Name the song that cuts.

[Cartooniverse]

For whatever reason. What song cuts you to the quick every time you listen to it? Could be three times back to back, or after a 3 year break?

For me it's the acoustic version of Neil Young's " My My Hey Hey " from " Live Rust ", performed at the Cow Palace (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYak0rPUDIU).

Every time it just makes me sad. And chilled. And angry. And forty-eleven other things. What a genius.

What's your song? And why....

[Alice The Goon]

I go through phases. Right now it's Blue October's Hate Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDxgSvJINlU&ob=av2n). My kids know that if I'm listening to my mps player and I have tears in my eyes, it's that frickin' song... it especially cuts me when he sings, "And then she whispers 'how could you do this to me?'" Waaah!

[appleciders]

Funnily enough, The Hold Steady's One For The Cutters. Damn, but it's dark.

[B. Serum]

Ben Folds - Cologne (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laq1TrnGQyw)

[jjimm]

John Doe No. 24 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFyfY7D9LDE) by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

The first time I heard it was on the radio, and it had a profound effect on me. The DJ didn't announce what it was called and who it was by and I spent the next five years trying to track it down based on some remembered lyrics. Eventually the internet happened and I found it, and its power was completely undiminished.

Can't even get through the intro without becoming overwhelmed. It's the saddest thing I've ever heard, and it's a true story.

[Pai325]

The old song Always. Probably because I remember my mother saying she and my dad danced to it at their wedding. Both my parents ended up dying reasonably young (mom 43, dad 58 but after 10 years of debilitating illness), and didn't have the easiest married life, so I think of them, at their wedding, not knowing what their futures held.

Otherwise, Creep by Radiohead. I saw it in a movie clip and it was a combination of the song and the clip, I guess, that saddened me.

[Two Many Cats]

"Pay No Attention to Alice" by Tom T. Hall is the closest to true life I've ever heard in any song that describes living with an alcoholic.

Just these two lines conjures up memories from my childhood:

"She cooked that chicken too long, but she don't know that.
Oh what the hell, it ain't too bad..."

It just speaks of all the allowances that an alcoholic's family has to make to live with that person. All the little things that have to be shrugged off as unimportant.

You Tube does have a grainy sounding cover of the song by some band I never heard of. It's not worth linking to.

[jsgoddess]

"Fields of Gold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGwDYBWEDSc)" as sung by Eva Cassidy. Just... everything about it breaks my heart.

[panamajack]

The Drugs Don't Work (http://quietube2.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LctuTeskxpc) (preferentially this cover by Faith Yang Nai-Wen).

It was at least partly written about his father; for me it was my mother.

[jeredc1983]

Long December by Counting Crows and Old Man by Neil Young.

[Princhester]

Pink Floyd's "Time" is the scariest song ever written.

[Sudden Kestrel]

"Angie" by the Rolling Stones. I go to great lengths to avoid it, but if I happen upon it unexpectedly I can't stop listening until it's over.

[Crackrat]

Grace is Gone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmC3kpM3C_k), by Dave Matthews

[Becky2844]

"That's How Much" by Ambrosia. A serrated blade thru my heart. Every time.

[Accidental Martyr]

A Ghost To Most by Drive-By Truckers.

But skeletons ain’t got nowhere to stick their money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxLXCSqOvUo

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

The one that comes to my mind is "Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning" by The Cowboy Junkies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PofE-eowgo&feature=related)

Particularly when she sings:

Yeah, I'll admit there are times when I miss you
Especially like now when I need someone to hold me


mmm

[Time Like Tears]

I have a couple of them right now. The one that recently made me burst into tears was White Blank Page by Mumford and Sons. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw-ko6aINI4&list=PL53F47E1CC85BFBB9&index=94&feature=plpp_video) I'm on the sad and lonely end of a relationship just like that.

This one just makes me sad and wistful, and I love this version. Live feat. Anouk - Dance With You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1uRbnUdiWg&feature=BFa&list=PL53F47E1CC85BFBB9&lf=plpp_video)

[SticksAndString]

For me it's that sappy country song "Butterfly Kisses" from about a zillion years ago. My real dad was never there for me because my parents divorced when I was six and though I had a stepfather, he wasn't exactly the greatest parent in the world. So hearing about all those sappy father-daughter moments in that song makes me want to cry.

I also cannot stand the song "The Christmas Shoes" because it's so saccharine it makes me want to vomit. Also..Christmas songs should be upbeat and cheery, not depressive.

[dataguy]

I Can Let Go Now by Michael McDonald
This is the purest, raw expression of heartbreak I've ever heard.
Whenever I play it I have to immediately play something upbeat to chase the sadness away.

I was tossed high by love
Almost never came down
Only to land here
Where love's no longer found
Where I'm no longer bound
And I can let go now

[Ruby Slippers]

The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics.

[Drain Bead]

No Lies, Just Love (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM_hIwvI7uU) -- Bright Eyes. About a guy deciding not to commit suicide because of his brother's soon-to-be-born baby. The end KILLS me.

[timid1]

Adam Raised a Cain by Springsteen.

[Interrobang]

Gotta go with "I'll Stand By You" by The Pretenders. My wife and I used this as our first dance song at our wedding, 24 hours after she and her bridesmaids were in a major car accident. As soon as the song hit, I started crying like a little girl.

My local grocery store plays this a lot on their PA. Always gets me tearing up when I'm just trying to get some pasta sauce or chicken.

[Love Rhombus]

"Lady In Red" by Chris de Burgh. Doesn't make me sad, just angry.

[DCnDC]

"The Blues" by Switchfoot. I first heard it when I was in a very dark, very lonely place and it's stuck with me.

Does justice ever find you?
Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any other song to sing beside these Blues?

And nothing is okay
'til the world caves in...

[wedgehed]

This Chet Atkins tune (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwcYKNxXAcw) always puts a big lump in my throat.

[salinqmind]

Oh. "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King makes me tear up every. single. time. To think of someone who will hold your hand through every darkness so you won't be afraid!

In a lesser way, "Pretty Ballerina" by The Left Banke is so mesmerizing in its melancholy way. 'Somewhere a mountain is moving'. This is a song to listen to while you have a cup of tea and look out at the pouring rain. I don't know what it is about the mode of music, I'll leave the explanation to a music expert. But it's both sad and crushingly beautiful.

[WordMan]

When I played Biko (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLg-8Jxi5aE)(youtube to a live version) by Peter Gabriel for my teenage son a few weeks ago, he was so deeply affected, by both the story of Stephen Biko and the injustice of apartheid but also of how the song used its music to establish the emotions of the situation.

It was amazing to watch its effect on someone coming to it new.

[johnpost]

"Angie" by the Rolling Stones. I go to great lengths to avoid it, but if I happen upon it unexpectedly I can't stop listening until it's over.

Wild Horses is another.

i think it is a strong action of both music and lyrics. even close covers of the song might do that.

[Sigmagirl]

You get the Sunday paper on Saturday night
You read the travel section until you're all uptight
'Cause it's almost Monday
Jack, you know that song
You ain't going nowhere
You just ride along

--"Ride Along," John Hiatt
and pretty much the whole rest of Slow Turning, especially the gorgeous "Is Anybody There?" I'd quote the whole song if I could.

As a woman in this world
You must have felt like this
That a man might come along
with another hard-luck song
And betray you with a kiss


I did indeed work Saturday afternoon, sometimes with all the lights off, the only person on the whole floor, and then take the half of the Sunday paper that had already been printed and go home and read it.

[Sitnam]

Puscifer- The Humbling River (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmnzHEycWGg&fb_source=message&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fl.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv% 253DXmnzHEycWGg%2526fb_source%253Dmessage%26h%3DIAQE3rxHh) The songs good, but the YouTube video is powerful, especially the picture of that kid getting a flag at the end.

[well he's back]

3 come to mind at the moment, though I'm sure there are more. All these are about ending a relationship, and make me think of one I shouldn't have ended:
"Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye" - Leonard Cohen
"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" - Dylan
"If You See Her Say Hello" -Dylan.

Cannot get through any of these three without tears.

[Leaffan]

Hello, It's Me - Todd Rundgren
Telephone Line - Electric Light Orchestra

[crookedteeth]

I'm sure it's already mentioned somewhere, but "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley.
There's more but nothing off the top of my head.

[Jophiel]

"Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul & Mary. I have a son who just became a teenager on Monday and a baby turned toddler whose rapidly turning into a little kid. I swear we just took him home from the hospital yesterday.

A dragon lives forever
But not so little boys

[Poysyn]

In My Daughter's Eyes - Martina McBride. I have never gotten through it without crying, especially the line "In my daughter's eyes, I am a hero" because she has told me many times how proud she is that her mom wears a uniform.

[Leaffan]

"Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul & Mary. I have a son who just became a teenager on Monday and a baby turned toddler whose rapidly turning into a little kid. I swear we just took him home from the hospital yesterday.

A dragon lives forever
But not so little boys

About a year ago my mum told me she heard that on the radio and it turned her into a sobbing mess!

[Ellen Cherry]

"There Were Roses," about religious violence in Northern Ireland.

Now fear it filled the countryside there was fear in every home
When late at night a car came prowling round the Ryan Road
A Catholic would be killed tonight to even up the score
Oh Christ it's young McDonald they've taken from the door

Isaac was my friend! he cried, he begged them with his tears
But centuries of hatred have ears that do not hear
An eye for an eye, it was all that filled their minds
And another eye for another eye till everyone is blind

[Thudlow Boink]

For whatever reason, the song that never fails to have me in tears whenever I listen to it is "My Hand To God (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Czj5xtpHvE)" by Daniel Amos: the singer is an old man on his deathbed saying his last goodbyes to his wife.

It's especially poignant as the last track of a concept album about the fictional couple and their life together, but even hearing the song by itself makes me break down crying.

[Dung Beetle]

I used to like Cat’s in the Cradle, by Harry Chapin. Maybe now it’s that I’m old enough to have guilt about my mistakes in parenting, but I hope I never hear that song again. There’s nothing cheesy or bittersweet about it, it’s just brutal.

[SeldomSeen]

Clapton's Tears in Heaven (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTAMkbaXKXw&feature=fvst) always moves me. And I always find Black Hawk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikkh-pLx94o) by Emmylou Harris very evocative.
SS

[glee]

I'm sure it's already mentioned somewhere, but "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley.


+1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOoEYxt0PPA&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLA205911DB9510185

Beautiful.

Next comes the swansong of Johnny Cash. His treatment of the song is extraordinary, changing the emphasis from drugs to old age:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J36CRZzm9vg

Moving.

[Becky2844]

Oh. "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King makes me tear up every. single. time. To think of someone who will hold your hand through every darkness so you won't be afraid!

In a lesser way, "Pretty Ballerina" by The Left Banke is so mesmerizing in its melancholy way. 'Somewhere a mountain is moving'. This is a song to listen to while you have a cup of tea and look out at the pouring rain. I don't know what it is about the mode of music, I'll leave the explanation to a music expert. But it's both sad and crushingly beautiful.

I'm kind of stunned. This is the first time in over forty years that I've run across somebody else who remembers/likes Pretty Ballerina.

[President Johnny Gentle]

Although it's a pretty faithful cover, Crooked Finger's version of "The River (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hRiA6b2cPc)" gets me in a way that Springsteen's original (but still great) never has.

In a different direction, but still Bruce inspired, is the Gaslight Anthem (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Lk5NU0XQw).

Funnily enough, The Hold Steady's One For The Cutters. Damn, but it's dark.

Coincidentally enough, I was listening to this song (with the entire album) for the first time in several months on the way to work this morning. Every time I listen to it I swear I'm going to make sure that my daughters don't follow that path.

[gurujulp]

+1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOoEYxt0PPA&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLA205911DB9510185

Beautiful.

Next comes the swansong of Johnny Cash. His treatment of the song is extraordinary, changing the emphasis from drugs to old age:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J36CRZzm9vg

Moving.

This won't load for me... What is the song?

Ditto to the others who've posted links without song titles...

Thanks!

[Paintcharge]

Loudon Wainright's White Winos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-EYZsBUCc) gets me every time. And my mom is fine and doesn't really drink very much.

[phungi]

I Got Sh*t (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Th-ksBFdY) by Pearl Jam
All the advantage this lifes got on me
Picture an empty cup in the middle of the sea

Pain Lies on the Riverside (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4KIXOi-BTM) by Live
Pain lies on the riverside, And Pain will never say goodbye
So put you feet in the water, Put your head in the water, Put your soul in the water
And join me for a swim tonight


Freshman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hxe85iErew) by The Verve Pipe
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen

No Language in our Lungs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tju13IUmxIM) by XTC
no we're leaving nothing
just chiseled stones
no chance to speak before we're bones

[Soylent Juicy]

"The '59 Sound" by The Gaslight Anthem, because it reminds me of my best friend who was taken by a fast and aggressive cancer in 2008:

"Did you hear the rattling chains in the hospital walls?
Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over?
Did you hear your favorite song one last time?"

Even reading the lyrics gives me chills.....

[President Johnny Gentle]

Ditto to the others who've posted links without song titles...

Thanks!

Sorry, as I was one of the guilty ones. My 2nd link:


In a different direction, but still Bruce inspired, is the Gaslight Anthem (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Lk5NU0XQw).


was this song:

"The '59 Sound" by The Gaslight Anthem, because it reminds me of my best friend who was taken by a fast and aggressive cancer in 2008:

"Did you hear the rattling chains in the hospital walls?
Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over?
Did you hear your favorite song one last time?"

Even reading the lyrics gives me chills.....

[Dr. Rieux]

The Billboard number one when my mom died: "Because You Loved Me".

[Snickers]

"Let it Be," The Beatles
"Black," Pearl Jam

[AHunter3]

Several songs from Beth Nielsen Chapman's album Sand and Water, written after she lost her husband to cancer. The most powerful of these, "No One Knows But You", is not on YouTube.

But here's the title track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT44lPii87U) which is a close second.

[SaharaTea]

Ryan Adams' La Cienega Just Smiled (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2jYzr1FH0g).

[Philliam]

Van Morrison - 'T.B. Sheets'

Eva Cassidy - 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'

Drive-by Truckers - 'Danko/Manuel'. As a musician who's lost band mates, it's a tough listen.

[whole bean]

These Days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPk11AugG4c) by Jackson Brown

I'm partial to the Nico version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1N8GtDkYfQ)

"These days I seem to think about all the things that I forgot to do and all the times I had the chance to"

primes the well, and

"don't confront me with my failures, I had not forgotten them"

finishes it off

[An Gadaí]

Kate Rusby's superlative version of the folk ballad "The Night Visiting Song" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME1deASN6AU) is my current cutter.

If I may nominate another, longer standing one, I'd pick "Frank And Jesse James (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvxwUWyu4WE)" by Warren Zevon.

[kirk1168]

These Days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPk11AugG4c) by Jackson Brown

I'm partial to the Nico version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1N8GtDkYfQ)

"These days I seem to think about all the things that I forgot to do and all the times I had the chance to"

primes the well, and

"don't confront me with my failures, I had not forgotten them"

finishes it off

Beat me to it.

[StuffLikeThatThere]

Paul Simon's An American Tune.

But I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm just weary to my bones

... and then later ...

I don't know a soul that's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Paul Simon's An American Tune.

But I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm just weary to my bones

... and then later ...

I don't know a soul that's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees

and:

But tomorrow's gonna be another working day
and I'm trying to get some rest
that's all, I'm just trying to get some rest


mmm

[Accidental Martyr]

Kate Rusby's superlative version of the folk ballad "The Night Visiting Song" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME1deASN6AU) is my current cutter.

If I may nominate another, longer standing one, I'd pick "Frank And Jesse James (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvxwUWyu4WE)" by Warren Zevon.

Speaking of Warren Zevon....
"Desperados Under The Eaves"
"Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner"
"Don't Let Us Get Sick"

[Politzania]

Also speaking of Warren Zevon - damn near all of The Wind - but in particular, "Please Stay" and "Keep Me In Your Heart". Knowing that you were recording your last album and still writing such moving songs - I can't imagine. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" indeed.

More personally, "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits - about 20 years ago, I was Juliet...

"Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet - and you exploded into my heart
And I forget, I forget... the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong.. Juliet?"

The video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxfjSnMN88U) is goofy in only the way that an early 80's video can be, but the song transcends it.

[whole bean]

Paul Simon's An American Tune.
reminded of another Paul Simon song Slip Slidin' Away (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_H-LY4Jb2M)

"A good day ain't got no rain. A bad day's when I lie in bed and think of things that might have been."

and

"I know a father who had a son. He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he'd done. He came a long way just to explain. He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping then he turned around and he headed home again."

Kills me.

[Hail Ants]

If I were an actor and needed to cry on cue my go-to song would probably be Joey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdpTcvSn8HQ&ob=av2e) by Concrete Blonde. The way her voice breaks on the chorus every time kills me.

Even worse, the classical piece Valse Triste because of its use in Allegro Non Troppo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Oc_J1Lu-o)*. I literally had to hit the mute button while pasting the link!

*Warning: Do NOT click if you love kitties... :(

[Infovore]

I

Even worse, the classical piece Valse Triste because of its use in Allegro Non Troppo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Oc_J1Lu-o)*. I literally had to hit the mute button while pasting the link!

*Warning: Do NOT click if you love kitties... :(

Oh, yeah. That piece from Allegro Non Troppo leaves me a mess every time I watch it. I don't watch it very often. Sometimes I check back in to see if it has the same effect. It always does.

My two:
"When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2
"30K FT" by Assemblage 23.

"Hello, if you're there pick up the phone
I'm calling from 30,000 feet above you
The captain's just informed us that our plane is going down
So I'm calling for one last time to say I love you."

It's not about 9/11, but it might as well be.

[SerenaPerido]

I go through phases. Right now it's Blue October's Hate Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDxgSvJINlU&ob=av2n). My kids know that if I'm listening to my mps player and I have tears in my eyes, it's that frickin' song... it especially cuts me when he sings, "And then she whispers 'how could you do this to me?'" Waaah!

Agreed. As a mother with a 23 yr old son, this really cuts.

This is a song by Katie Miller-Heidke. If you've had a child that's been bullied at school, you'll relate:

Caught in the Crowd (www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIDarYJHCpA")

[11811]

A Perfect Circle's "3 Libras":

So i threw you the obvious
to see what occurs behind
the eyes of a fallen angel, eyes of a tragedy.
oh well. apparently nothing.

[Angel of the Lord]

"Don't Speak" by No Doubt. It was super popular right around the time that my grandpa died, so it got tied to that. Then it came on the radio at my college bookstore right after my first boyfriend and I broke up. I still like the song, but it always gets me in a melancholy frame of mind.

[Lazlo]

Grace is Gone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmC3kpM3C_k), by Dave Matthews

Ditto.

Blue October - Congratulations (http://youtu.be/an_bGL_obWw).

Too close to home. Way too fucking close.

[zoog]

Every time one of these threads come up, I have to chime in with Sam Stone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbcZMocgYrk) by John Prine. If "There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes" doesn't cut, I don't know what could.

[Sir Prize]

I used to like Cat’s in the Cradle, by Harry Chapin. Maybe now it’s that I’m old enough to have guilt about my mistakes in parenting, but I hope I never hear that song again. There’s nothing cheesy or bittersweet about it, it’s just brutal.I came here to post Cat’s in the Cradle too. It never fails to make me cry.

For No One (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo2UbO1JMQo) by Paul McCartney is a heart breaker about a dead relationship.

Something about the way

[Stendhal Syndrome]

I go through phases. Right now it's Blue October's Hate Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDxgSvJINlU&ob=av2n). My kids know that if I'm listening to my mps player and I have tears in my eyes, it's that frickin' song... it especially cuts me when he sings, "And then she whispers 'how could you do this to me?'" Waaah!

My husband Jesse/Gurjulup passed away this past Wednesday as most of you on here know. He listened to this song over and over again a few weeks before his death and cried as he thought about the relationship with his mother and this song depicted it pretty accurately. I will be playing it at his memorial service.

[thelurkinghorror]

For me it's the acoustic version of Neil Young's " My My Hey Hey " from " Live Rust ", performed at the Cow Palace (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYak0rPUDIU).
Tiny nitpick: My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) is the acoustic version. Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) is the electric one. Although I don't know if he played one the other way in the past, as the lyrics are slightly different, so "acoustic version" could work for some.

A Perfect Circle's "3 Libras":

So i threw you the obvious
to see what occurs behind
the eyes of a fallen angel, eyes of a tragedy.
oh well. apparently nothing.

Yes. It's not so much the lyrics for me, or it's not the biggest part of the impact. But strings can make things sadder in my opinion, it works so well.

"The '59 Sound" by The Gaslight Anthem, because it reminds me of my best friend who was taken by a fast and aggressive cancer in 2008:

"Did you hear the rattling chains in the hospital walls?
Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over?
Did you hear your favorite song one last time?"

Even reading the lyrics gives me chills.....

Yes! I agree with you (and President Johnny Gentle as well...). "Here's Looking At You, Kid" does it to me too, from the same album. On a similar vein to your experiences (sorry that happened...) is Sufjan Steven's "Casimir Pulaski Day," even if the lyrics are a little odd at times.

My iTunes was just on random, and 5 minutes ago "American Wake" by Black 47 came up. It's about knowing that even if you can go back home with a plane ride, things will never be the same. Oww...

[robardin]

"Fields of Gold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGwDYBWEDSc)" as sung by Eva Cassidy. Just... everything about it breaks my heart.

Good choice. Very haunting and the definitive version of the song for me now (much as I loved the Sting original), and that was BEFORE I learned what happened to Eva Cassidy in RL when I looked her up. "She's great, she should do more than record cover songs!" :(

Similarly, the Cole Porter classic So In Love (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuLJaOSV5yQ) as covered by k.d. lang for Red, Hot + Blue (an AIDS benefit thing from the early 1990s) really got to me because in hearing it for the first time while watching the video, it turned a familiar song of desperate love to one of desperate loss.

[robardin]

Agree also on Chapin's Cat's In The Cradle or Mike + The Mechanics' The Living Years regarding regrets over family bonds left untended until too late; also, especially as a parent now (of a young son), I can't hear John Lennon's song Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt3IOdDE5iA) without immediately thinking of how he recorded that song for his 4-year-old son only a few weeks before his murder.

I can hardly wait to see you come of age ...
Before you cross the street, take my hand,
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

And then the last, whispered words: "Goodnight, Sean, see you in the morning" Just. Kill. Me. :(

[RealityChuck]

For many years, Orleans's "Still the One" did that to me. It was a reminder of my first marriage -- we called it "our song," and when it broke up, I couldn't listen to it for decades. I've finally gotten over it, since I realized that it applied to my wife now.

[4d3fect]

+1 to the upthread commendation of Hurt. Either performed by Cash or NIN.

On the subject of NIN, rage and self-recrimination resonate:

from Wish:

just watching it burn in my steady systematic decline
of the trust i will betray
give it to me i throw it away
after everything i've done i hate myself for what I've become

and from March of the Pigs:

don't like the look of it don't like the taste of it don't like the smell of it
I want to watch it come down

[Boyo Jim]

The first title I thought of is The First Cut is the Deepest. Both Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow have very good versions of it.

But I think the one that gets me most is another Rod Stewart song -- Reason to Believe

Knowin' that you lied
Straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

[Drain Bead]

Forgot a good one -- Footsteps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfDGBalOUE) by Pearl Jam.

[Leaffan]

The first title I thought of is The First Cut is the Deepest. Both Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow have very good versions of it.

But I think the one that gets me most is another Rod Stewart song -- Reason to Believe

Knowin' that you lied
Straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

Tim Hardin, actually.

[septimus]

"Angie" by the Rolling Stones. I go to great lengths to avoid it, but if I happen upon it unexpectedly I can't stop listening until it's over.

I hadn't heard "Angie" for many years but chanced on it via radio a few years ago and was re-captivated.

Most of my favorites are from the late 1960's and early 70's, especially Dylan, Young and a few others including Leonard Cohen. But my favorite Cohen song may be a much more recent song: "Thousand Kisses Deep." I replay the movie The Good Thief just to listen to this song. :D

[panache45]

I first heard Shirley Bassey's recording of Ballad of the Sad Young Men (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL6AvSgO6Ak) back in the early '80s, when all my friends were dying of AIDS. That song will always remind me of those horrible years.

[septimus]

my favorite Cohen song may be a much more recent song: "Thousand Kisses Deep."

I think this is the original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_rlHdTYMU). Am I the only one who usually prefers, vastly, the original recording to new versions or "covers"? (Just after posting I searched and listened at Youtubes, and decided I'd better post a link to the "real" Thousand Kisses Deep! :D )

Some Lou Reed songs, especially "Heroin" and "Walk on the Wild Side", also deserve mention.

[ArrMatey!]

'The Drinking Song' by Moxy Früvous. First heard it on the anniversary of the (way unexpected and sudden) death of one of my good friends. The line, "...Told him he couldn't just die." Gets me every single time. I sing along with it, and my voice always catches before the last word.

[robardin]

The Rolling Stones songs that "cut" me the most isn't Angie (though that's a very good candidate) but Memory Motel and Shine A Light.

You're just a memory, of a love that used to be
And you used to mean so much to me

or

Angels beating their wings all in time
With smiles on their faces, and a gleam right in their eyes
Thought I heard one of them sigh for you
Come on up now, come on up now, come on up now

Let the good Lord shine a light on you
Make every song your favorite tune
Let the good Lord shine a light on you
Warm, like the evening sun

[Ponch8]

#1. Kesha's "The Harold Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkS70kPSLNI)." It's even better watching her sing it live (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2jnbxP3vsk&feature=related).

#2. Eric Carmen's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPL8piHGriA). I just recently found out (I think on SDMB) that the melody comes from Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2.



In a lesser way, "Pretty Ballerina" by The Left Banke is so mesmerizing in its melancholy way. 'Somewhere a mountain is moving'. This is a song to listen to while you have a cup of tea and look out at the pouring rain. I don't know what it is about the mode of music, I'll leave the explanation to a music expert. But it's both sad and crushingly beautiful.

#3. I pick the better-known Left Banke song, "Walk Away Renee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqAh1dQu_pg)."

[Feyrat]

Torn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhtkKAvZPSk) by toad the wet sproket.

Never, EVER fails. Ever. It hurts me to hear it, but it's beautiful.

[Boyo Jim]

Forgot Billie Holliday's Strange Fruit, about lynching.

[salinqmind]

Into Dust by Mazzy Star - music to play while you search for a good strong crossbeam to toss a rope over...I have this burned to a CD, right before I Want To Party by The Venga Boys - they cancel each other out :D. (another sad one - The Reason by Hoobastank. There are a LOT of songs of this ilk, aren't there?)

[williamweigand]

I think this is the original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_rlHdTYMU). Am I the only one who usually prefers, vastly, the original recording to new versions or "covers"? (Just after posting I searched and listened at Youtubes, and decided I'd better post a link to the "real" Thousand Kisses Deep! :D )

Some Lou Reed songs, especially "Heroin" and "Walk on the Wild Side", also deserve mention.
A couple of other Lou Reed songs - "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Street Hassle" ....and I almost forgot "The Day John Kennedy Died".

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Every time one of these threads come up, I have to chime in with Sam Stone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbcZMocgYrk) by John Prine. If "There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes" doesn't cut, I don't know what could.

Good choice. But I'm going to go with Prine's Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFD2wZaBciY). It is ostensibly a true tale Prine experienced as a youth about an altar boy being hit by a train.

You can gaze out the window get mad and get madder,
Throw your hands in the air, say "what does it matter? "
But it don't do no good to get angry,
So help me I know

For a heart stained in anger grows weak and grows bitter.
You become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there
Wrapped up in a trap of your very own
Chain of sorrow.


mmm

[SykoSkotty]

Well these are all good, thought provoking choices so far. Great thread idea.

Now as much as I dislike country music, my emotional outburst song is Don't Take The Girl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-TXBniRz1g) by Tim McGraw.

The use of that phrase in so many different ways is brilliant. Each verse evokes an entirely new set of emotions. As a kid my father took me fishing often, and as a father and husband this really hits home. What you have could be lost in the blink of an eye - take nothing for granted.

[Small Clanger]

Mitch Benn's A Minute's Noise For John (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KiLeUV98nY)

Probably meaningless if you didn't grown up listening to John Peel, but if you did...

[tullsterx]

Every time I hear anything by Kid Rock I get nauseous, does that count?

[fjs1fs]

The first title I thought of is The First Cut is the Deepest. Both Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow have very good versions of it.

But I think the one that gets me most is another Rod Stewart song -- Reason to Believe

Knowin' that you lied
Straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

I have to second Rod's version of "The First Cut is the Deepest." Just an unbelievable song/performance. Saw him do a live accoustic version at MSG in early 90s and it just blew me away forever. Unfortunately Crow's version doesn't do it for me--it's not emotional or "deep" enough.

[tumbleddown]

Rain by Patty Griffin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFbjE7NFmUI)Sometimes a hurt is so deep deep deep
You think that you're gonna drown
Sometimes all I can do is weep weep weep
With all this rain falling down

Strange how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
But I'm holdin' on underneath this shroud
RainAlso Jeff Buckley's "Lover You Should've Come Over" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXe1jpHPnUs)
So I'll wait for you..... and I'll burn
Will i ever see your sweet return
Oh will I ever learn

Oh lover, you should've come over
'cause it's not too lateThey work for me right now, when I'm no longer nursing a broken heart I'll move on to something else.

[cwthree]

A couple of people already mentioned "Cat's in the Cradle".

Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Az2BvTcshg). It's a good example of how the performance really makes the song work (or not) - compare the cover to Tears for Fears' original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBJePxdPX3Y).

[Astroboy14]

For me, Neil Young's Powderfinger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6xNft9MutQ) and Pink Floyd's The Gunner's Dream (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIJN6WWf3Rg).

Fortunately, neither of them are ever played on the radio.

[Imago]

"Hurt" has made me cry since I was a preteen, both versions. Swearcuss.

This. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF2Y-BnqGys) ("Shiva" by The Antlers) I thought the first time I heard it that it was just a metaphor for how badly she'd cut him up emotionally, but then, almost out of nowhere, I realized- it's a wish. He's just found out his would-be wife is dead of bone cancer, and his dearest wish in the whole world is to take her place in that hospital bed so she can live. I sobbed for ages.

And though there's no good version of it on the internet, the song "My Brother and the Pixie" by Vera Mesmer. Guy loves his little brother, worries about him, knows he has a habit of getting into trouble, wants to watch out for him, knows no one else will... And his brother wants nothing to do with him.

[Ethilrist]

"Into the West" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24fGmWG6kpg), from Return of the King. I first started listening to this as my father was in the hospital, dying of cancer. In spite of the message of the song, I can't hear it without thinking that he's gone, and I won't get to talk to him ever again.

[Becky2844]

For whatever reason, the song that never fails to have me in tears whenever I listen to it is "My Hand To God (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Czj5xtpHvE)" by Daniel Amos: the singer is an old man on his deathbed saying his last goodbyes to his wife.

It's especially poignant as the last track of a concept album about the fictional couple and their life together, but even hearing the song by itself makes me break down crying.

Along this vein is "Where Have You Been?"

[Becky2844]

My husband Jesse/Gurjulup passed away this past Wednesday as most of you on here know. He listened to this song over and over again a few weeks before his death and cried as he thought about the relationship with his mother and this song depicted it pretty accurately. I will be playing it at his memorial service.

I am so very sorry for this catastrophic event in your life. I feel, tho, that you will carry on.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

"Winter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWmETxWM0h0)" by Tori Amos. I cry almost every single time.

[phxjcc]

Eagles' Best of My Love

Schmaltzy as a Hallmark card, but kills me every time. :o

36 years later and still carrying a torch.

Going to go hit my thumb with a hammer now.