Asperger's syndrome in popular music

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I've been making a lot of progress with my AS over the last year. While doing a lot of thinking about this stuff, I found what to me seems like classic descriptions of the emotions relating to AS in some music. Primarily two:

"The Wall" by Pink Floyd. The entire album seems like the story of my life. I know Roger Waters was talking about his experience as a rock star, which I'm clearly not. But it feels to me like a metaphor for career success. "One of My Turns" is especially funny in the context of AS.

"Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who. This song just had to be written by someone with asperger's.

So has anyone else identified other popular music that contains the typical AS themes and problems?

brian

whoooa whoa whoa wait????
roger daltrey of the who is an aspie???
or someone else wrote that song??

I seriously doubt that.

I believe what Infinite9 is noticing is what Todd Rundgren termed 'The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect.' Themes of alienation, depression and social disaffectation are not uncommon in pop music. I find it running throughout Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick album and Ian Anderson is by no means an Aspie. Marillion's original vocalist Fish couldn't seem to write about much else - and even found a few positive moments while writing Misplaced Childhood. Kate Bush seems about as well adjusted as any pop star I've ever seen, but listen to Get Out of My House on The Dreaming and see if your Aspergian soul doesn't resonate to it. Just goes to show you, Aspies aren't the only people who feel like aliens and rejects in this world on occasion.

I read somewhere that the singer from The Vines and Garry Numan might have asperger's syndrome, but I don't like too much their songs, some are ok though. Some songs i relate to are "Freestate" by Depeche Mode, The Smiths- "How Soon is now", Green Day "I want to be alone", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

Probably not. (Although I was surprised to discover today that apparently Dan Ackroid is) It's just that this song really hits home. Probably what the other poster was mentioning about some common themes of isolation that really match what apsies feel.

brian

Downfall - TRUST Company


Fear in me so deep it gets the best of me,
In the fear I fall, here it comes face to face with me,
Here I stand hold back so no one can see,
I feel these wounds, step down, step down,
step down.

(am I) Breaking Down
Can I break away
Push me away, make me fall,
Just to see, another side of me,
Push me away, you can see,
what I see, the other side of me.

Fall back on me, and I?ll be the strength I need,
to save me now, just come face to face with me,
stay in place you'll be the first to see, me heal these wounds,
step down, step down, step down, down

oh oops i thought wrong sorry my bad its like an aspie wrote behind blue eyes sorry

There seems to be quite a few songs I've heard that remind me of my experiences with AS
one song being depeche mode - enjoy the silence
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p59L5eY51Jw[/youtube]
also daniel bedingfield - I can't read you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FQVMi23Qe4
evanescence - bring me to life
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jagIlLMmcM[/youtube]

Last edited by MONKEY on 22 Apr 2009, 2:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Neil Young's "heart of gold" sounds like a very aspie-licious lyric to me. That song is sort of one of his "greatest hits", although Neil Young is not a "greatest hits" kind of musician, he is just extremely talented at making emotionally meaningful and friendly-sounding music.

This kind of thing is so frikkin subjective though, a vague piece of poetry can say so totally different things to different people, and that's an important part of the beauty, there's alot of space for creativity.

Alot of Kate's lyrics resonate with me. Ah, I love her. Pi is another one in particular with an Asperger-ish slant.

Good question indeed......

Roger Waters? Singer from the Cult? Alice In Chains?

It is hard to tell once they get into drugs and drink. Impossivle.

I was gonna say the Evanescence one too!

I have a song of my own that is AS related. It's the one in my sig....called "Residual"

It's more than that. All songs written by Pete Townsend.

0. as you point out, Behind Blue Eyes. Tom Gray's information page has a very interesting picture at the bottom that illustrates this song well. http://yourautism.co.uk/tom.aspx

1. The entire concept of the Opera Tommy. written by Pete Townsend. Tommy is a healthy kid, goes into an autistic shock (deaf dumb and blind) - then come out at the end of the show - only to climb up a mountain and to be by himself. the song "Pinball Wizard" clearly describes hard-core autism.

2. written by Pete Townsend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAaxJULHcq4 "Imagine A man" lyrics, all of them. But "You know your invention is you".

3. written by Pete Townsend. http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/the_w ... 19907.html "it's Hard". Key lyrics "deal me another hand lord, this one is very hard". The entire song fits though.

4. Pete Townsend again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcA1XrgHGU4&NR=1 "There aint' no way out (No matter how much I booze)" lyrics: "worry about my responsibilities, all the problems that screw me up. My ego will just confuse me". The entire song.

that's just a couple hours of thinking. I've been a lifelong Who fan, used to obsesses over Behind Blue Eyes and Imagine a Man at age 15 to 18. i would do this after a day of Public school, listen to them over and over.

Humm... interesting?

It's for sure not Daltry, it is Townsend. I saw them in concert in Tacoma Washington around 1997/1998 show of Quadrophenia.

Last edited by TobyZ on 22 Apr 2009, 7:37 pm, edited 3 times in total.

has nobody mentioned the entire movie Donnie Darko?

Especially the ending song. OMG ASPIE! Mad World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL0rHIBYlY0


LISTEN TO THAT SONG, every world. it describes Aspie life and suicide feelings. And when I talk about "suicide feelings", that's not the same as "suicide plans" or "suicide intentions" or "suicide actions", or "suicide choice".

Steely Dan. The title of the album "Pretzel Logic" points right away to twisted thinking.

Coping with social failures clearly comes to mind with the song from that album "Any Major Dude will Tell you". http://www.steelydan.com/lyrpretzel.html#track3
1. "half a heart" = not your typical Empathy?
2. "demon is at your door" - external stress factors
3. "squonk's tears" - mythical tears, different feelings.
4. "I can tell you all I know, the where to go, the what to do. You can try to run, but you can't hide from what's inside of you". Vast knowledge, plus internal issues.

next track, "Barrytown" http://www.steelydan.com/lyrpretzel.html#track4
1. "It was there where you came out [born], It's a special lack of grace. I can see it in your face [eye contact?]"
2. "And though you'd like some company. I'm standing by myself. Go play with someone else." [don't want a friend, the social stimulus]
3. "I just read the Daily News and swear by every word" [I take things literally.]
4. "And don't think that I'm out of line. For speaking out for what is mine" [I am known for speaking out of line, and being too honest.]
5. "Barrytown people got to be from another world" [obvious Wrong Planet reference]
6. "I'd like to see you do just fine. But look at what you wear. And the way you cut your hair." [I don't wish you harm, but you aren't fitting here in this planet.]
7. "Leave me or I'll be just like the others you will meet. They won't act as kindly if they see you on the street" [I recognize you are from another planet, and I'm being nice about it, but I still don't want you as my friend (see #2). The rest of the people will bully you and not be so nice as me.]
8. "And don't you scream or make a shout. It's nothing you can do about." [Don't have an autistic meltdown, won't help.]

Perhaps this song has an entirely different meaning, but Barrytown seems to be told from a story of a NT person or a well-adapted Aspie who recognizes a visitor from Aspieland.

Like most songs, they clearly wouldn't be popular if they also didn't have NT appeal. But there is a very interest story on longtime Steely Dan fans and how they aren't typically NT. I encourage you to read this: http://www.steelydan.com/toth.html Being a Steely Dan fan means "you have to have a lot of patience and be a little bit nuts," says Pete Fogel, a music-booking agent and one of the guiding intelligences behind the fan magazine Metal Leg. "They are some very strange people."


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Aimee Mann. some interesting songs, including Invisible Ink talking about a relationship.

I've had the pleasure of seeing both in concert int he past year. I'll come back and post more.

I'm working on a book

Last edited by TobyZ on 23 Apr 2009, 7:21 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I think the classic aspie song is "I am a rock" by Simon and Garfunkel.