You’re forgetting his classic work with FAITH+1, including that old standby “I’m Gonna Get Down On My Knees And Please You, Jesus.”
I also believe he co-wrote the salsa hit “Taco Flavored Kisses.”
Actually, it seems like your experience pretty much mirrored the scene in Napoleon Dynamite. The Happy Hands Club was a group that came into class and performed sign language to a tape of “The Rose.” (No need for a spoiler box - is there even anything to spoil in ND?)
Hm. So something that we put a lot of time and effort into is now supposed to be stupid. Great.
I did the talent show circuit pretty hard from about age 8 to age 16 (piano and vocal). If a young girl had no musical talent whatsoever, yet wanted to be in the show for some reason, she would invariably sing “The Rose”. I still wince when I hear it.
There seems to be an unnamable something in some music that is nearly universally tear jerking. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to have lyrics. The Theme from* Breaking Away* is one.
So, maybe it isn’t just the sentiment in The Rose that brings a tear to the eye.
Would I be laughed out of town if I said * The Wind Beneath my Wings * does the same thing?
I am NOT a church goer, but ther are some old hymns that almost break my heart.
“Amazing Grace” sung with soul brings me to tears. As does they hymn (which used to be a Gregorian chant) “Veni, Veni Emmanuel” (aka O Come, O Come Emmanuel"). Mannheim Steamroller has a version which puts me in an emotional slump every time I hear it.
It’s my thread, and I say hijack away 
But, everyone feel free to answer up on The Rose.
My mom taught me The Rose when I was a young kid, so there’s definitely an emotional attachment in that sense. Unfortunately, I’ve had to sit through too many horrible karaoke slayings of the song to have any true sense of respect for it anymore.
I do, however, turn into an inconsolable wreck whenever I hear Wind Beneath My Wings.
My next door neighbor till '98 or so had a platinum record for being the guitarist on that album.
Despite that, I never have heard it.
Here’s a fork. Go for it.
That song’s a button-pusher for me. Every time I hear it come on the radio, I push the button and change channels.