Logo
     
markus heuger's
beabliography

Beabliography

 





 
  Abstract 0099
  Hames, Annette, and Ian Inglis (1999), "And I will lose my mind ... Images of mental illness in the songs of the Beatles." In: International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 1999, 30, 2, 173-188.
Previous
  References to the mental distress conventionally associated with an unhappy love affair or tragic life-event are to be found in the lyrics of many songs in popular music. Implicitly or explicitly, such lyrics remind the listener that failure or frustration in personal relationships can have traumatic, even dangerous consequences. Taking this as their point of departure, the authors locate their investigation of one well-known set of songs — those written and performed by the Beatles — within the context of the clinically observed categories of neurotic and psychotic mental disorders recognised by psychologists. In so doing, they try to systematically analyse the ways in which various types of mental illness have been depicted in the group's songs, search for patterns in their presentation, and offer explanations for their composition. This examination not only aims at revealing something about the specific songwriting development of the Beatles, but also at helping to illuminate more general contemporary attitudes towards the nature of mental illnesses.
Previous
  1997-2016 © Soundscapes