# Name the song that cuts. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106 "2012-03-08T03:17:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/1 "2012-03-08T03:17:10Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/2 "2012-03-08T03:29:34Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/3 "2012-03-08T03:34:52Z")
Funnily enough, **The Hold Steady** ’s _One For The Cutters_. Damn, but it’s dark. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/4 "2012-03-08T03:39:57Z")
Ben Folds - [Cologne](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laq1TrnGQyw) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/5 "2012-03-08T03:42:43Z")
[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. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/6 "2012-03-08T04:23:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/7 "2012-03-08T04:30:12Z")
“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. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/8 "2012-03-08T04:51:49Z")
“[Fields of Gold](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGwDYBWEDSc)” as sung by Eva Cassidy. Just… everything about it breaks my heart. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/9 "2012-03-08T06:29:21Z")
[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. ---
**Author:** ![jeredc1983](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jeredc1983](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeredc1983)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/10 "2012-03-08T06:33:58Z")
Long December by Counting Crows and Old Man by Neil Young. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/11 "2012-03-08T06:50:56Z")
Pink Floyd’s “Time” is the scariest song ever written. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/12 "2012-03-08T06:55:09Z")
“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. ---
**Author:** ![Crackrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Crackrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crackrat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/13 "2012-03-08T07:21:38Z")
[Grace is Gone](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmC3kpM3C_k), by Dave Matthews ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/14 "2012-03-08T08:18:07Z")
_“That’s How Much”_ by Ambrosia. A serrated blade thru my heart. Every time. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/15 "2012-03-08T10:05:06Z")
_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 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bxLXCSqOvUo/hqdefault.jpg "A Ghost To Most") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxLXCSqOvUo) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/16 "2012-03-08T11:02:04Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Like\_Tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/17 "2012-03-08T11:37:31Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/18 "2012-03-08T11:49:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/19 "2012-03-08T13:16:34Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106/20 "2012-03-08T13:21:46Z")
The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-that-cuts/615106.md?page=2)