# Songs that unexpectedly gut-punch you emotionally **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820 "2018-03-01T15:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/21 "2018-03-01T18:31:22Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I suppose it’s not terribly surprising–it is a sad song, after all–but I have never been able to listen to “When She Loved Me,” from _Toy Story 3_, since my mother passed away. Even thinking about the lyrics gets me all weepy. I heard that song ONCE, when I saw the movie…I’m not ever going to hear it again if I can help it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/22 "2018-03-01T18:33:27Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I was in a little cafe that was playing background music. Then the song “Your Wildest Dreams” came on and I could scarcely keep my composure. That goddamned song, fuggin emotional bushwhack every time! “Oh, this sounds like a nice upbeat…wait…NOOOOOO!” As it rips open the unhealing wounds an ex made with her Morgul blade a decade ago after it stopped being good. In my case, the ex and I used to love the older (through about _Seventh Sojourn_) Moody Blues stuff, so the irony really stings. Older now, so hot love matters less than it did in those days. So yesterday it was The Nuns _[It’s a Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QIORLQSE_s)_. I’d heard it dozens of times but yesterday, as I was unconsciously fitting images of my recently passed father-in-law into the song, it finally clicked with me what it was about. Regrettably, I was at work at the time and I suddenly had to go for a walk. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/23 "2018-03-01T18:45:24Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > As a young child, I found “Oh My Darling, Clementine” absolutely unbearable. I would scream for that song to be stopped. Maybe I was being overly sensitive, but the thought of a little girl drowning and lost forever is beyond effed up to be singing to young child. Yeah, I hated having explained that song to my kids when they asked “Does that mean Clementine is dead?”. Hmm, lie to them or peel off another layer of their childhood innocence? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/24 "2018-03-01T19:02:46Z")
_John Doe No. 24_ makes me sad. > **[Mary Chapin Carpenter - John Doe No. 24 Lyrics | AZLyrics.com](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/marychapincarpenter/johndoeno24.html)** > > Mary Chapin Carpenter "John Doe No. 24": I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945 In Jacksonville, Illinois When asked what my name was there c... ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/25 "2018-03-01T19:09:24Z")
I couldn’t listen to “Winter” by Tori Amos or “Hurt” by Christina Aguilera (this is different from the NIN/Johnny Cash song, btw) without tearing up even _before_ my dad died; nowadays all I have to hear is the beginning of either one and I go all puddly. “Your Wildest Dreams” gets me too, but in a different way. It reminds me of a summer in the mid-80s when I was really unhappy. Other songs from that era do too, including “No One Is To Blame” by Howard Jones, and “Glory of Love” by Peter Cetera. I spent a lot of time alone with a radio during that summer, and those were on heavy rotation. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/26 "2018-03-01T19:13:22Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Yeah, I hated having explained that song to my kids when they asked “Does that mean Clementine is dead?”. Hmm, lie to them or peel off another layer of their childhood innocence? Huh. I just looked it up, and I guess we never got that far in the lyrics. Had no idea it was about a drowned girl. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/27 "2018-03-01T19:21:52Z")
Roy Orbison’s “[In the Real World](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-8Fxu8TEH0).” A former girlfriend and I had to call off our relationship, when we realized that our life situations weren’t going to allow us to stay together. Many years have now passed, but whenever I hear that song, it still hits me right in the feels. > [@](#): > > But in the real world > We must say our goodbyes > No matter if the love will live > It will never die > > In the real world > There are things that we can’t change > And endings come to us > In ways that we can’t rearrange > > I love you, and you love me > But sometimes we must let it be > In the real world > In the real world ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/28 "2018-03-01T19:32:50Z")
[Concrete Blonde - Little Conversations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUhlXXm0B7s). I thought I’d long since forgotten being an 8-year old kid whose parents are divorcing. This song always regresses me back to the little kid hiding in his room while the parents scream at each other down the hallway. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/29 "2018-03-01T19:45:27Z")
Janis Joplin’s _Me and Bobby McGee_. I think about my horse of a lifetime named Bob and our 26 years together. I cry every time. I cannot even be in the room if _How Great Thou Art_ is played. That was my dad’s funeral song. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/30 "2018-03-01T21:19:42Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I rarely hear it but when I do, oh my, **Billy Vera** ’s song _At This Moment_. I’m glad I’m not the only one… ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/31 "2018-03-01T21:20:49Z")
This one starts out simply, but before you realize it you’re having your heart stabbed. “Goodbye” by Steve Earle, this version accompanied by Emmylou Harris: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Rr2IY8q687I/hqdefault.jpg "Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris - Goodbye") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr2IY8q687I) ---
**Author:** ![Doubticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/32 "2018-03-01T22:55:12Z")
The crescendo line in Nevermore’s “The Blue Marble and the New Soul” never fails to get me, especially since Warrel died in December, but the song is Warrel’s message to a new born about the quality of life. "Stare into the sky with newborn perfect eyes, oh little one enjoy your time There will be heartache there will be rain, and joy I can’t explain My precious little one explore your time Your mother will hold you in her arms… and smile Your father will teach you his dignity and shun" ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/33 "2018-03-01T23:16:07Z")
[Holding Back The Years](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG07WSu7Q9w), Simply Red ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/34 "2018-03-01T23:34:19Z")
> [@](#): > > I love you > You love me > We’re a happy family _\_ ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/35 "2018-03-01T23:56:16Z")
[Eric Bogle - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/36 "2018-03-02T00:02:06Z")
Donovan “Catch the Wind” It sounds so wistful and then I get verklempt at how beautiful a song can be. It doesn’t have specific memories, just the tone of it does it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/37 "2018-03-02T00:15:35Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I suppose it’s not terribly surprising–it is a sad song, after all–but I have never been able to listen to “When She Loved Me,” from _Toy Story 3_, since my mother passed away. Even thinking about the lyrics gets me all weepy. It was Toy Story 2, but yeah, it’s a killer. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is a painfully sad song. I had a brother at Khe Sahn Fighting off the Viet Cong They’re still there, he’s all gone (Empty bar) He had a woman he loved, in Saigon I’ve got a picture of him in her arms The character’s sadness is evident; the genius of the lyrics is the beat between the third and fourth lines. It is as if the man is remembering, memories coming to him in whatever order they choose, as he recalls someone he loved but now he has no one. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/38 "2018-03-02T00:31:08Z")
The Sundays “Here’s Where The Story Ends”. Really, any song from that album. I listened to it a lot back in the day, and hearing it now takes me instantly back to a really great time in my life that I know is never coming back, and it makes me melancholy to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/39 "2018-03-02T02:05:32Z")
Courtney Barnett has a song called “Depreston” about going to look at a home for sale, which turns out is the home of a woman who died. It doesn’t speak to any particular situation I’ve been in, but I did hear it when my friend died, and it’s a sad song (Depressing + “a house in Preston”) so it hits me in the feels. > [@](#): > > And its going pretty cheap you say > Well it’s a deceased estate > Aren’t the pressed metal ceilings great? > > Then I see the handrail in the shower > A collection of those canisters for coffee tea and flour > And a photo of a young man in a van in Vietnam > > And I cant think of floorboards anymore > Whether the front room faces south or north > And I wonder what she bought it for ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820/40 "2018-03-02T03:37:22Z")
I feel like a complete schmo posting this but [Holes in The Floor of Heaven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK3H5cHfgzw) by Steve Wariner gets me every time. Full on crying thinking about my daughter walking down the aisle without her mom. My wife is quite healthy, so it makes no sense… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-unexpectedly-gut-punch-you-emotionally/809820.md?page=3)