# "Moments" in music that completely slay you... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499 "2010-03-15T01:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/41 "2010-03-16T05:13:07Z")
Springsteen live at Hammersmith Odeon in 1975 singing [Thunder Road](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYPSZiE0OAs). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/42 "2010-03-16T05:39:33Z")
The part of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement, right after the Turkish March and before the chorus returns - but in the version with Bernstein conducting the Vienna Symphony. The Ode to Freedom version, which I also have, is great but not sublime. Also, that moment when the Third Movement of the Fifth Symphony becomes the Fourth Movement. Oh, the suspense! And on a more mundane note, “The Bell” in Tubular Bells 2 by Mike Oldfield. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/43 "2010-03-16T12:35:58Z")
This is such a beautiful movement from Gorecki and the Soprano just pierces you. [Holocaust Video and Gorecki, Symphony No. 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miLV0o4AhE4&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/44 "2010-03-16T12:43:51Z")
Kinda surprised I’m the first to mention the part in “Gimme Shelter” where Merry Clayton’s voice breaks on the high “Murder” and you can just faintly hear someone in the background (probably Mick Jagger) say “woo!” because she was getting into it so much. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/45 "2010-03-16T13:49:29Z")
> [@BigShooter](#): > > Even though Eddie can be preachy, Pearl Jam always put on a good live show with great performances and amazing energy. Pearl Jam playing The Who’s “The Real Me” live: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jnQ3XVXMyk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jnQ3XVXMyk) > > Or “Porch” from their MTV Unplugged show: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LB4e0A7C4M](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LB4e0A7C4M) I loves me some Pearl Jam… the songs with “moments” that get me: [Footsteps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfDGBalOUE) (…I got scratches all over my arms) [Tremor Christ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMG7RWsbvtc) (“the smallest oceans”… then the final verse) [I Got Id](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKdx7X0S9Is) and the mother of all “Pearl Jam moments,” at perhaps the best place to see a concert (MSG): [Release](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt1HKfXnn3c) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/46 "2010-03-16T14:36:32Z")
Geez, where to begin? Gethsemane, from Jesus Christ Superstar was probably the first piece of music that I loved more than life itself, and it still gives me chills. The 2000 version with Glenn Carter is the best so far, with the slightly extended ending. He holds the last note for about a week and it just sends shivers up my spine. Verdi’s Otello, Act III, in the scene where the Doge is visiting and Otello, and Otello, unable to hide his jealous rage, throws Desdemona to the floor. Desdemona sings something like “The Sun warms the sea and sand, but does nothing to warm my heart.” It starts slow and melancholy, and just builds and builds and builds, and just as the giant tutti downward scale of full orchestra and chorus is about to resolve on the last note… Otello has another ouburst and takes it into a completely different direction. Thrilling! And of course, the Willow Song and Ave Maria, and the un baccio last kiss scene, and Iago’s Act II aria… The whole opera is fantastic from start to finish. Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, the ending (Return to Life of the Petrified Knights?). Talk about building to a climax! Let’s not even talk about Le Sacre du Printemps. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/47 "2010-03-16T14:56:25Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > Out of curiosity, are you referring to [Slipping Away](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Z4Guu5MkE) or the song of which it is a remix - [Into the Void](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXUUm2Ub5wk)? Thank you, yes, Into the Void. I knew that didn’t look right . . . ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/48 "2010-03-16T15:48:13Z")
“White Feather” from Marillion’s _Misplaced Childhood_ (the version on Disc 1) makes me stop breathing until it’s done. The “it’s only teenage wasteland” line leading up to, and the second set of verses ("Sally, take my hand…) in “Baba O’Riley” are similar. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/49 "2010-03-16T15:54:15Z")
Ravel’s Bolero. The key change. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/50 "2010-03-16T16:16:58Z")
Huge cliche, but Nessun Dorma, the part where the choir kicks in. _sob_ More obscurely. I love all Carlos Garldel (great tango singer) songs, but as we are talking about moments, I specifically like the little run-back to the chorus of [Mi Buenos Aires Querido](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJjiFp2Vv4M). It’s around 2.09 to 2.11. And really obscurely, I love love love this old Italian song [Porta Romana Bella](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXwYki4CQfc) and what makes the song is the way at the end of each verse (first one 0.08/0.09 and the 0.16, but recurs throughout) they sing slightly off-key. It just makes the whole thing so heart-breaking and tragic. I’ve tried to play it on the harp, but on an instruments that can’t bend notes the melody falls completely flat. I’ve known the song of almost 30 years, but it still makes me cry a bit sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/51 "2010-03-16T18:47:00Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > This is such a beautiful movement from Gorecki and the Soprano just pierces you. > > [Holocaust Video and Gorecki, Symphony No. 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miLV0o4AhE4&feature=related) Oh, God yes. Górecki’s _Symphony of Sorrowful Songs_ is not a piece to be taken lightly. Heard as background music it isn’t very impressive…slow, dissonant and repetitive. Give it your full attention. Turn off the lights, draw the blinds, close your eyes, and just absorb it. Be aware that it begins very quietly and takes fifteen minutes to work up to full volume, so don’t crank it up to 11. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/52 "2010-03-16T18:54:31Z")
My contributions feel a little pedestrian compared to others, but… Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s _Wizard In Winter_. The first time I heard it, and every time since, I was absolutely transfixed by the music. In a similar vein, Blue Man Group’s Drumbone sequence is just incredible, especially if your speakers have strong bass. Guitars also do it to me more easily than other instruments. I can never get enough of the opening riff to _Money For Nothing_, and the guitar work in Avenged Sevenfold’s _Bat Country_ is even more addictive. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/53 "2010-03-16T20:05:56Z")
Oh, and this is totally goofy, but on American Idol, when David Cook did “Billie Jean,” he held out a note for an impossibly long time, and just when you thought he was done, he took it up a half-step and held _that_ for a few seconds longer! ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/54 "2010-03-16T21:40:06Z")
so many, so many. Pink Floyd could provide a thread by themselves but I think the guitar solo in the middle of “Mother” is possibly the most wonderful 30 seconds in modern rock music. And considering what a bad rap prog-rock gets for being self indulgent, it is restrained, sparse, brief and beautiful…a goose-bump moment. Also, Elbow’s “scattered black and whites” particularly when the young boy is sitting listening to his grandfather…wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/55 "2010-03-16T23:00:08Z")
Dave Gilmour’s solo in the middle of ‘Time’. Beethoven’s 7th, 2nd movement, when the final, highest violin line of all adds to the crescendoing theme and dips one complete octave during a phrase. You can hear it [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfNTO_o-3k) at around the 2.12 mark. Eric Johson, ‘Cliffs of Dover’, studio version. When he reaches the cadenza section and can just go wild with an inspired, playful, dizzying section before coming back to repeat the main tune one more time. Bach, Cello Concerto 6, Prelude. All of it. Excellent Rostropovich version [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9fpmgpNDwc), ignore the inane and irritating start featuring lots of horrible church bells; the genius begins at 1.10 . Mike Oldfield, ‘Tubular Bells’ opening. The hypnotic riff that launched Oldfield’s career, allowed Virgin records to take off, helped to popularise ‘The Exorcist’, inspired a whole generation of derivative ‘New Age’ instrumental music (bad thing or very bad thing, discuss) and still hasn’t been bettered by Oldfield or anyone else. Mike Oldfield, ‘Ommadawn’ Part 1, the final guitat solo and scream; and Part 2, when for just 16 bars the whole Oldfield ‘orchestra’ joins in for one final, plaintive, haunting, tragic, stirring, beautiful, straining reprise of the main theme (slowed down) just before the bodhran kicks in and we get the final, giddy, whirling dervish ‘duelling guitars’ workout. Hazel O’Connor, ‘Will You’, when you think the song is over, and then the drums announce introduce the instrumental reprise including that brilliant, beautiful, swirling, passionate sax solo. Led Zeppelin, ‘Whole Lotta Love’, _that_ riff, especially when the bass guitar kicks in. So many to list, so little time. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/56 "2010-03-17T02:36:32Z")
The very end of Debussy’s “Claire de lune”, where the harmony resolves back to the original D flat major. Beethoven’s 9th, 4th movement, “misterioso” section. Starting with chorus singing “Such’ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muss er wohnen.” “Seek him then beyond the canopy of stars! He must dwell beyond the stars!” through the recurrence of the main melody with counterpoint. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXeZz\_SokDA#t=1m09s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXeZz_SokDA#t=1m09s) Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers”, duet “Au fond du temple saint”. The baritone has a simple melody that rises by half and whole steps while the harmony moves around him, finally resolving in singing with the tenor “Oui, c’est elle, c’est la déesse” “Yes, it is she, it is the goddess”. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdb94HbyRko#t=1m19s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdb94HbyRko#t=1m19s) Handel’s Messiah, “For unto us a Child is born”. Final appearance of “And the government shall be upon His shoulder”, crescendoing to the last “Wonderful! Counselor!” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQddqu3G7M#t=3m15s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQddqu3G7M#t=3m15s) Many, many more. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/57 "2010-03-17T02:43:46Z")
[The Banks of Sweet Italy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAjXCSD0sB0), the fourth note. Your dog’ll go :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/58 "2010-03-17T06:51:34Z")
About two minutes into [Jimmie Lunceford’s Jazznocracy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ieT4m-Eqhs). Just when you think it couldn’t get any hotter they turn it up a couple of notches. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/59 "2010-03-17T07:22:27Z")
[Mahler - Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wau4nkJWGss) - I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this piece without getting watery. The English Horn intro has me before the words even start. ☹ [Faure’s Pie Jesu](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWMmolrId_4) Ralph Vaughn Williams - Dirge for Two Veterans (from Dona Nobis Pacem) - From 3:02-5:27 ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499/60 "2010-03-17T09:56:51Z")
When I was living in NY, I used every visiting friend/relative as an excuse to see Phantom; I probably saw it like six times, and _Music of the Night_ always gives me goosebumps. Extreme’s version of \*Love of My Life \*, originally a Queen song, is downright amazing. Play this on a guitar and women are putty in your hands. As an aside - I often get requests from girls to do Extreme’s ‘More Than Words’, which suggests to me they haven’t actually listened to the lyrics… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-in-music-that-completely-slay-you/532499.md?page=4)