Music that moves you to tears

For me , It’s not the actual music per se, but the connection to other things and reminder of those things or people, or the meaning of the song as it relates to a person or memory in my life .

For me they are usually songs that remind me of my guitarist brother who passed in 2001at the age of 37 when I was 33 and it would be many years before I could bring myself to play again. Some that bring an occasional tear all these years later are

Allman Bros. Nobody left to run with.
SRV. Life by the drop .
Sevendust Angels son.

Of course there are thousands more that remind me of him , and just music in general as we would play and perform so many from our early teens to the day he passed but the three above can never be turned off once they come on in shuffle or anyplace else I heard them for that matter . But that’s an emotional connection of music to a person . As far as a type of music itself alone moving me to tears. Only thing that comes close might be some blues and ..... opera . I’m not even really a fan of it ( opera) but some of it stirs something unexplainable within , and I never know til I hear it . It’s weird too because I never purposely listen to it or am necessarily a fan of it , but some of it ( not even sure which or what ) gets me right in the feels . Other than that it’s music that reminds me of people or eras or occasions in my life . But not just the music all on its own .
 
When I was going through a real rough patch in life, the band Evans Blue was 90% of my listening. I basically had their first 4 albums on repeat indefinitely. Lyrically, their songs could be considered emo, but a bit more poetic, and the only "emo" music I enjoyed. It tied in with the self loathing and depression from blaming myself for a failing long running relationship. I had also lost my job driving me further down, and ended up living in my car for a while.

I spent a lot of time drinking and skating through town, blasting their music in my headphones, weaving through traffic. I didn't care if I got hit, because maybe it would distract me.

That did ultimately come to pass as I came to realize I was blinded by my feelings. I learned how toxic that relationship was. In fact I'm still surprised I didn't realize it when we would fight over my passion for music, and how it was wrong of me to take even one day a week to jam.

Now I am happily married to a wonderful woman, and we both actively support eachother in our passions. But when I listen Evans Blue, I still get a tear or two in my eyes. Not because of how I felt back then, but because of how my life could have turned out if I continued on a downward spiral. In some way, their music did help me hold on.

It's hard to make me shed even a single tear, but when you tie powerful emotions to music it can still get to you. Especially if the lyrics relate in any way to how you felt.
 
The Tragically Hip - Fiddlers Green

If you look up the meaning of the lyrics, you'll see that this is a really tragic story. I fight back tears every time I hear it. Sometimes the song wins.....

 
Like larry, for me it's usually the vocal expresssion or the lyrics themselves.

Instrumental- I've heard some Mahler that was sublime also one specific performance of Sibelius that caused me to mist up.
 
For me its lyrical, but the situation depends. There are songs that I find sad lyrically, but if I'm in a good mood they don't bother me. But if I'm in a down mood, it could be anything. When my wife was in the nut house, I couldn't even listen to music. It seemed every song was pointed directly at me.
 
I was at a Rush concert just a few short years ago and they opened the show with "Limelight". I choked up the moment I heard the opening strains of that song. It was unreal.

We fans had almost "lost" the band a few times already and I was pretty sure that this was one of the last times I would ever see them again. With Neil's passing this year, that memory is more poignant than ever.
 
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I'm frustrated. I don't find that I'm moved like that, or to that extreme, but there was one that I choked up on (especially trying to sing along with it), and now that the discussion is upon me, I can't for the life of me remember what it is.
 
I'm frustrated. I don't find that I'm moved like that, or to that extreme, but there was one that I choked up on (especially trying to sing along with it), and now that the discussion is upon me, I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

After a couple hours of stewing about it... I think that in a particularly depressed mood, "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down gets me, especially when singing along. Perhaps that speaks more about me (and those moods), heh heh.
 
Did you ever listen to a song for years, never getting it, then something happens in your life and that same song's lyrics....NOW I get what they are saying.

Sometimes I get real emotional. I mean I can tear up during a tender moment in the Brady Bunch and I'm not exaggerating.

When Mufasa dies in the Lion King, I cannot hold it together lolo

Last night I was pretty much bawling over Art Garfunkels angelic voice.
 
Anything by Enya. I had a photo ordered of my best friend, killed in Vietnam, and while opening the package, Enya was playing and now that is just a huge reminder when I here her music.
The Doors do that to me. A good friend killed herself, she was a huge Doors fan, was even buried in a Doors t-shirt. As much as I love the Doors, I pretty much stopped listening that day. Very rarely can I do it.
 
These will soften me up from time to time:

February Stars/Miracle - Foo Fighters
True Love Ways - Buddy Holly
Someday Never Comes - CCR
Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
I May Never Get to Heaven - Conway Twitty

For the most part I tend to stay away from these but music has such an enigma that it draws one in.
 
right away, i think of:

Why Should I Cry For You - Sting. the whole album is about him losing his father, and there is one part where the combination of the lyrics and the music just come together to fully explain, at least to me, what he is feeling...it gets me every time. I think in the story, this is right after his father dies, or is when they find out that it is the final hours, and Sting is reflecting on how his dad had treated him

When I Fall - Barenaked Ladies - again, the music and lyrics fit perfectly together artistically to tell the story of a guy who is about ready to jump off a ledge, and he is deciding why he shouldn't..brilliant...I can't listen to this in public

Claire De Lune into Ballerina - Styx. especially when I was younger, the music alone gave me chills, and made me tear up...not so much b/c of sadness, but because of, again, how the music perfectly supported the up and down of the lyrical content

others will pop up, but for me, these are the big 3....

many, many old school Christmas carols and hyms make me cry to sometimes....again, beautiful, or historical significance

and Russian Christmas Music - Alfred Reed - does b/c it is so f-ing powerfull, and descriptive of the bleak cold winter, and how Christmas is a small spot of warmth
 
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