have been someone.
Well, so could anyone,
you took my dreams from me when I first found you.
I kept them with me, babe,
I put them with my own,
Can’t make it out alone, I’ve built my dreams around you.”

There are a few holiday films, and songs, that illustrate the other side of the season, the side that is stained with disappointment and the blues. This can be a hard time of year for many people, as one faces their own lives in comparison to what all the cheery carols, holiday movies and happy ever after television specials say that this time of the year should be. What of those in the midst of heartache and loss? Those who are dealing with breakdowns or breaking-aparts? There are hardly many songs to sing-a-long when feeling like that.

Songs and music are usually there for the breakdowns and heartbreaks, so many sad songs about breaking up and falling apart, yet along comes Christmas and everything is shiny and bright. I think sometimes it is a comfort, and a necessity, to have the flip side of all that contrived happiness. I mean, it is fine and something to be thankful for if you do feel all that holiday cheer, but I think it is just as fine to feel low this time of year, and to have something to cling to when you do feel that way.

Side note: friends of mine sang this song to each other at their wedding, as part of their “vows”.

Fairytale of New York :: The Pogues & Kirsty McColl