Have you ever ben moved to tears by a piece of music? (1 Viewer)

I know it sounds corny, but the performance of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack at last years Oscars moved me to tears. Generally I don't listen to deliberately melancholic or depressing music, but I absolutely love music that can draw out emotion like that. Anyone else ever moved to tears by music?

"Ariadne" by Lisa Gerrard/Dead Can Dance - used it at my wedding recently. Always get the emotions running. "Sanvean" by Lisa Gerrard is another good one. Paul, don't feel corny, thats what music is all about, to move people. I agree with you, that performance of CTHD was really special.

When I was at the U2 concert last year, my eyes started welling up at the end during "Walk On" because that song said everything that U2 fans wanted to hear with regard to the band's music (or lack of any good music in the last few years). The line "and I know it aches, and your heart it breaks, 'cause you can only take so much" seemed to be the breaking point for many in the audience.

Also, after a particularly bad girlfriend breakup a few years back, I couldn't listen to Springsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad" album for about three months. That album's themes of doomed love and desperation were too much.

Eleanor Rigby.

-JNS

There are quite a few Jimmy Buffett songs that are heart-felt. The guy is not just "Margaritaville"....

"He Went to Paris" - story of a young European traveller that falls in love, then has a son, only to lose both to the war. He escapes to solitary retirement in the Carribean. - "Some of it's magic and some of it's tragic, but I had a good life all the way."

"Death of an Unpopular Poet" - Based on a tombstone he ran across in a Key West Cemetary, the song is about a starving poet that passed away unknown. Upon his death, his writings are published by his brother and become world-famous. The poet's dog ends up "living old on steak and bacon, with a dog-house ten feet around". "And everybody wonders.. did he really lose his mind ? No, he was just a poet, who lived before his time."

"False Echoes" - Written for his father who has Alzheimers. A haunting duet with James Taylor.

"Captain and the Kid" - Written for his Grandfather who was a sailing ship captain in the late 1800's-early 1900's (and passed the tradition down wisely).

"He died about a month ago,

wild winter filled the air.

and though I cried, I was so proud,

to have loved a man so rare.

He's somewhere on the ocean now,

a place we ought to be.

With one hand on the starboard rail,

he's waving back at me"

"The world was just a day away

for the Captain and his kid"

These are the songs that made me realize early Buffett was a lot more than just "Margaritaville". I bought an acoustic gee-tar just to learn them, but can never play to an audience for the tears that well up... And my wife doesn't think I'm a sensitive guy !

marh h -
excellent call on dead can dance. their stuff is often very melancholy and usually affects (or is effects?) me...especially if i'm kind of in a depressed mood.
i also put this mortal coil WAY up on my list.

On The Akira Soundtrack, the first half of "Illusion" just kills me every time ... I start sobbing like a baby

Natalie Merchant " Beloved Wife ". A song she wrote about her grandfather losing her wife. Listen to it loud and alone and you will either feel inspired or depressed!

Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels) by Jim Croce,

He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones,

The End by The Beatles - Everytime they go into that "The love you take is the love you make" stuff. Maybe I'm crazy, though.

The tears come to the eyes but never come out. Does that count?

The end of "Awaken" by Yes

Big chunks of Handel's "Messiah"

"Alive and Well" and "Praise the King" by Cindy Morgan

"The Bridge" by Joe Jackson (sung by Jane Siberry)

Colin, I agree about the Tribute to Heroes version of "Walk On." The desperation and weariness of that performance is stunning. Even Adam Clayton looks like he's having a difficult time...

"The Ghost of Tom Joad" album is a weird one for me. Although at times it can be intensely difficult listening, other times the songs convey a sweet simplicity about love and longing. Bittersweet would best describe it.

Hmm. The original acoustic demo version of Radiohead's Motion Picture Soundtrack I have on the 'Unplugged' bootleg.
It's pretty much their only depressing song and it's very very sad...:frowning:

"In My Life" has had that effect on me, as has "Don't Give Up" from Peter Gabriel's So.

Kirk, that album with "Unpopular Poet" is a great one, I'll have to dig that out tonight. Must be something about us sailors and Buffett.

For me, I'd have to say the theme from "From The Earth To The Moon" can make my eyes a little wet. "MLK" from U2's Rattle and Hum will get me too.

I teared up during Rock the Casba the other day.
But that must have been about peripheral issues.

For me it is "Everybody Hurts" by REM. Gets me every time I hear it.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Live 1975 - 1985

"The River"

Bruce does a long intro about him and his father. How they didn't get along and at all. How Bruce had long hair down to his shoulders and his father hated it. It's basically a long story about how they always yelled at each other and didn't get along at all.

So Bruce gets drafted for Vietnam, goes down for his physical and FAILS! He comes back home and his dad is waiting in the kitchen for him to return.

"So, what happened?" "I failed. They wouldn't take me."

"That's good...."

Call me an emotionaly sappy fellow, but some music brings me to tears on a regular basis. Sometimes it's the lyrics and sometimes it's the mood of the particular piece.

A couple off the top of my head:

Dave Matthews Band "Don't Drink the Water"

This song really tugs at my heartstrings because of the subject matter. My favorite part is about 4 1/2 minutes into the song with the lyrics:

Now as I rest my feet by this fire

Those hands once warmed here,

but I have retired them.

I can breathe my own air

and I can sleep more soundly.

Upon these pour souls, I'll build heaven

and call it home.

From a purely musical standpoint:

Rush "La Villa Strangiato"

To me this song is nothing less than an instumental masterpiece. If you've never heard it, I strongly suggest you give it a good listen.