Politically charged pop singer Billy Bragg's previous foray into someone else's music found him writing music for the lyrics of several "lost" Woody Guthrie songs. The experiment resulted in two albums of material -- "Mermaid Avenue" and "Mermaid Avenue Vol. II" -- that he recorded with Wilco. This time around, Bragg went in the opposite direction, penning new lyrics to an "Ode to Joy," the triumphant crescendo to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Instantly recognizable from hundreds of commercials, movies and public performances (not to mention the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 1989 protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square), an "Ode to Joy" is based on "An die Freude," a 1786 German poem written by Friedrich Schiller. Like all truly great pieces of music, it had another life as a drinking song.

"There's some evidence that students took Schiller's poem and turned it into a drinking song," Bragg says. "That's how culture works, isn’t it? 'God Bless America' was originally a tunebox hit here in the 1940s. 'God Save the Queen' was sung in taverns before it became our national anthem. What eventually becomes high culture undoubtedly started as low culture."

On Saturday, Bragg will headline an array of local cultural groups -- including jazz singer Dwight Trible of the Pharoah Sanders Quartet, the Dafra Drum Ensemble and bluegrass singer Susie Glaze -- as they perform their interpretations of the Ninth Symphony. Bragg will lead the audience in a singalong of the chorale.

Pausing to chat "while 'e was on 'oliday with the Missus in Meejorca" (Cockney-to-English translation: while he was vacationing with his wife in Majorca, Spain), he touched on universal brotherhood, pan-Europeanism, the potential for a future Billy Bragg choral album and more. Read the full story here.

-- Elina Shatkin

Bragg performs at the Eli & Edythe Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. 7 p.m. $55-$100. (310) 430-1954, www.beethovenbragg.com.

Photo: Billy Bragg performs during the Road Recovery benefit concert on May 1 in New York. Credit: Jason DeCrow / AP

Valentine's Day is almost here, and as everyone from your bubbe to your Facebook status won't stop reminding you: You are alone. All alone.

Profound sadness is not for the faint of heart. And sometimes the best place to be is right in the middle of it.

Because that's just the kind of mood we're in. Honest. We're not one of those toothy, gleaming motivational speakers. We're not here to sell you a bill of goods about positive thinking and self-esteem and controlling your destiny by visualizing your chakras.

Instead, we offer 150 of the saddest songs in the world, subjectively selected and specially arranged for maximum depressive potential. And please, feel free to wallow in more anti-romance with our buddy Jason Gelt's "Valentine's Day songs for haters" list or recommend your own teary tunes in the comments.

1. "One More Chance" -- Fairport Convention
2. "Laser Beam" -- Low (or anything by Low)
3. "Drowned in My Own Tears" -- Mitty Collier
4. "I See a Darkness" -- Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5. "The White Lady" -- Elliott Smith
6. "Down From Dover" -- Dolly Parton (alternates: "Me and Little Andy" or "Jeannie's Afraid of the Dark")
7. "Not Gon' Cry" -- Mary J. Blige
8. "Don't Take the Girl" -- Tim McGraw
9. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- Bonnie Tyler
10. "Casimir Pulaski Day" -- Sufjan Stevens
11. "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" -- Frank Sinatra
12. "Lost Cause" -- Beck (or anything off "Sea Change")
13. "Through My Sails" -- Neil Young (alternates: "After the Gold Rush," "Needle and the Damage Done")
14. "The Weeping Song" -- Nick Cave
15. "Kern River" -- Merle Haggard (alternate: "If We Make it Through December")
16. "She's Out of My Life" -- Michael Jackson (alternate: "Ben")
17. "Against All Odds" -- Phil Collins
18. "Gloomy Sunday" -- Billie Holiday
19. "Time After Time" -- Cyndi Lauper
20. "Origin of Love" -- "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" soundtrack
21. "Llorando" (Crying) -- Rebekah Del Rio
22. "Only You" -- the Flying Pickets
23. "Nothing Compares 2 U" -- Sinéad O'Connor
24. "Forever Young" -- Alphaville
25. "Mad World" -- Gary Jules
26. "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" -- Gladys Knight & the Pips
27. "Polaroids" -- Shawn Colvin
28. "Hurt" -- Johnny Cash
29. "God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)" -- Randy Newman
30. "The Best I Ever Had" -- Gary Allan (covering Vertical Horizon)
31. "Sharin' a Hole" -- Carissa’s Weird
32. "Wish Someone Would Care" -- Irma Thomas
33. "Wandering Star" -- Portishead
34. "Seasons in the Sun" -- Terry Jacks
35. "I Who Have Nothing" -- Shirley Bassey
36. "On a Bus to St. Cloud" -- Trisha Yearwood
37. "Busby Berkeley Dreams" -- the Magnetic Fields
38. "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" -- Poison
39. "Fake Plastic Trees" -- Radiohead
40. "Thank You" -- Led Zeppelin
41. "Is That All There Is?" -- Peggy Lee
42. "Being in Love" -- Songs: Ohia
43. "Hallelujah" -- Jeff Buckley
44. "Lilac Wine" -- Nina Simone
45. "If You Knew" -- Neko Case
46. "Crown of Love" -- the Arcade Fire
47. "Say" -- Cat Power (or anything by Cat Power)
48. "Cucurrucucú Paloma" -- Caetano Veloso
49. "Lonelier Than This" -- Steve Earle (alternates: "Ellis Unit One" or "Over Yonder")
50. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" -- Otis Redding

Erika Wennerstrom didn't have the most auspicious start to her rock 'n' roll career. When the acoustic guitar from her father showed up under the Christmas tree when she was 16, she looked at it without any particular desire to play. She finally made a go of it, but before the calluses could form she gave up, frustrated by how painful it was to press down on the strings.

It wasn't until two years later that the Dayton, Ohio, native, then a high school dropout working at a sub shop and looking for some sort of creative outlet, picked up the guitar and really started playing. She learned bar chords first and eventually forced herself to learn open chords.

"I'm still not sure I know any real chords," Wennerstrom, now 31, says in her throaty, Midwestern drawl. "I still tell people I don't really know how to play guitar." Onstage, partially hidden by a Les Paul Gold Top re-issue or a Gibson ES-125 hollow body (writers frequently mention her small stature as if amazed that a voice that big could come out of a body that small), Wennerstrom seems like a natural, simultaneously swaggering and at ease.

If her musical proficiency is in doubt -- and let it be noted that it's mostly Wennerstrom doing the doubting -- her musical instincts are not. Aside from sporting the best band name this side of Black Sabbath, the Heartless Bastards have the good fortune to ride the whirlwind that is Wennerstrom's voice. Low and husky in a range that's closer to that of a male tenor than a traditional female singer, it packs enough power that it can feel like a plague of locusts devouring a field and has enough subtlety to add ache to soft, bluesy tunes. Combined with Wennerstrom's canny ability for crafting throbbing hooks, it's lifted the Cincinnati-spawned Heartless Bastards to the level of top regional band, a label they're likely to transcend with their latest album, "The Mountain," out on Feb. 3.

Download the title track of "The Mountain" after the jump....

From his opening drum roll of the "20th Century Fox Fanfare" to the end of his re-creation of the entire composition -- including ALL the orchestra parts -- on only his drum kit, Jerome Flood II was the man to beat in the Guitar Center Drum-Off finals. All six finalists at Saturday night's competition were impressive, but Flood wasn't just another drummer with amazing chops who knew how to string together a funky groove. Here's a drummer who's willing to go so far off-book, he's out of the library.(See for yourself by checking out this video of his set.)

Wearing a bright orange shirt* that spelled out Jesus in the Reese's peanut butter cup logo, Flood looked like he was having the time of his life during his five-minute set. The man had flair and originality, and the pros on the judging panel appreciated it.

Now in its 20th year, the Guitar Center Drum-Offs is the final showdown after months of regional contests held at Guitar Center stores around the country. Flood, a 22-year-old Rochester, N.Y., native who now lives in Atlanta, has been playing drums since he was 2 years old. But even after all those years of practice, Flood didn't win until his fifth year in the Drum-Offs. That should give hope to all the drummers picked off in the earlier rounds of this year's contest.

Aside from the contest itself, the evening's show-stopper was a 20-minute percussion set by Austrian drummer Thomas Lang and Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen, who in 1993 at age 9 was the youngest person to ever win the Drum-Offs. He was the ultimate bad-ass on Saturday night -- playing shirtless, sucking a lollipop and flailing like Animal from the Muppets. And that's exactly what you want in a drummer.

It was like Christmas, Easter and the Fourth of July rolled into one drum kit. As soon as Thomas Pridgen saw those glorious, gleaming drums, he knew they were meant for him.

Preternaturally self-confident at only 9 years old, Pridgen entered the Guitar Center Drum-Off, and round after round he blew away drummers who were two and three times his age. "I told everybody I knew that I was going to win," Pridgen says. "They asked me, 'What if you don't win?' But it was like seeing a bright, shiny red bike. I knew I had to have that drum set."

Without a trace of nerves, he tore through his five-minute solo, easily winning the Drum-Off finals and making it clear that a new drumming phenomenon had just bounded into the spotlight.

Sixteen years later, Pridgen, now the drummer for the prog-metal band Mars Volta, will be judging the contenders at the 20th annual Drum-Off grand finals Saturday at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood. The festivities also feature performances, including one from the band Papa Roach.

But it's the competition that counts, and the stakes are high. Along with Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters, Danny Carey of Tool, Alan White of Yes and seven to 10 other drummers (possibly including Tommy Lee), the judges will pick a winner from among six finalists who have collectively beaten nearly 5,000 competitors.

Winning can be a steppingstone to a pro career. Previous winner Eric Moore (2003) is the drummer for Suicidal Tendencies, and Cora "C.C." Dunham (2002) drums for Prince. Last year's winner, Donnie Marple of Keyser, W. Va., has moved to Nashville and is pursuing a career under the wing of his idol, Thomas Lang.

The judges rate the contestants on five criteria: originality, technique, style, stage presence and overall performance. Winning isn't all about triple ratamacues, single-stroke rolls and precise paradiddles.

"All of the finalists are beyond good as far as being able to display an array of chops," says No Doubt drummer Adrian Young, another judge. "But some guys forget to lay down a really good groove because they're trying to jam in as many fancy things and fast notes as possible. On top of that, are they playing with style? Are they fun to watch? Both are necessary."

--Elina Shatkin

Drum-Off grand finals at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., L.A. 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10. $15. www.guitarcenter.com

Photo: Guitar Center Drum-Off Championship finalist Ivan Garcia delights the crowd at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, Calif. on Jan. 5, 2008. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)