Oh, and With or Without You by U2.
Mad World, by anyone.
Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nail’s “Hurt”.
Back Home Again by John Denver. Takes me back to the summer of '75, sitting on a couch next to the love of my life.
Enya’s Flora’s Secret also takes me back to the summer of '75, laying with my love in a field of tall grass, watching the sun go down and waiting for the stars to come out.
Enya’s Wild Child. Takes me back to the summer of 2001, buying comic books for my six-year-old daughter.
Dan Fogelberg’s Same Old Lang Syne.
It was on a mix tape I titled, “songs to slit my wrists to”
Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A. This is the music Charles was teaching the Koreans in the last episode of MASH, before they were taken away.
Two for me - Amazing Grace, and *Sunrise, Sunset *from Fiddler on the Roof.
the theme from Schindler’s List. especially if it has a lead violin a la Itzhak Perlman.
Desperados Waiting For The Train. Guy Clark’s song, but take your pick of versions. I was singing it when my buddy JD was checking out with cancer…Come on Jack, the sonofabitch is coming…
Busts me up every time.
Mine are awfully cliche:
Cat’s in the Cradle
100 Years
Calling All Angels
Hallelujah (The old man rendition much moreso than the younger one.)
And the weird one, the one that’s not lyrically based (because I never really listen to them), but the music itself makes me catch my breath with tears: Clocks
“Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” because we lost an entire branch of the family in that mess.
“One Tin Soldier” because it was a favorite of the greatest friend I ever had and the best human being I ever knew. And we played it at his funeral.
Either one and I cry.
Puff, The Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul & Mary. The first record (A 45–remember those?) someone ever bought me. At the age of two.
Matthew - John Denver. The best story song ever. Ridin’ on his Daddy’s shoulders behind a mule beneath the sun.
I’m a sucker for sentimentality. Heck, I tear up for The Flying Purple People Eater Meets Santa Claus, just 'cause he saves Christmas.
Trooper’s We’re Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time).
It was the opening song at the funeral for a good friend, who died at 30 of muscular dystrophy. He’d known since he was about eight that he was unlikely to make it past 20, but he beat the odds.
I gave the eulogy. I do public speaking for a living, and that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Miss you, Scott.
Ooh, yeah, great song. Also, another vote for Dan Fogelberg’s Same Old Lange Syne.
I can’t stand musicals, as a whole, but Yvonne Ellison’s I Don’t Know How To Love Him, from Jesus Christ, Superstar - the version from the album or from the film, either one - always gets me. As does Gethsemane: “Tie me to your cross and break me/bleed me, beat me, kill me, take me now./Before I change my mind”.
Last one, and this is really gonna earn me some scorn: You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone. Yes, I know, I know, pure schmaltz; but her hesitant, awkwardly sincere voice gets me every time.
Is it obvious that I grew up in the late '70’s/early '80’s?
Same here. “Patches”, “One Tin Soldier”, “Cat’s in the Cradle”, “Teddy Bear”, you name it.
Okay, maybe not that one.
Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You” from Saturday Night Fever.
“Biba Nova” from the British TV series Rock Follies.
Last time I heard “Snoopy’s Christmas” by The Royal Guardsmen, I choked up because I just couldn’t resist telling my daughter about the Christmas Truce of 1914, and the asshats who called a halt to it.
Ai no Uta from Pikmin.
Those little buggers give so much and ask for nothing.
For Baby (For Bobby) does the same to me.