Theme Songs #3: Melotrauma

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I've decided on the cheery theme of reaction to trauma. What I'm looking for are songs that detail the ways in which a person copes (or fails to cope) with traumas that originate in childhood or adolescence. There's a lot of this stuff in teenpop, but I'd like to broaden the scope as well.

Some examples:

Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" -- her mother never stood up to her abusive father, and now Kelly blames mom for her inability to trust others in meaningful relationships.

P!nk's "Family Portrait" -- Basically, "my parents got a divorce and now I am effed up." (Note: bonus points for nuance in the general argument of the song -- not sure how many I'd give to this one, say).

Fefe Dobson's "Unforgiven" -- I'll never forgive you for leaving us, dad, but I won't let you forget about me, either. (As I said during revenge week, Fefe's revenge here is refusing to abandon him.)

This would also be the thread to keep talking about Ashlee Simpson's "Shadow," I suppose.

There are lots of song about pain following a break-up, say, but what I'm looking for are lasting wounds, perhaps from childhood, that have healed over, opened up, healed over again. And the most points will go to the most unexpected expression of how this trauma has manifested itself. As I said once of Margaret Berger's "Robot Song," I'd like to be blindsided by pathos if possible.

You have NO limitations on the number of nominations.

Comments

[koganbot]

I'd say that the Sex Pistols' "Bodies" beats this as far as the earliness of the trauma goes, given that the chorus is narrated by the aborted fetus. The reaction probably is too immediate to fit Dave's theme as expanded upon in his examples, and anyway I'm sure he's already heard it.