Why do songs make us sad?

Today while driving to pick up some sort-of-last-minute, but-not-too-last-minute Christmas presents, I spent some time radio surfing, as usual. This is one of the major consequences of not having a CD or tape player in my car. If I had a CD player, I would spend all my time rocking out to Vertical Horizon, crooning with Norah Jones, or relaxing to "The Soft Sounds of Ralph Vaughn Williams." As it is, I generally spend most of my time with NPR, at least until I get tired of having my brain bent towards liberal thought, or until I just feel like something upbeat or tuneful.

So, if I'm feeling intellectual, (and a little pretensious, or maybe just spiritual), I'll hit the preset for the local classical music station. Or, (more likely), if I'm feeling impatient, rebellious and surly, and/or if I just feel like jamming, I'll poke around on my various alternative music station presets until I find a song that's worth listening to.

I found one today. One of my favorite bands (Coldplay) has recently released a new song. I have no idea what the title is, but the first time I heard it (likely about a week or two ago), I was captivated by the song's inherent sweet wistfulness. The song was captivating; I found myself swept up into its emotion and suddenly felt a kind of anchorless longing for something, and I felt so sad.

It's been a long time since I've allowed myself to feel sad about things. I spend most of my time caught up with my 'daily grind' life, focused on how on earth I'm going to resolve an issue at work, trying to decide what the next step is for applying to grad school, spending way too much time on the computer or watching tv, or reading a purely escapist novel. I spend so much time away from myself. And even though feeling sad was, well, sad, it still gave me a chance to connect with myself in a way I haven't done for weeks. I felt something, and even though it was painful, it was strangely...healing.