This weeks Song of the Week was recommended by MIA Reader Tim Wilson: “I have played this song numerous times in jazz bands. It never fails to move me to tears. It is the story of my life. Yes I have paid my dues, many times over but I’m still looking for my place is the sun. There are “down” times when I think I will never make it and “up” times when it looks like I might. It sure hasn’t been easy with a pile of mental health trauma resting forever on my back. Little by little we hopefully learn from the school of life.
This song speaks to me in a timeless way of what my lifelong mental health journey has been all about.
Blues music like this is about pain and suffering. When poetry is added I believe it can become a channel for healing.
Thelonious Monk, the author of the music, is considered by many to have been a musical genius. He had significant mental health problems which were exasperated by psychiatric incompetence and abuse.”
-Tim Wilson
