Not long ago, the friendly algorithms at Youtube, which know more about my peculiar tastes than I may have cared to reveal, recommended that I view a particular video. In it, the Be Good Tanyas, a Canadian folk trio, perform a song in which the narrator describes being abandoned by his mother and swindled by his girlfriend before going to jail for robbery. It concludes with the lines:
Now I’m out of prison. I got me a friend at last.
He don’t steal or cheat or drink or lie.
His name’s Codeine. He’s the nicest thing I’ve seen.
Together we’re gonna wait around and die.
Who could have written such a lyric? A quick check revealed a name that I’d occasionally run across in conjunction with the adjective “legendary” and the phrase “songwriter’s songwriter.” It was
Townes Van Zandt.
John Townes Van Zandt was born in1944 in Forth Worth, Texas. The son of a corporate lawyer who was groomed to follow a similar path, Van Zandt was diagnosed with manic-depressive illness in college and treated with insulin shock therapy. He went on to pursue a life of touring during which he released ten albums. The journalist Michael Hall has described him as “a cult artist honored by his peers and ardent fans but largely unknown in the mainstream” who lived a “wild, heartbreaking life” much of which he spent “killing himself with drugs and alcohol.” He died of a heart attack in 1997.
I have only begun to explore Van Zandt’s legacy. So far, my favorite track is “Big Country Blues,” which was recorded very early in his career, in 1966, but only posthumously released in 2003. In it he exploits the very breadth and diversity of North America to conjure a vision, not of boundless opportunity, but of profound despair. In the video clip below, it is combined to memorial effect with a montage from Richard Avedon’s “In the American West.” Although Avedon is remembered primarily as a fashion and celebrity photographer, he considered this project, which he undertook while struggling with serious health issues, to be his most important work.
All of this begs a question or series of questions. What is the connection between creativity and depression? Why do so many artists struggle with depression? Is depression a spur to creativity? A genetic or occupational hazard that impedes creativity? Or both?
What do you think? The dog wants to know.
I’ve heard him before but not that haunting song you showcased. I love the photo portraits. I guess they are from the 1970s/1980s judging by the hairstyles. I don’t know if mental illness and creativity are related in a statistically significant way or if we just never hear or think much about happy, creative people; I do know that when I’m creative it makes me happier.
Creativity is mild/temporary/ineffective medicine for depression. So people with a creative streak will turn to it when they’re depressed, sometimes because it’s all that works. But it doesn’t undepress them so they often do drugs or bad love affairs as well. If they get into a creative “habit,” that’s one of the better habits out there. But you can be depressed and not have a creative streak. You can be wildly creative and not depressed. To the extent your depression humbles you and makes you compassionate it can make you a more insightful creator, but the debilitation is massive. It gets in the way far more than it helps. Among my writer friends, most struggle with depression at times but are unproductive when their depression is really bad. See this article on genuis and addiction, which is a related question. https://www.thefix.com/geniuses-who-quit
The other thing I’ll add is that the creative life is emotionally demanding. You need a lot of discipline to do decent work. So you can rightly fault yourself for “wasting your talent.” You can work your hardest and most often be mediocre. You can expect/crave/deny your need for attention and you’ll never ever get enough. The reward system isn’t easy to read or fair. The work itself, if you are perfectionist, creates highs and lows. So again, creativity is mild medicine for depression. Any of these factors can make it depressing unto itself.
Hi,
I was asked by a friend to answer — I actually study this stuff — most studies of creativity and depression tend to actually show a negative link. Mood/emotion-wise, activated moods (Joy, Anger) are positively linked with creativity, whereas deactivated moods (Calm, Sadness) are negatively linked. The research on creativity and mental illness is wildly overhyped — actual studies show some link at genius-level (but dependent on domain), not much at everyday. Most importantly, studies that find a link do so for bipolar/hypomania (although really really distorted in popular press) or schizotypy; very very little evidence for positive link with depression. Likely more than you wanted to know!
As a novelist myself, I can identify with previous comment. I’m most creative when I feel joyful and upbeat. The last thing I feel like doing when I’m depressed is writing. I suppose that some musicians must find inspiration in the low moments, though, or there wouldn’t be such great blues music.
I really was touched by his music and the photographs of everyday and real people, like you and me. I know when I’m depressed or anxious it debilitates me and makes me much less available to others and most aspects of the world, at large. I become Self involved struggling to function and get through my day on multiple levels. However, when I am feeling good, grounded, sense of peace, I connect to others, to life, to music which I love, to art, to nature, etc, etc, etc…..For me, I am most creative in my work as a psychotherapist, wife, mother, friend, daughter, citizen of the world. I do want to add, that struggling with my own problems has deepened my compassion, my empathy and creativity. I have definitely heard that inner turmoil provides juice for creativity, look at Van Gogh, as a prime example. So your questions posed are thoughtful and interesting.