Emotional while listening...

Lots of musicians and music lovers here at TW, which is really, really awesome!  At least 50% of what keeps me going is music.

Anyway, I'm not sure if it's due to teething on folk music, but I have an unhealthy relationship with songs that are huge downers - the more they rip out and stomp on my heart the more I'm drawn to them.  (Come to think of it I really like downer endings to movies too, but that might be only due to the glut of happy ending movies, but I digress...)

Has any song touched you so deeply it made you cry?  Multiple times?  When you weren't drinking / using a controlled substance?  Let's show the world what manly men / womanly women we are by listing (and linking to) them in this thread!

Here are a few that have emotionally smacked me around (artist / song title):

Kelly Joe Phelps : Goodnight Irene

Natalie Merchant : The Living

Patty Griffin : Sweet Lorraine

Chris Whitley : Dirt Floor

Bruce Springsteen : Straight Time

Shawn Colvin : Shotgun Down the Avalanche (live)

Iron and Wine : Naked As We Came

Post Yours!

great idea, dewster!  I'm sure everyone has a collection of songs really close to their heart.   I think I would not necessarily call it being emotional while listening. I feel it's more like deep resonance with the expression of the performance or recording... or some combination of melody, harmony, lyrics that causes a remembrance of something in the past/future. anyways, their's probably no good words or single way to describe the phenomena, so... emotional it is.

here's my list of favorites that have moved me and which continue to move me. and oh my, there have been plenty of tears.  it was also fun to go back to a few I hadn't listened to in a while.  I think I have more, but these are what came to mind first...

Yoko Kanno - Blue ; Friends ; Garden of Everything  

Johannes Brahms  - Symphony 3 mvt. 3  

Maurice Ravel  - Piano Concerto in G mvt. 2  

Jason Becker  - Higher   

Elliot Smith  - Waltz #1  

Hi Dewster - A great idea this thread.. but exposing the stuff which moves one is scary and perhaps even dangerous - or at least it feels a bit that way to me. I started by linking to 3 songs, but deliberately left out the song which moves me most - Since about 2010 Annie Lennox album has been the most predominant musical influence on my life.. I dont know if this has been "healthy" or "unhealthy"

"I have an unhealthy relationship with songs that are huge downers - the more they rip out and stomp on my heart the more I'm drawn to them. " - Dewster

Im not sure its an "unhealthy" relationship at all .. For me, creating songs which are real "downers" is an essential therapy - and I think finding songs which "resonate" can also be helpful.. Sometimes I think music can help one to adjust to emotional trauma - some sort of coping mechanism - or whatever..

I have enjoyed a lot of what Annie Lennox / Eurythimics produced, but not been a "fan"  - but her album "Songs of mass destruction" is (apart from a few tracks which irritate the hell out if me) an album whic consistantly been a "song touched you so deeply it made you cry?  Multiple times?" "rip out and stomp on my heart " or brings me extremely close.. I cannot listen to this song without getting close to howling - so I dont listen to it often -:

Annie Lennox - Lost.

And this song (from the same album) - Dark road .. its straight to my heart like an ice knife, takes my breath away, brings the tears - every word resonates in some way.

"Dark Road" - Annie Lennox.  Album: Songs of mass destruction

It's a dark road
And a dark way that leads to my house
And the word says
You're never gonna find me there oh no
I've got an open door
It didn't get there by itself
It didn't get there by itself

There's a feelin
But you're not feelin' it at all
There's a meaning
But you're not listening any more
I look at that open road
I'm gonna walk there by myself

And if you catch me
I might try to run away
You know I can't be here too long
And if you let me
I might try to make you stay
Seems you never realise a good thing
Till it's gone..
Maybe im still searchin
But I dont know what it means
All the fires of destruction are still
Burnin' in my dreams
There's no water that can wash away
This longin' to come clean
Hey yea yea....

I cant find the joy within my soul
It's just sadness takin hold
I wanna come in from the cold
And make myself renewed again
It takes strength to live this way
The same old madness every day
I wanna kick these blues away
I wanna learn to live again...

It's a dark road
And a dark way that leads to my house
And the word says
You're never gonna find me there oh no
I've got an open door
It didn't get there by itself
It didn't get there by itself

Then there is a song I have loved since the first time I heard it - It has, for me, direct connection to a "longing" in my 'soul' - Its not really a downer at all - "I really want to see you - really want to be with you - but it takes so long........" I dont know what its about - I was a born-again when I first heard it - but it hasnt lost any of its impact regardless of my "spiritual" state... the Concert for George was one of the most moving events - seeing his son singing the song.. Yeah - brought lots of tears, but no despair... George had something special in all his songs - To me, they all have a healing effect. 

George Harrison-My Sweet Lord Concert for George .

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass .

There are many songs which didnt bring me down before, but now do.. John Lennon's "Imagine" is one of these - It was really uplifting when I believed that it was possible..Now I know that it was nothing more than an impossible dream, its a downer.

Who knows where the time goes - Fairport Convention

The following is one of my all time favorite songs:

A Sailor's Life - Fairport Convention

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Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit

Vangelis - Losing Sleep (Still, My Heart) .

Neil Young - Don't Let It Bring You Down

Comfortably Numb - David Gilmore with David Bowie

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OT - This is certainly not "downer" music - but has a huge emotional impact on me:

Liszt - Piano Sonata in B minor

Yes, a welcome OT posting Dewster.  It's nice to have something a little different for a change.

It'll be interesting to taste some of what moves other people and perhaps learn a little bit about why it does.  I'll be interested to see if I have the same sort of reaction to it, and to possibly discover some new music for me to fall in love with (something I'm always looking for).

For reasons I can't go into here, there are so many candidates I couldn't possibly list them all.  And, as much as I am moved by music, I just haven't allowed myself to go there for quite a while, but I'll try to come up with something.  I look forward to the responses from others.

"...but exposing the stuff which moves one is scary and perhaps even dangerous".  Amen to that, brother!

I find it fascinating to listen to music that deeply moves people. What struck me immediately about the selections posted here (other than a few of the links posted by Randy) is that what seems to be bringing people to the edge of tears and touching them so profoundly is not so much the music, as it is the lyrics. FredM even went so far as to post the entire text of one of the songs of Annie Lennox.

With most of these popular songs (the majority of which are between 3 & 5 minutes long) the music is simply a framework, a sonic atmosphere in which to wrap the words. The difference between the experience of listening to Kelly Joe Phelps singing GOODNIGHT IRENE (which I loved) and listening to the second movement of Ravel's PIANO CONCERTO IN G (which I also loved) is that hearing Ravel is a purely musical experience, entirely instrumental, wordless, and without the presence of a human persona and all of the baggage that goes along with it. 

A singer is actually a singing actor. With most of these songs, if you were to remove the singer and replace him or her with a flute or a cello (or God forbid, a THEREMIN) the song, as a purely musical experience, would fall apart. With the vast majority of popular songs, the music cannot stand alone as an instrumental, and the words cannot stand alone as pure poetry. They need each other. 

It is extremely difficult for an instrumentalist to move people with a performance but it is relatively easy for a singer.  When we listen to something like Billie Holiday singing STRANGE FRUIT we are pulled into the nostalgia and tragedy of an entire era, as well as into the personal suffering of the singer herself. An instrumental version of the song might move someone who is already acquainted with the background, but it would probably not catch the interest of someone who had never heard the original, and never heard of Billie. 

Since we are a group dedicated to a musical instrument, I would love to know what sort of entirely instrumental music people are moved by (no disrespect intended toward the divas and pop idols of yesteryear, or of today). 

Within the category of INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, I would include vocal music that is sung in a language that the listener neither speaks nor understands. If you were to listen to the last act of DER ROSENKAVALIER, knowing nothing at all about the German language, the voices might as well be instruments. 

The song that has always moved me and brought me to the deepth of my heart's calling is

La Petite Fille de La Mer ~ Vangelis.

I really do not know why and how, but it just does.

"A singer is actually a singing actor. With most of these songs, if you were to remove the singer and replace him or her with a flute or a cello (or God forbid, a THEREMIN) the song, as a purely musical experience, would fall apart. With the vast majority of popular songs, the music cannot stand alone as an instrumental, and the words cannot stand alone as pure poetry. They need each other." - Coalport

I absolutely agree with everything you say here - summed up by your "the music cannot stand alone as an instrumental, and the words cannot stand alone as pure poetry. They need each other."

But I think the above possibly applies more to "downer" music than to other emotions.. I think that with instrumentals it is much more difficult to convey despair, sadness etc - these emotions, I think, perhaps require more "context" and I think that perhaps rather than "music is simply a framework" it might be that the lyrics are the "framework".. But it makes no difference - both need each other to convey these emotions strongly.

I also think that the lyrics for "downer" music is mainly only required as "packaging" - But there are some exceptions.. Strange Fruit is a poem that stands entirely on its own - the music for this piece IMO isnt "needed" but it certainly helps to open the emotional "doors" - In a way, I think that perhaps the function served by music in pieces like this is to allow the lyrics to traverse the left/right brain divide.. Perhaps this overcomes some protection mechanism - allows lyrics we would not "want" to be influenced by to get through..

"conveying" or "inducing" other (perhaps more "positive") emotions does not, I think, require lyrics - or at least I think that the importance of the lyrics is greatly reduced.. The song "A Sailor's Life" stands up (IMO) as an example of my "crossover" point - this songs lyrical "framework" is far less important than the music, which is the primary emotion "driver" IMO - I believe this song could stand up well on its own without the lyrics (you could replace the vocalist with a theremin IMO, and perhaps not lose any emotional influence, even if one had never heard the song before - in some ways, the lyrics are almost distracting) - But I probably shouldnt have included this song - it gets me emotionally big-time, but does not bring me "down" - and the lyrics are of minor (if any) importance to the emotions generated I think.

For me, the "specification" for this thread was "songs that are huge downers " and  "Has any song touched you so deeply it made you cry?  Multiple times?" - This excluded (to me)the other music (often instrumentals) which have a massive and often equal emotional effect, but werent "downers".. I loved many of the songs listed by Randy, and they had a strong emotional effect on me  - but none of them brought me "down" in any way!

Fred.

Agree with all! 

Drama with associated with vocal delivery is something I'm much more aware of, of late. 

Poetry + musical accompaniment is a one-two punch.  And vocal harmonies can be a particular powerful addition IMO.

People do respond emotionally and in other ways, not just downer, to music, so perhaps the the threshold for this thread is somewhat artificial, but it really interests me.  Downer music, particularly when I sing / play it on guitar, can have an interesting cathartic effect (though I sometimes wonder if this is partly related to the increase in oxygen uptake re singing - yes, I am an engineer!).  I can come back to the same sad song I've played hundreds of times, like "Early Morning Rain" by Gordon Lightfoot, and routinely find sadness anew - and somehow that sadness feels like truth.  Songs employ emotional tricks we play with our brains, and they seem to be incredible suckers because they fall for it every time.

"Downer music, particularly when I sing / play it on guitar, can have an interesting cathartic effect (though I sometimes wonder if this is partly related to the increase in oxygen uptake re singing - yes, I am an engineer!)." - Dewster

Yes - I certainly think the act of composing / producing or even playing "downer" music can be  cathartic, and I doubt that oxygen has much to do with it! ;-)

Niel Diamond's song IMO expresses this well.. Song Sung Blue.

One other thing I have found is that I can compose and play a real downer song, and that the music has the same impact on me at any future time (I can "recapture" the emotional state) even if I have lost whatever I was singing (I always have MIDI recording running whenever I play, but only record audio if I am seriously trying to produce something - so I always have the music as a sort of "diary" but rarely have the full piece with lyrics etc)

Fred.

"and somehow that sadness feels like truth." - Dewster

Dewster, I think the above is profound.. Perhaps music allows us to touch on the truth which is too painful to access any other way - I think we live in a perpetual delusion - a fantasy - a lie.. We must live in this way, its how we have evolved - its what we are. I think that "seeking the truth" is a great folly - we should perhaps be seeking a "better" delusion which is more compatable with our present state (perhaps this is what most people are actually doing when they are "truth" seeking) - but I think if we actually found and accepted the truth, we could not handle it - it would destroy us! ;-)

"Isn't it extraordinary how potent cheap music is."  Noel Coward PRIVATE LIVES