# What song gives you an emotional response everytime you hear it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441 "2001-09-29T02:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/1 "2001-09-29T02:13:39Z")
Have a song that makes you sad whenever you hear it? Makes you almost cry? Makes you want to get up and dance no matter where you are/what your doing? What is it? For some reason, the same song that does it for me does for my wife as well. I never knew what it was called until recently. Its called _Suo Gan_, its a Welsh lullaby. It used to (and still does) choke me up whenever I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/2 "2001-09-29T02:23:20Z")
“How Do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes. My best friend sang it to me while I was in the hospital after a really messy suicide attempt, replacing the word “baby” with “Sarah” (my name). Pretty cheesy, I know, but I loved her for it. She died in April of 2000, and the song ALWAYS makes me cry. Hell, _thinking_ about the song makes me cry. “How do I live without you? I want to know… How do I breathe without you, if you ever go?” Her 19th birthday was on the 26th of this month, and I sang that next to her grave. I did last year, too. And last April, on the “anniversary” of her death. I will this April, too. I can’t get past the first few lines without choking up, but I slowly make it through the whole song. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/3 "2001-09-29T02:37:55Z")
_Wish You Were Here_ by Pink Floyd. While I lived in Tampa a friend of mine, who then lived in Jacksonville, was able to get tickets for the upcoming Pink Floyd concert. He was always a bit irresponsible and never reliable, so when he didn’t show up the afternoon of the concert, I waited, getting drunker and drunker. Finally a friend gave me a ride home. I cursed him the whole way home for “f&cking up” another evening. Figured he had met a girl. He had, the night before, and got hit by a jeep giving her a ride home. He died instantly. That next morning when I found out, it was a cold gray fall day in Tampa… _So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, Blue skys from pain. Can you tell a green field From a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?_ [sub]It’s been about 15 years, I still miss him terribly[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/4 "2001-09-29T02:38:10Z")
“Piano Man” by Billy Joel. It’s a special song I shared with a special friend. I cry every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/5 "2001-09-29T03:26:13Z")
“Living Years” by Mike & The Mechanics. It reminds me of when my father-in-law died and my son was just born. It gets to me every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/6 "2001-09-29T03:30:04Z")
“What’s the Matter Here?” by 10,000 Maniacs. The song is about child abuse, and though I wasn’t abused, the lyrics are so powerful, I can’t sing along without crying. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/7 "2001-09-29T03:37:02Z")
“Imagine” by John Lennon. Very personal for me. “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison. This song came on the radio during a road trip with my first _real_ girlfriend (IYKWIM) back in high school. I started singing along with it to her. It sort of became our song. I still can’t help but sing along when I hear it and it always reminds me of when I was younger and had no worries. ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/8 "2001-09-29T03:46:23Z")
I know this sounds really hokey, but every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner sung by a bunch of people (solos don’t do it) I tear up, always have. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/9 "2001-09-29T03:47:06Z")
_Twist of Cain_ on Danzig I. Hail Eris do I love that song. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/10 "2001-09-29T03:48:03Z")
I’m like one of Pavlov’s freaking dogs when I hear James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Rationally, I know it’s a fairly smarmy song, but whenever I hear it, I get so choked up and usually can’t help starting the waterworks. Sheesh, some Musak version of it was being played at my grocery store, and I had to leave, lest I break down the salad dressing aisle. I started crying once when I was walking to work, and passed a car that was playing it on the radio. I’m starting to tear up while writing this post. When people in my office were laughing at that recent list of ClearChannel songs on the “do not play” list of suggestions, I thought to myself “well thank the LORD that someone finally did something about that Fire and Rain monstrosity, so I can live my life like a normal human being, and not spend my days like a soggy limp Kleenex.” On a more positive note, whenever I hear the Bowie/Mercury song “Under Pressure,” I instantly become an amazingly slinky hipster chick. Simply hearing that song turns me into the coolest person on the planet. Whatever I’m wearing looks better, men race to buy me cocktails, and small household animals worship me for the Goddess of Fab that I am. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/11 "2001-09-29T03:51:01Z")
“The House At Pooh Corner” by Kenny Loggins. I sing along, and I choke up on the line _I swear that old bear whispered, ‘Boy, welcome home’._ I look at my daughter (who’s usually rolling her eyes by this verse) and I lose it. “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, by the Hollies. Heard the Father Flanagan story when I was a little kid, and never got over the image. I’ll think of more; I tend to tear up a lot. ---
**Author:** ![TN\_hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TN\_hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TN_hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/12 "2001-09-29T04:00:55Z")
**Unchained Melody** whether done by The Righteous Brothers or LeAnn Rimes. **Taxi** by Harry Chapin. **Piano Man** by Billy Joel. **The First Time(Ever I Saw Your Face)** by Roberta Flack. **Happy Xmas (War Is Over)** John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band ---
**Author:** ![TN\_hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TN\_hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TN_hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/13 "2001-09-29T04:14:49Z")
Also… **Lilly, Rosemary, and The Jack of Hearts** by Bob Dylan **Get It While You Can, Cry Baby, Try, Piece Of My Heart** all by Janis Joplin **Somebody To Love** by Jefferson Airplane **Tears Of A Clown** by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles …now I’m getting all chill-bumpy, choked-up, and broodily nostalgic… ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/14 "2001-09-29T04:37:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by delphica \* > \*\*I’m like one of Pavlov’s freaking dogs when I hear James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Rationally, I know it’s a fairly smarmy song, but whenever I hear it, I get so choked up and usually can’t help starting the waterworks. > When people in my office were laughing at that recent list of ClearChannel songs on the “do not play” list of suggestions, I thought to myself “well thank the LORD that someone finally did something about that Fire and Rain monstrosity, so I can live my life like a normal human being, and not spend my days like a soggy limp Kleenex.” > > On a more positive note, whenever I hear the Bowie/Mercury song “Under Pressure,” I instantly become an amazingly slinky hipster chick. Simply hearing that song turns me into the coolest person on the planet. Whatever I’m wearing looks better, men race to buy me cocktails, and small household animals worship me for the Goddess of Fab that I am. \*\* “Fire and Rain”, IIRC was written about a friend of his who committed suicide. I think its a great song. It gets to me too. So it was put on a do not play list? Whats up with that? And Vanilla Ice wrote that other song didn’t he? Just kidding. ---
**Author:** ![theendisnear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a4c791/32.png) [@theendisnear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theendisnear)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/15 "2001-09-29T04:41:47Z")
Se me olvido otra vez by _Mana_ ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/16 "2001-09-29T04:51:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by djf750 \* > > “Fire and Rain”, IIRC was written about a friend of his who committed suicide. I think its a great song. It gets to me too. So it was put on a do not play list? Whats up with that? Without hijacking this thread _too much_, “Fire and Rain” appeared on a recent list of songs that radio stations might opt to avoid following the WTC/Pentagon attacks, in that they might be too morbid for the listeners. There’s a few threads kicking around here about that list, or you can also get the story over at [http://www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com) When I applauded its inclusion on the list, I was kidding around, because I instated a personal “Fire and Rain” kibosh for myself if I’m going to be in public and wearing mascara. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/17 "2001-09-29T05:00:04Z")
**Karen Carpenter**. I just loved her. Whenever I hear her voice…but especially: _We’ve Only Just Begun_ _Superstar_ _Yesterday Once More_ _Hurting Each Other_ ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/18 "2001-09-29T05:06:37Z")
Don’t just pick sad songs here people. If something always makes you smile or picks up your mood post it too. 🙂 Although for some reason it always seems to be the sad ones you remember, isn’t it? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![xcheopis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bc8723/32.png) [@xcheopis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcheopis)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/19 "2001-09-29T05:48:23Z")
Songs that make me get up and dance, even if I’m trying to study: **Bedouin Music of Abou Horba / Et Son Ensemble** **Blue Monday** by New Order **Tainted Love** by Soft Cell Anything off the album **Up Evil** by Front 242 **Ei Yaani** by Amr Diab Almost anything by Hossam Ramsey **Abadou** by Zap Mama Songs that put me in a martial mood: **Ride of the Valkyries** by Wagner **1812 Overature** by Tchaikovsky **The Grand March from Aida** by Verdi **Bolero** orchestrated by Ravel **Cat Scratch Fever** by Ted Nugent **Smothered Hope** by Skinny Puppy **Butterfly Wings** by Machines of Loving Grace Songs that I find soothing in a sad way: **Columbus Stockade** by Doc Watson **Lonesome Moonlight Waltz** by Bill Monroe **Eli, Eli** Traditional Hebrew **Don’t Fear the Reaper** by Blue Oyster Cult **Love Will Tear Us Apart** by the Swans **The Whole World 'Round** by the Dillards Songs that pep me up no matter what my mood: **Do Ya Think I’m Sexy** as covered by The Revolting Cocks **Old Man At The Mill** by The Dillards **Underdog Theme Song** as covered by the Butthole Surfers **Godzilla** by Blue Oyster Cult **Every Humble Knee Must Bow** by the Nashville Bluegrass Band\*\* Ok, I’m sure I can find more if I actually go through all my music but these are the prominent ones. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441/20 "2001-09-29T05:56:11Z")
“Stuck in a Moment That You Can’t Get Out Of” by U2 “The Space Between” by Dave Matthews Band [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-gives-you-an-emotional-response-everytime-you-hear-it/84441.md?page=2)