# Songs you find unbearably moving **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050 "2006-11-28T10:09:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/41 "2006-11-28T16:30:12Z")
Elliott Smith can do it for me with several of his songs, but King’s Crossing in particular reaches through my shell of desensitization and rips into my heart. The way the song finishes: “Open your parachute and grab your gun Falling down like an omen, a setting sun Read the part and we turn out fine It’s a hell of a role if you can keep it alive But I don’t care if I fuck up I’m going on a date With a rich white lady Ain’t life great? Gi’me one good reason not to do it This is the place where time reverses And dead men talk to all the pretty nurses Instruments shine on a silver tray Don’t let me get carried away Don’t let me get carried away Don’t let me be carried away” The song is an anthem of rage and despair, and the almost free association of imagery makes it feel so intimate and palpable. Knowing about his constant struggles with his mental health and how he died (suicide via double stab wound to the heart), it’s hard not to picture and slip into this tortured mind, and then feel utterly wrung out by that devastating last gasp ending. Wish the song itself weren’t so damn good that I often feel like listening to it for the musicianship and then keep getting punched in the gut as my reward. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/42 "2006-11-28T16:38:33Z")
I’ll see ALL of you, and raise you…_Taps_ I cannot listen to any incarnation of this piece of music without tearing up. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/43 "2006-11-28T17:11:01Z")
Paul McCartney’s song **We Got Married** from the _Flowers in the Dirt_ album. It’s such a moving tribute to a long and happy marriage, it gets me every time. Even more so since Linda died & Paul’s recent troubles. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/44 "2006-11-28T17:17:37Z")
[QUOTE=susan\_foster] No matter how many times I see the movie, I will always cry at When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2. Susan [/QUOTE] I have never ever, ever cried at a movie – I’m just too aware that what I’m seeing is fiction – but when that song ended, I was damn close to breaking down. In a movie about toys! I felt like an idiot. But that entire sequence, the song in the context of the images, is as perfectly done as anything I’ve ever seen in a movie. Also, for some reason Jim Croce’s _Operator_ just makes me depressed. I don’t know why, but just thinking about this poor guy trying to call his old girlfriend (who left him for his best friend!) and pretend like he’s fine with it . . . it’s just unbearably sad. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/45 "2006-11-28T17:19:04Z")
Kelly Clarkson’s _ **Break Away** _ makes me tear up, mostly because of memories. It was getting a lot of airplay around the time my grandmother died and the line, “but I won’t forget all the ones that I love” still gets to me. Stan Rogers _ **45 Years From Now** _ also got to me for years. A man I loved dearly played it for me right before he proposed; after the engagement ended, every time I listened to it I felt the anger and loss again. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/46 "2006-11-28T17:27:13Z")
A couple of these came out around the time of a very painful breakup, so that’s the reason for some of my picks. Whenever You Call - Mariah Carey Unbreak My Heart - Toni Braxton All Cried Out - Allure Jumper - Third Eye Blind (I was contemplating suicide the first time I heard this song, I believe it helped save my life) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/47 "2006-11-28T17:33:11Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] For some reason _Perfect Circle_ by REM always gets me. [/QUOTE] Good one there. The song seems to be about a group of good friends. That’s how I understand it, anyway. Gives me the warm fuzzies for my own circle of friends. Good times, good times… ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/48 "2006-11-28T17:34:52Z")
I first heard **“Even Tho” by Joseph Arthur** when I was going through my divorce. I’ll always associate it with that time. > [@](#): > > We’ve got some time so lets walk hand in hand together and hold our heads up high > Since I can’t read your mind > You’ve got to tell me what you’re thinking > I won’t write in the sky > > No one to hold > The world will make a dream and a prayer out of our bones > To find where we belong > Our shadows will remain even after we are gone > > Even though I’m here you know that I’m already gone Yeesh, getting teary just typing them out. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/49 "2006-11-28T17:37:08Z")
**Dervorin** mentioned the Bocelli version but for me _Time To Say Goodbye_ by Sarah Brightman gets me every time. _Hey that’s no way to say Goodbye_ by Leonard Cohen especially: “but lets not talk of love or chains and things we cant untie your eyes are soft with sorrow hey that’s no way to say goodbye” _Love the Same_ by Damien Jurado ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/50 "2006-11-28T17:55:36Z")
Sufjan Stevens’ [**Casimir Pulaski Day**](http://www.mulley.net/2005/08/29/sufjan-stevens-casimir-pulaski-day-lyrics/) is a double-edged sword to me. I always want to listen because it’s so well done and then, afterwards, I feel like the emotional equivalent of being stepped on by a horse. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/51 "2006-11-28T18:02:22Z")
I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack Why Worry - Dire Straits Bridge Over Troubled Water - S&G - that one makes my husband cry. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/52 "2006-11-28T18:06:37Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Do you mean the Aussie “anthem”, or _And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda_? The latter really gets me in the guts. [The lyrics](http://www.pogues.com/Releases/Lyrics/LPs/RumSodomy/Waltzing.html) of the last verse are unbearably sad, and when the song changes to the original it sends shivers up my spine. [/QUOTE] The latter, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/53 "2006-11-28T18:11:18Z")
Lessee: _Biko_ Peter Gabriel _Asimbonanga_ Johnny Clegg Both reminders of the struggle against apartheid. _Fragile_ Sting Beautiful song similar in some ways to the first two, and then again, not. _The Man With The Child In His Eyes_ Kate Bush I take this one so damn personally. _Severance_ Dead Can Dance It’s just sad, sad, sad. Like the melancholy bit (there’s always a melancholy bit) in a Ghibli film, ya know? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/54 "2006-11-28T18:32:47Z")
Tom Paxton: “The Last Thing on My Mind:” Are you going away with no word of farewell? Will there be not a trace left behind? Well, I could have loved you better, didn’t mean to be unkind You know, that was the last thing on my mind. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/55 "2006-11-28T18:46:48Z")
I agree with “In My Life” and “Perfect Circle” (though I always thought it was about a relationship that was about to crap out – the perfect circle of acquaintances and friends was going to take his place “where he left off.”) To that add: “Billy Austin” – Steve Earle “Slip Sliding Away” - Paul Simon ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/56 "2006-11-28T18:49:21Z")
**Silent All These Years** - Tori Amos **Verdi Cries** - 10,000 Maniacs **If I Were Your Woman, and You Were My Man** - Gladys Knight & the Pips **If You’re Ready, Come Go With Me** - the Staple Singers **Photographs & Memories** - Jim Croce (but I cannot stand “Time In a Bottle”; for some reason, P&M moves me, but TIAB irritates me.) **Lather** - Jefferson Airplane **I Can’t Get You Out of My Mind** - Hank Williams **I Get Along Without Very Well** - Billie Holiday ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/57 "2006-11-28T18:56:28Z")
“It Makes No Difference” as sung by Richard Manuel of The Band “These old love letters, I just cant keep 'Cause like the gambler says, read 'em and weep and the dawn don’t rescue me no more…” and this verse… “I love you so much, it’s all I can do just to keep myself from telling you that I never felt so alone before” that stuff just kill me. Also, “Sleepless Nights” by Emmy Lou Harris ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/58 "2006-11-28T19:18:54Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] Janice Ian’s _At Seventeen_ Ditto on _Vincent_ Clapton’s _Tears In Heaven_ [/QUOTE] Janice Ian also wrote “Jesse” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/59 "2006-11-28T19:22:12Z")
The [_Ballad of Ira Hayes_](http://www.lyricsdomain.com/10/johnny_cash/the_ballad_of_ira_hayes.html) by Johnny Cash has to be about the most depressing song ever recorded. Two inches of water in a lonely ditch was a grave for Ira Hayes. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050/60 "2006-11-28T19:23:36Z")
**Anthem** from the cast CD of “Chess,” particularly after 9/11 No man, no madness, Though their sad power may prevail Can posses, conquer my country’s heart. They rise to fail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-find-unbearably-moving/382050.md?page=4)