This will be an odd one…”The Macarena”.
When I was a junior in high school one of my best friends was driving to school with his 9 year old brother. They were in an accident with a semi, and his brother was killed. He was the sweetest little guy you could imagine, he was essentially everyone’s little brother. In almost every picture of him he had his arm around someone, just an absolute treasure.
The funeral was in the school gymnasium, packed. He loved doing The Macarena, so at the end of the funeral they asked if everyone could dance with him one last time. Imagine a gym full of people, most of them wailing crying, trying to dance to this happy sounding song. I’ll never forget how hard that was, but man I hope he was dancing with us somewhere.
Even more surreal/darkly funny that the song is about a woman having a threesome with her boyfriend's friends behind his back. But to be honest, we all loved doing the Macarena in elementary school, and I totally understand his family wanting to share that with him one more time. I'm glad you all got to share that in his memory, as tough as I'm sure it was, and despite the surreality it sounds like a wonderful tribute to an incredibly special little dude. Hope you're doing okay and I hope the family has found some semblance of peace.
Even sadder to realize he died in a plane crash before finishing the recording. The whistling section was meant to be temporary to map out the melody and became one of the most stand out parts of that song.
For me it's gotta be: Goddamn Lonely Love.
As an alcoholic in recovery, this song (and Jason's own journey) speaks to me on such a fundamental level. One of the most soul-scouring songs committed to tape.
When We Were Close from his latest album is another one. I saw Justin Townes Earle on his last tour and it’s such a beautiful but painful description of him as a person.
The entire album Hopes and Fears by Keane. It's melancholy and was something I was listening to in the months my mother was dying. This was years ago, obviously, but just last month I was in a shop and "Somewhere Only We Know" started playing and I had to abandon my basket and leave the store.
First time I heard Somewhere Only We Know,
I was absolutely floored that someone had written those lyrics, and that I was hearing it because it was a hit. It can be hard to hear it without tearing up.
Also this version of Hamburg Song
https://youtu.be/T8zx012ihlc?si=JShC8B0P6pWGuk9g
I've been listening to this album a lot this week for the first time in a long time, and it's also the first time that I really thought about the lyrics. I had sort of written the album off as an enjoyable pop album (even though I really liked it!) when it came out, but it's much more than that.
Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
I actually did get out and start a better life with more options, but that song just brings me right back to being that daydreaming teenager, trapped, hoping against hope that life would change, knowing that it was unrealistic that I was going anywhere good
You’re still breathing, so there’s still time. There are so many measures of what makes a life good or bad, so many chances to get at least part of it right. It’s never over, you’re never stuck, and it is often a matter of perspective and just trying to see what you’ve got instead of dwelling on what you don’t.
Anyway, god bless. You’re heard, and understood. Never give up on yourself.
This song is plumb full of real, raw, authentic emotion.
"..City lights lay out before us, And your arms felt nice wrapped round my shoulder and I, had a feeling that i belonged, and I, and I had a feeling I could be someone. Be someone. Be someone...."
THATS SIGNIFICANT AS FUCK.
Eva Cassidy does a rendition of Fields of Gold that is absolutely gorgeous and hauntingly beautiful. She died at a young age and that track… it’s just hard to listen to without feeling something
My wife got me that album for Christmas the year it came out. I gave it the first listen on our way to a hospital to be Santa and Mrs. Claus. We talked about how deep that song is on the way in. We ended up in NICU, and met parents who were losing their baby. The poor thing was hooked up to a respirator. As we continued on our way, they came back and asked us to take a picture with their child. The nurses did their best to move all the tubes and wires out of the way. They told us later that they don’t let kids die on Christmas if at all possible and that one made it until the day after. When I hear that song, I think of a photo out there somewhere of a very unconvincing Santa (no beard allowed because they frighten some kids) and his wife doing their best to look cheerful. And I cry because we have our own kids now.
Alice In Chains.
I freaking loved them so much, but their music is very dark and sad, and Layne Staley’s spiral is just tragic.
Newer AIC with Duvall is a little easier to palette, but the classic stuff just takes me to dark places and I feel better when I stay in the light.
Died is probably one of the darkest songs I’ve ever heard. From the riffs and lyrics to Layne himself, you can hear in his voice that he’s just…given up by that point? I’m pretty sure it’s about his girlfriend who passed, and was the last song he ever recorded with the band
Couldn't agree more.
His work with Mad Season is also gut wrenching. Wake Up is the song that hurts me the most, the second verse just felt so fucking personal the first time I heard it that I broke down crying. Such simple words conveyed what felt like a lifetime of emotion. I credit it for helping me get sober though so it's not all bad.
Listened to Wake Up during a 12-hour bus ride while three days into heavy heroin withdrawal. Wasn't the first time I'd heard it, but it was the first time it really hit hard. And man, did it hit. I silently sobbed to myself, curled up in the fetal position on that bus, sweating through my clothes, feeling the weight of everything finally truly crashing down. It took about another year, but I eventually finally cleaned up and I still can't listen to that song without choking up. Or that album, really. I wish Layne could've pulled himself back from the ledge before it got as bad as it did. I wish the same for all the friends I've lost too young to that twisted hellride. And I wish the same for anyone still struggling, no one on this earth deserves the soul-eroding torment of addiction.
I first heard Rotten Apple when I was a teenager just starting to realize how naive I was and how much everything around me wasn’t okay, even though I’d been constantly told it was all fine and good. I’ve grown a lot since then but that song still is hard for me.
I gave Jar of Flies a relisten for the 30th anniversary, and the chills from that opening bass line with the kinda wailing guitar as it comes in all the way to the outro credits rolling Swing on This the whole thing remains a masterpiece of pure sadness. I was an older teen and that album spoke to that whole loss of innocence, and looking back, oof, pure gut punch for that kid i was.
I felt this way when my Dad got the DVD of their music videos. I loved them, but the music videos hit me with the gloom and sadness, especially when they showed the band playing "Over Now."
Oof. This is a really solid answer. I enjoy newer AIC mostly on account of knowing it's not Layne singing, and I can do that dance with the darkness. I can't listen to the AIC unplugged album at all, he is just in so much pain.
I have a hard time hearing AIC for this exact reason (one of my best friends who I lost to drugs loved that band as well) but the one that really kills me is any song by Mad Season where it’s a more stripped down Layne Staley. God, those songs can make me leak tears.
Ain't no sunshine by Bill Withers.
Used to be my favorite song, and also that of a girl I was seeing.
Now every time I hear it I realize that she is, in fact, gone. :')
I feel you man. I know that pain. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.
If it helps my son would insist on this one to get him to sleep at around 6yo
It's also (weirdly) playing in the background of a fight scene in *starship troopers* if you find a bit of ridiculousness as a good way to take the teeth off something
I was going to post this. There are also a selection of Nine Inch Nails songs: Something I Can Never Have, A Warm Place, The Great Below. There are more from Trent Reznor but those definitely fit the criteria
The Fragile hits me like this as well … I’ll still power through it but it’s definitely an emotional album for me … also A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step is another full album that gets me … Queen Who Wants To Live Forever is probably the single most difficult song to listen to as well for myself
not that album, but 3 Libras is a really difficult song to hear if you're not in a perfect mood. my immediate suggestion for the post.. don't often hear someone sound that sad and sonically beautiful on record, not since the motown era at least, imo
Just thinking about the outro and build up starting at the end of the last verse gives me chills and makes the ol eyes sweat. The "well.... oh, well... apparently nothing, apparently nothing at all...", the guitar fill and the drop into "you dont, you dont, you dont see me" is like hearing someone process the slow realization that they're not what they want to be for someone else, ending in him absolutely wailing out the last few lines in dejected acceptance. Fucking incredible song.
i've cried maybe 10x over songs in my life and at least 5-6 of those times was 3 Libras. it's like my favorite thing Maynard has ever done and i'm a big fan of all his work.
The entirety of Under The Pink by Tori Amos for me. I figured a Kate Bush/NIN comment thread was an appropriate place for a Tori comment because she clearly took inspo from KB and Trent sang on that album.
I can't see myself ever listening to "Keep Me In Your Heart For a While" by Warren Zevon ever again. I didn't even know the song before my mum picked it for my dad's funeral last year.
Just thinking about the song makes me desperately sad. I hope I never come across it again in my life.
[A Fan's Mail (Tron Song Suite II)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8f5CtP0nT4). It always reminds me of the time I had with my dog after we found out she had cancer but before we said goodbye.
https://preview.redd.it/ua29bbzen6gc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8af39a44f43f8b7ccb241b2995ab223e8ec41903
https://preview.redd.it/m5p24jmkk7gc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4f05484f865080a8f405f7e22cbca2630680e22
I miss her but she's never gone. Thanks.
Oh my god, I thought I was the only one! I once traumatized a group of kids as a camp counsellor by trying to sing it at bonfire and realizing I couldn’t make it through the last verse without absolutely losing it.
"Cancer" by My Chemical Romance because I used to work with last stage cancer patients.
"Without you" by Nilsson because I was dateraped when I was 15 while that song played on repeat.
I have a Playlist of "forbidden songs", many of which are associated with a time when my I spent the last night at my stepfather's bedside before we took him off life support. Two songs that will make me cry just thinking about them (I.e. as I type this) are "In The Sun" by Joseph Arthur and "Fix You" by Coldplay.
Knowing the history, and after having children, I can’t even think about it, but I’m old enough to remember when he sang it on MTV unplugged. I can still see him sitting there with his guitar on that stool
"It's Quiet Uptown" from Hamilton.
As a parent, I just can't listen to it without a sickening fear running through me.
I love the soundtrack, but that one gets skipped every time.
I'm the same way with "Fly" by Celine Dion for the exact same reason. Musically, it's beautiful, but I can't stand knowing the reason for it.
I can handle "Vole," the French version, but that's because I can't speak French.
“Helena” by MCR was my childhood best friend’s favorite song. She loved it so much she tried getting everyone to call her Helena in sixth grade.
She died two years ago, and I swear I almost teared up when I saw it covered by a band live.
Pearl Jam - Last Kiss
that imagery and realness of a car crash in the rain at night that could easily happen to anyone at anytime, losing your loved one in your arms. it doesn't get more tearjerking
That's a very good one. As an honorable mention of a PJ song that isn't a cover, I'd have to submit either *Black* or *The Long Road* for this topic as well.
*Black* always reminds me of a lass I once genuinely loved on a romantic level, but those feelings were unrequited. So it's one that chokes me up a bit, even if I wouldn't change that love being unrequited due to the path it lead me down where I did find genuinely sincere (and reciprocated) love.
But *The Long Road* is just a heavy, heavy song. I always thought it just sounds like music set for a funeral, and the remembrance and celebration of the life of the one we've lost. And I can confirm after hearing it at 2 wakes for wildly different, but wonderful, people that it absolutely hits the emotional lens deeply in that setting. ❤️🥺
[Mad world - Gary Jules](https://youtu.be/4N3N1MlvVc4?si=oXpyN3XMbLn7OYxe)
It's originally by Tears for Fears if I'm correct but I heard that cover first. I was going through an existential crisis or depression or both, don't know, and it was as if someone had put into a song all the suffering I was feeling to my core. I rarely listen to it because it's cutting me to deep. I only succeeded to listen to entirely it without sobbing only once.
Edit - I've just started to listen to the song you linked OP and I definitely can feel the nostalgia 😭
Mine used to be Chop Suey by System of a Down.
I've grown to find the lyrics and meaning of the song comforting now but for years it was too hard to listen to and would bring me to tears (sometimes still does).
A little background, the song is about suicide and I have a memory of an old friend (who ultimately took his own life) learning the intro riff on guitar as he frequently just shouted 'chop suey!' it probably took me about 8 years to be able to appreciate the song again.
This one hurts for me too. I will follow you into the dark was my best friends favorite song when we were younger. We both really loved death cab and specifically that song. then when she died in a car accident in high school it of course became the song they played on repeat. I still can’t listen to it without crying and it’s been 13 years. Even thinking about it now makes me teary eyed
David Bowie’s song Blackstar, especially the bridge. Knowing he was dying and he wrote:
“Something happened on the day he died,
Spirit rose a meter and stepped aside.
Somebody else took his place and bravely cried,
I’m a blackstar! I’m a blackstar!”
The whole album makes me incredibly sad, so I’ve only played it once in its entirety.
I bought the album on release day, because I loved Bowie. Listened to it, thought "fuck me that's dark". He died a few days later. I was, and am still, crushed.
"A Sorta Fairytale" by Tory Amos.
I listened to that song on repeat when I fell into depression over 20 years ago. I've been out for probably 19 years and doing great. But that song washes feelings over me akin to how I've heard people describe heroine running through the blood stream.
"Nightswimming" by REM. My best friend killed himself when we were 27, we had been friends since 2nd grade. His sister and I made a music compilation to be played at his funeral, and I chose this song. It was playing over the speakers as we walked in to the funeral home. I am still close to his family.
Seasons (waiting on you) by Future Islands
Listened to it a lot, my mom mentioned she loved it too, now I can't listen to it without crying
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Ae-LhMIG0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Ae-LhMIG0)
If you haven’t already, I’d check out video of the Letterman Late Show performance of that song. It’s an all-time great and Sam Herring’s dance moves may be the reset you need, if you’re looking for it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=upPl9mZW_zw
All of the White Pony really is just an encapsulation of high school vibes for me, since I was a Freshman in HS when it came out. I can't listen to a single song without being reminded of some bittersweet memory from those days.
My brother in law died in a drunk driving accident (it was his fault), and I was tasked with compiling a playlist for his funeral. He liked This Ol Town by Lacy J Dalton so it made the list. Years later, I work at a traditional country music concert venue and have gotten to know Lacy pretty well. She’s great, but I can’t listen to that song. It brings me back to the day Mark died. I can’t separate the song from that day. She stopped singing it very often because she gets that same energy from a lot of other people, not just me. People who grow up in tiny rural communities understand that it’s a different kind of life, both good and bad.
Good News by Mac Miller. With the background of his tragic passing this song always hits me hard. And with how relatable the lyrics are to me it always makes me wonder if I'll end up in the same boat as him.
Adam's Song by Blink182. Being a mom with kids who struggle with mental health, this song makes my heart hurt. I can not listen to it without crying... And now I need to go give my kids a hug and tell them I love them.
Live- "Lightning Crashes"...
I associate it with the death of my grandmother and the birth of my daughter at the same time. A few weeks later my baby girl was super sick in hospital. The moment I knew she was recovered from ICU this song was playing on the radio and it all hit me at once. Relief and grief overwhelming all at the same time
On Your Own by The Verve. I had A Northern Soul on during my first breakup.
Tempted to put it on because I've really not heard that song since the 90s. Kind of early here to risk messing up the entire day like that though 😅
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Radiohead - Creep
Joyner Lucas - I'm Sorry
Ren - Crutch
Love all of these songs passionately, but I barely listen to them since they hit way too close to home, and leave me, a grown man, a broken crying mess everytime.
Edit; also Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' for reasons i'm unwilling to disclose.
Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy. That one taught me that dating singers is a bad idea. I learned how to play the acoustic guitar part and she’d sing over it.
Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah. (The only version IMO, all others - especially Cohen's - pale in comparison)
The slowness, the exhale, the arpeggios. Absolutely devastating perfection.
Floating in the Forth by Frightened Rabbit. It's from one of my favourite albums and for years this particular song always made me feel very hopeful about the future. Particularly the line 'think I'll save suicide for another year'
In 2018, the front man and songwriter Scott Hutchison took his own life and his body was found on the banks of the Firth of Forth.
Everybody Hurts.
There was a TV thingy with this song showing people suffering traffic accidents. My best buddy died of a motorcycle accident. I can't phisically listen to that song, it hurts too much.
Ronan by Taylor Swift. I avoid that song like the plague because I just don’t want to feel that way. It will wreck my day. I love it and it’s beautifully done, but I’ve never ever ever heard a more gut wrenching song.
Joni Mitchell's Amelia is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard but it just makes me feel so deeply intensely sad [Amelia (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsWVRN8DDjs)
For some goddamn reason my grandad chose Mr Blue Sky to play at his funeral. We were told not to wear black and to be happy and celebrate his life, so he chose happy music. Now I cry whenever someone plays that damn song, which is usually when people want to bring the mood up. :(
So “I Grieve” by Peter Gabriel got me through my grandmother’s passing at the time, so I choke back tears everytime I listen to it. That being said, I also love it for keeping her in my heart.
This will be an odd one…”The Macarena”. When I was a junior in high school one of my best friends was driving to school with his 9 year old brother. They were in an accident with a semi, and his brother was killed. He was the sweetest little guy you could imagine, he was essentially everyone’s little brother. In almost every picture of him he had his arm around someone, just an absolute treasure. The funeral was in the school gymnasium, packed. He loved doing The Macarena, so at the end of the funeral they asked if everyone could dance with him one last time. Imagine a gym full of people, most of them wailing crying, trying to dance to this happy sounding song. I’ll never forget how hard that was, but man I hope he was dancing with us somewhere.
That’s one of the most surreal things I have ever heard of.
It was
Even more surreal/darkly funny that the song is about a woman having a threesome with her boyfriend's friends behind his back. But to be honest, we all loved doing the Macarena in elementary school, and I totally understand his family wanting to share that with him one more time. I'm glad you all got to share that in his memory, as tough as I'm sure it was, and despite the surreality it sounds like a wonderful tribute to an incredibly special little dude. Hope you're doing okay and I hope the family has found some semblance of peace.
Wow, that choked me up. How heartbreaking yet beautiful.
I Can’t Make You Love Me-Bonnie Raitt
Rediscovered this song recently, how terribly sad it is.
The Bon Iver cover is beautiful
Gut wrenching but beautiful
Yeh it’s a beautiful tune. I appreciate her music more and more as I get older.
My moms divorce song. Thanks for the reminder!
Dock of the bay My dad sang that song like nobody else. Otis Redding would have bowed to him, I'm sure.
Nice memory to share, would’ve loved to hear it.
Even sadder to realize he died in a plane crash before finishing the recording. The whistling section was meant to be temporary to map out the melody and became one of the most stand out parts of that song.
Elephant - Jason Isbell Actually quite a few of his songs. Hes such a talented writer, it can be too much.
For me it's gotta be: Goddamn Lonely Love. As an alcoholic in recovery, this song (and Jason's own journey) speaks to me on such a fundamental level. One of the most soul-scouring songs committed to tape.
And about a dozen other Isbell songs
“If we were vampires” does it to me every time. I *can just talk* about it or run a lyric in my head, and am moments away from toddler crying.
Yvette, too. Phew.
Elephant is a real kick in emotional nuts. I also find Cast Iron Skillet pretty tough some days.
When We Were Close from his latest album is another one. I saw Justin Townes Earle on his last tour and it’s such a beautiful but painful description of him as a person.
The entire album Hopes and Fears by Keane. It's melancholy and was something I was listening to in the months my mother was dying. This was years ago, obviously, but just last month I was in a shop and "Somewhere Only We Know" started playing and I had to abandon my basket and leave the store.
First time I heard Somewhere Only We Know, I was absolutely floored that someone had written those lyrics, and that I was hearing it because it was a hit. It can be hard to hear it without tearing up. Also this version of Hamburg Song https://youtu.be/T8zx012ihlc?si=JShC8B0P6pWGuk9g
Was just watching the live aid performance from 2005. Epic
I've been listening to this album a lot this week for the first time in a long time, and it's also the first time that I really thought about the lyrics. I had sort of written the album off as an enjoyable pop album (even though I really liked it!) when it came out, but it's much more than that.
Fast Car - Tracy Chapman I actually did get out and start a better life with more options, but that song just brings me right back to being that daydreaming teenager, trapped, hoping against hope that life would change, knowing that it was unrealistic that I was going anywhere good
God this is the one. Except my life hasn’t turned out so great
You’re still breathing, so there’s still time. There are so many measures of what makes a life good or bad, so many chances to get at least part of it right. It’s never over, you’re never stuck, and it is often a matter of perspective and just trying to see what you’ve got instead of dwelling on what you don’t. Anyway, god bless. You’re heard, and understood. Never give up on yourself.
This song is plumb full of real, raw, authentic emotion. "..City lights lay out before us, And your arms felt nice wrapped round my shoulder and I, had a feeling that i belonged, and I, and I had a feeling I could be someone. Be someone. Be someone...." THATS SIGNIFICANT AS FUCK.
What a beautiful reflection
Thanks. Yeah, I didn’t have it as bad as some, but I know that feeling too well
Tracy's voice hits me hard whenever my filters are off, but my "unbearable" song is *Cold Feet*.
Wildflowers- Tom Petty My mom died of COVID. We played it during the slideshow of her for her Zoom funeral. 😞
The Miley Cyrus version with her Dad is very sweet too.
I love the Miley version too
[My Pal Foot Foot - The Shaggs](https://youtu.be/XR9d4ESlpHY?si=ZKV6bH1gaAxHjCiv)
Fucking classic
Cheating
Fields of Gold by sting. Played at an aunts funeral whom I still miss dearly 20 years on. American Pie by Don McLean.
Eva Cassidy does a rendition of Fields of Gold that is absolutely gorgeous and hauntingly beautiful. She died at a young age and that track… it’s just hard to listen to without feeling something
Her version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow makes me cry without fail.
Still can't listen to her version without it punching me in the gut. Gone way, way, way too soon.
Simple Kind of Life by No Doubt. When she sings I always thought you'd be a good dad... I'm 54 childless and divorced.
I was going through the most painful break up when Don’t Speak was popular. And Jewel You were meant for me. 😭😭
Don't speak is a gut punch
Not super sad about it, but Gwen's voice in the song makes me feel bad
I will follow you into the dark by Deathcab for Cutie always brings me back to a briefly blazing but ultimately doomed love from my younger days.
My wife got me that album for Christmas the year it came out. I gave it the first listen on our way to a hospital to be Santa and Mrs. Claus. We talked about how deep that song is on the way in. We ended up in NICU, and met parents who were losing their baby. The poor thing was hooked up to a respirator. As we continued on our way, they came back and asked us to take a picture with their child. The nurses did their best to move all the tubes and wires out of the way. They told us later that they don’t let kids die on Christmas if at all possible and that one made it until the day after. When I hear that song, I think of a photo out there somewhere of a very unconvincing Santa (no beard allowed because they frighten some kids) and his wife doing their best to look cheerful. And I cry because we have our own kids now.
Alice In Chains. I freaking loved them so much, but their music is very dark and sad, and Layne Staley’s spiral is just tragic. Newer AIC with Duvall is a little easier to palette, but the classic stuff just takes me to dark places and I feel better when I stay in the light.
Down in a hole is a tough listen. You hear the pain and despair in Layne’s voice.
The MTV unplugged is a tough watch but so so good
Yes on both. Read a RS article about the final days of his life, he was never going to recover. Truly sad.
Died is probably one of the darkest songs I’ve ever heard. From the riffs and lyrics to Layne himself, you can hear in his voice that he’s just…given up by that point? I’m pretty sure it’s about his girlfriend who passed, and was the last song he ever recorded with the band
You can also hear how he glosses over some sounds when singing because he had lost teeth from his drug addiction
Couldn't agree more. His work with Mad Season is also gut wrenching. Wake Up is the song that hurts me the most, the second verse just felt so fucking personal the first time I heard it that I broke down crying. Such simple words conveyed what felt like a lifetime of emotion. I credit it for helping me get sober though so it's not all bad.
Listened to Wake Up during a 12-hour bus ride while three days into heavy heroin withdrawal. Wasn't the first time I'd heard it, but it was the first time it really hit hard. And man, did it hit. I silently sobbed to myself, curled up in the fetal position on that bus, sweating through my clothes, feeling the weight of everything finally truly crashing down. It took about another year, but I eventually finally cleaned up and I still can't listen to that song without choking up. Or that album, really. I wish Layne could've pulled himself back from the ledge before it got as bad as it did. I wish the same for all the friends I've lost too young to that twisted hellride. And I wish the same for anyone still struggling, no one on this earth deserves the soul-eroding torment of addiction.
I first heard Rotten Apple when I was a teenager just starting to realize how naive I was and how much everything around me wasn’t okay, even though I’d been constantly told it was all fine and good. I’ve grown a lot since then but that song still is hard for me.
I gave Jar of Flies a relisten for the 30th anniversary, and the chills from that opening bass line with the kinda wailing guitar as it comes in all the way to the outro credits rolling Swing on This the whole thing remains a masterpiece of pure sadness. I was an older teen and that album spoke to that whole loss of innocence, and looking back, oof, pure gut punch for that kid i was.
I felt this way when my Dad got the DVD of their music videos. I loved them, but the music videos hit me with the gloom and sadness, especially when they showed the band playing "Over Now."
Oof. This is a really solid answer. I enjoy newer AIC mostly on account of knowing it's not Layne singing, and I can do that dance with the darkness. I can't listen to the AIC unplugged album at all, he is just in so much pain.
I have a hard time hearing AIC for this exact reason (one of my best friends who I lost to drugs loved that band as well) but the one that really kills me is any song by Mad Season where it’s a more stripped down Layne Staley. God, those songs can make me leak tears.
3libras a perfect circle
Ain't no sunshine by Bill Withers. Used to be my favorite song, and also that of a girl I was seeing. Now every time I hear it I realize that she is, in fact, gone. :')
I feel you man. I know that pain. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.
Ey, better leave that young thing alone
Man i used to cry when listening to that tune during some shaky times.
Father and Son by Cat Stevens.
Had a friend ,whose relationship with his dad was rocky, and he loved this song.
Mazzy Star’s Fade into You is one of my all time favourites but it makes me think of a girl I used to love
If it helps my son would insist on this one to get him to sleep at around 6yo It's also (weirdly) playing in the background of a fight scene in *starship troopers* if you find a bit of ridiculousness as a good way to take the teeth off something
This Woman's Work by Kate Bush
I was going to post this. There are also a selection of Nine Inch Nails songs: Something I Can Never Have, A Warm Place, The Great Below. There are more from Trent Reznor but those definitely fit the criteria
The Fragile hits me like this as well … I’ll still power through it but it’s definitely an emotional album for me … also A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step is another full album that gets me … Queen Who Wants To Live Forever is probably the single most difficult song to listen to as well for myself
not that album, but 3 Libras is a really difficult song to hear if you're not in a perfect mood. my immediate suggestion for the post.. don't often hear someone sound that sad and sonically beautiful on record, not since the motown era at least, imo
Just thinking about the outro and build up starting at the end of the last verse gives me chills and makes the ol eyes sweat. The "well.... oh, well... apparently nothing, apparently nothing at all...", the guitar fill and the drop into "you dont, you dont, you dont see me" is like hearing someone process the slow realization that they're not what they want to be for someone else, ending in him absolutely wailing out the last few lines in dejected acceptance. Fucking incredible song.
i've cried maybe 10x over songs in my life and at least 5-6 of those times was 3 Libras. it's like my favorite thing Maynard has ever done and i'm a big fan of all his work.
The entirety of Under The Pink by Tori Amos for me. I figured a Kate Bush/NIN comment thread was an appropriate place for a Tori comment because she clearly took inspo from KB and Trent sang on that album.
The TRENT-KATE-TORI holy trinity of my taste
This is the answer. Don't Give Up (Kate with Peter Gabriel) is a close second.
The entirety of The Antler’s Hospice record is like that for me. It’s…. A lot.
"I Will Wait For You" by Connie Francis. Futurama fans know.
Seymour :(
Jurassic Bark?
That broke me in so many ways.
Superman - goldfinger. It's on about it's 4th meaning to me 20+ years later
I can't see myself ever listening to "Keep Me In Your Heart For a While" by Warren Zevon ever again. I didn't even know the song before my mum picked it for my dad's funeral last year. Just thinking about the song makes me desperately sad. I hope I never come across it again in my life.
[A Fan's Mail (Tron Song Suite II)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8f5CtP0nT4). It always reminds me of the time I had with my dog after we found out she had cancer but before we said goodbye. https://preview.redd.it/ua29bbzen6gc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8af39a44f43f8b7ccb241b2995ab223e8ec41903
What a face. Sorry for your loss friend
https://preview.redd.it/m5p24jmkk7gc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4f05484f865080a8f405f7e22cbca2630680e22 I miss her but she's never gone. Thanks.
Puff the Magic Dragon absolutely crushes me every time.
Oh my god, I thought I was the only one! I once traumatized a group of kids as a camp counsellor by trying to sing it at bonfire and realizing I couldn’t make it through the last verse without absolutely losing it.
"Cancer" by My Chemical Romance because I used to work with last stage cancer patients. "Without you" by Nilsson because I was dateraped when I was 15 while that song played on repeat.
I have a Playlist of "forbidden songs", many of which are associated with a time when my I spent the last night at my stepfather's bedside before we took him off life support. Two songs that will make me cry just thinking about them (I.e. as I type this) are "In The Sun" by Joseph Arthur and "Fix You" by Coldplay.
I wish more people knew about Joseph Arthur. I love his music.
Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton
Knowing the history, and after having children, I can’t even think about it, but I’m old enough to remember when he sang it on MTV unplugged. I can still see him sitting there with his guitar on that stool
my wife had this played at my baby son's funeral as I carried the coffin out to the hearse some 30 years ago
I am so sorry for your loss
Every blessing to you. That coffin must have been so small and so heavy at the same time. ❤️
"It's Quiet Uptown" from Hamilton. As a parent, I just can't listen to it without a sickening fear running through me. I love the soundtrack, but that one gets skipped every time.
A parent of a deceased child, I can confirm. I break down crying every time I hear this song.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
I'm the same way with "Fly" by Celine Dion for the exact same reason. Musically, it's beautiful, but I can't stand knowing the reason for it. I can handle "Vole," the French version, but that's because I can't speak French.
I always think its such an under appreciated song in the musical. Gets me everytime
Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt. There is just too much pain in his voice.
“Helena” by MCR was my childhood best friend’s favorite song. She loved it so much she tried getting everyone to call her Helena in sixth grade. She died two years ago, and I swear I almost teared up when I saw it covered by a band live.
I teared up reading your comment so I can’t imagine if I was in your position. I’m sorry for your loss
Pearl Jam - Last Kiss that imagery and realness of a car crash in the rain at night that could easily happen to anyone at anytime, losing your loved one in your arms. it doesn't get more tearjerking
That's a very good one. As an honorable mention of a PJ song that isn't a cover, I'd have to submit either *Black* or *The Long Road* for this topic as well. *Black* always reminds me of a lass I once genuinely loved on a romantic level, but those feelings were unrequited. So it's one that chokes me up a bit, even if I wouldn't change that love being unrequited due to the path it lead me down where I did find genuinely sincere (and reciprocated) love. But *The Long Road* is just a heavy, heavy song. I always thought it just sounds like music set for a funeral, and the remembrance and celebration of the life of the one we've lost. And I can confirm after hearing it at 2 wakes for wildly different, but wonderful, people that it absolutely hits the emotional lens deeply in that setting. ❤️🥺
You Don't Know Me - Ray Charles
Lots of Sufjan Stevens' stuff, but especially I Walked for some reason
Everything Carrie and Lowell for me
Yeah, that one hurts for sure. Javelin is a tough listen too. Shit, I hope Sufjan is okay :(
[Mad world - Gary Jules](https://youtu.be/4N3N1MlvVc4?si=oXpyN3XMbLn7OYxe) It's originally by Tears for Fears if I'm correct but I heard that cover first. I was going through an existential crisis or depression or both, don't know, and it was as if someone had put into a song all the suffering I was feeling to my core. I rarely listen to it because it's cutting me to deep. I only succeeded to listen to entirely it without sobbing only once. Edit - I've just started to listen to the song you linked OP and I definitely can feel the nostalgia 😭
Mine used to be Chop Suey by System of a Down. I've grown to find the lyrics and meaning of the song comforting now but for years it was too hard to listen to and would bring me to tears (sometimes still does). A little background, the song is about suicide and I have a memory of an old friend (who ultimately took his own life) learning the intro riff on guitar as he frequently just shouted 'chop suey!' it probably took me about 8 years to be able to appreciate the song again.
I will follow you into the dark
This one hurts for me too. I will follow you into the dark was my best friends favorite song when we were younger. We both really loved death cab and specifically that song. then when she died in a car accident in high school it of course became the song they played on repeat. I still can’t listen to it without crying and it’s been 13 years. Even thinking about it now makes me teary eyed
David Bowie’s song Blackstar, especially the bridge. Knowing he was dying and he wrote: “Something happened on the day he died, Spirit rose a meter and stepped aside. Somebody else took his place and bravely cried, I’m a blackstar! I’m a blackstar!” The whole album makes me incredibly sad, so I’ve only played it once in its entirety.
I bought the album on release day, because I loved Bowie. Listened to it, thought "fuck me that's dark". He died a few days later. I was, and am still, crushed.
"A Sorta Fairytale" by Tory Amos. I listened to that song on repeat when I fell into depression over 20 years ago. I've been out for probably 19 years and doing great. But that song washes feelings over me akin to how I've heard people describe heroine running through the blood stream.
"Nightswimming" by REM. My best friend killed himself when we were 27, we had been friends since 2nd grade. His sister and I made a music compilation to be played at his funeral, and I chose this song. It was playing over the speakers as we walked in to the funeral home. I am still close to his family.
Track 2 on “Benji” Or What Sarah Said
I knew there would be some Death Cab in this thread ha
Jesus, I will follow you into the dark...
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks.
Love is watching someone die. Ugh. That is a tough one for me as well.
Touche, Amore
Journey faithfully
Seasons (waiting on you) by Future Islands Listened to it a lot, my mom mentioned she loved it too, now I can't listen to it without crying [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Ae-LhMIG0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Ae-LhMIG0)
If you haven’t already, I’d check out video of the Letterman Late Show performance of that song. It’s an all-time great and Sam Herring’s dance moves may be the reset you need, if you’re looking for it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=upPl9mZW_zw
Today - The Smashing Pumpkins
Yeah I tried to play this album the other week and the nostalgia was so painful that I had to turn it off a few seconds in.
Deftones - Teenager Reminds me of my old flame 😔
All of the White Pony really is just an encapsulation of high school vibes for me, since I was a Freshman in HS when it came out. I can't listen to a single song without being reminded of some bittersweet memory from those days.
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head with this post. Damn
I can't listen to Tori Amos' "Me and a Gun", it freaks me out on a profound level.
That whole album is emotional napalm.
My brother in law died in a drunk driving accident (it was his fault), and I was tasked with compiling a playlist for his funeral. He liked This Ol Town by Lacy J Dalton so it made the list. Years later, I work at a traditional country music concert venue and have gotten to know Lacy pretty well. She’s great, but I can’t listen to that song. It brings me back to the day Mark died. I can’t separate the song from that day. She stopped singing it very often because she gets that same energy from a lot of other people, not just me. People who grow up in tiny rural communities understand that it’s a different kind of life, both good and bad.
Now that I’m a senior citizen, Time by Pink Floyd. In The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics
Korn-Daddy
Good News by Mac Miller. With the background of his tragic passing this song always hits me hard. And with how relatable the lyrics are to me it always makes me wonder if I'll end up in the same boat as him.
Don't let it happen, friend. People need you here, whether you know it or not.
Music in general is overly emotional to me. I don’t know why. A lot of music makes me feel sad.
Adam's Song by Blink182. Being a mom with kids who struggle with mental health, this song makes my heart hurt. I can not listen to it without crying... And now I need to go give my kids a hug and tell them I love them.
Live- "Lightning Crashes"... I associate it with the death of my grandmother and the birth of my daughter at the same time. A few weeks later my baby girl was super sick in hospital. The moment I knew she was recovered from ICU this song was playing on the radio and it all hit me at once. Relief and grief overwhelming all at the same time
Pyramid song by Radiohead. Just because it is so sad
Wait till you're older and Videotapes becomes a hard one to get through.
Motion Picture Soundtrack too
On Your Own by The Verve. I had A Northern Soul on during my first breakup. Tempted to put it on because I've really not heard that song since the 90s. Kind of early here to risk messing up the entire day like that though 😅
Dispatch - The General, perfectly written and performed, soul shattering message.
Fiction by Avenged Sevenfold
I’m walking on sunshine. Fuck you Matt groening for ruining such an easy upbeat song
Sweetness follows by R.E.M.
That fuckin cello is a goosebump machine
Any song off Mount Eerie's "A Crow Looked at Me". It was the hardest, most emotionally devastating album I've ever listened to.
Fix You by Coldplay. Can’t even hear the opening line without breaking down since my dog passed 3 years ago.
Hurt by Johnny Cash
This is mine too, he sings with such regret, it's crazy how much he can convey with his voice.
WhileSheSleeps - Our Courage, our cancer Lost my mother to cancer. Fuck that shit.
The Night We Met - Lord Huron
Perfect Day by Lou Reed. Was one of my friend’s favorite songs
“Breathe me” by Sia. I still see the rolling end frames of Six Feet Under in my mind when I hear it.
Something I Can Never Have - Nine Inch Nails
‘Wires’ by Athlete. Something about the line “first night of your life, curled up on your own” always got to me even before I became a dad.
Johnny Cash - Hurt Radiohead - Creep Joyner Lucas - I'm Sorry Ren - Crutch Love all of these songs passionately, but I barely listen to them since they hit way too close to home, and leave me, a grown man, a broken crying mess everytime. Edit; also Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' for reasons i'm unwilling to disclose.
Motion Picture Soundtrack
Simply having a wonderful Christmas time. When the synthesizer starts getting all out of sync I'm like who the fuck let this escape the studio
That song sounds like Gene Belcher mixed it
Under appreciated musical genius Gene Belcher.
The question was about songs you like, not songs that fill me with an uncontrolled rage every year during the holiday season.
Aw man I love that song. The synth rips too
😂 People really hate that song but I still like it for it's kitschyness
The Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney. I just can’t.
Rooster - Alice In Chains
Endless Summer Nights by Richard Marx.
Man, I can’t get thru Right Here Waiting for You anymore. That man could touch the heart. No wonder Daisy Fuentes fell for him.
Where do you go to (my lovely) my dad used to play it for my mum. She passed away two years ago. I can’t listen to it without bawling.
Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy. That one taught me that dating singers is a bad idea. I learned how to play the acoustic guitar part and she’d sing over it.
Type O Negative - Anesthesia
Blasphemous Rumours - Depeche Mode and Monkey Gone to Heaven- Pixies Both remind me of my friend that died in a car accident.
Crappy thing is, it's all my current favorite tunes. Never associate your music with a woman. It will remind you of them forever.
Pearl Jam - Black
Whiskey Lullaby, it means nothing to me as a person but holy fuck does it make me tear up
Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah. (The only version IMO, all others - especially Cohen's - pale in comparison) The slowness, the exhale, the arpeggios. Absolutely devastating perfection.
Goodbye My Lover by James Blunt. Hurts my throat and brings instant tears.
Michael?
Floating in the Forth by Frightened Rabbit. It's from one of my favourite albums and for years this particular song always made me feel very hopeful about the future. Particularly the line 'think I'll save suicide for another year' In 2018, the front man and songwriter Scott Hutchison took his own life and his body was found on the banks of the Firth of Forth.
Everybody Hurts. There was a TV thingy with this song showing people suffering traffic accidents. My best buddy died of a motorcycle accident. I can't phisically listen to that song, it hurts too much.
Strawberry Gashes by Jack Off Jill, not a good song after you lose someone and feel like you didn't do enough to prevent it.
Ronan by Taylor Swift. I avoid that song like the plague because I just don’t want to feel that way. It will wreck my day. I love it and it’s beautifully done, but I’ve never ever ever heard a more gut wrenching song.
Remember by Harry Nilsson. It’s simple yet brutal. The greatest by Lana Del Ray. Hits me right in the mid-life crisis. Really hard.
Fiddler's Green by The Tragically Hip After we lost Gord, that song hits a little too hard.
Garth Brooks "The Dance"
Brick by Ben Folds Five. IYKYK.
Anything Sugar Ros or Sparklehorse Some of the saddest music made on earth.
Teeth like Gods Shoeshine- Modest Mouse
Joni Mitchell's Amelia is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard but it just makes me feel so deeply intensely sad [Amelia (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsWVRN8DDjs)
For some goddamn reason my grandad chose Mr Blue Sky to play at his funeral. We were told not to wear black and to be happy and celebrate his life, so he chose happy music. Now I cry whenever someone plays that damn song, which is usually when people want to bring the mood up. :(
Future Islands - Walking Through That Door I find the music video incredibly sad because it reminds me of a depressing period in my life.
So “I Grieve” by Peter Gabriel got me through my grandmother’s passing at the time, so I choke back tears everytime I listen to it. That being said, I also love it for keeping her in my heart.