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As the title says....which song still haunts you emotionally? And why? A (freely accessible) link might greatly bring your point across.
Mine would be: (Typhoon - "Empiricist") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E328pIZWFM
The lyrics go deep and it just touches me. No otherwise special attachment.
“Do it for her” from Steven Universe. If you haven’t watched the series. I won’t ruin it.
Likewise, “Leaves From the Vine” from ATLA
1916 by Motorhead.
Quite possibly the most heartbreaking anti-war song ever written.
Wings for Marie pt 1 and 2 by Tool. It's a 17 minute pair of tracks so there's no expectation of you, dear random reader, to slog through it, but it's very meaningful to me. It is haunting and beautiful though.
Part 1: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BNTo34xOwoM
Part 2: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qJq9y9xPKWs
I lost my mother unexpectedly and when I was rather young (mid 20's).
As a little relevant back history of the lead singer, he was at odds with his mother when she was alive but she passed of cancer. My take on the song is that this is an ode to her.
My mother was mentally ill and we never had a good relationship, but after that loss I spent a lot of time thinking about all that was strong and good in her. And I miss her still, despite everything. This song evokes those feelings and still brings me to tears to this day.
Edit: updated formatting a bit and the links. The parts 1 and 2 video I found worked fine via ddg but the direct link didn't seem to work, so changed to links to the individual songs.
Thanks man. And i will totally listen to it. I actually prefer loooong songs.
Sorry about your mom.
Undertale from Toby Fox
https://youtu.be/8CeYNJ-s0Kw?si=ybFwzAxK8uVi62KV
No matter how many times I listen to it, tears ALWAYS rush to my eyes
The context of all those motifs coming back just brings ALL the feels. Toby really has a way with his music.
Damn, still gotta play this game :-)
I still remember listening to Changes by Tupac and Talent for the first time while I was waiting for the bus downtown to head home.
At the time hiphop and rap as a whole was something I hated, but there was something that really stood out about this one track the person across the shelter from me was blasting. The lyrics hooked me from the get go:
"I see no changes, wake up in the morning, and I ask myself Is life worth living, should I blast myself? I'm tired of bein' poor..."
I didn't grow up with the best surroundings, and it felt like a gut punch having a song played by a random stranger on their speaker speak to my experience like that. Followed later with:
"I see no changes, all I see is racist faces Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races We under, I wonder what it takes to make this One better place, let's erase the wasted"
I feel when I was younger I was really insensitive to racial issues, and part of that was owed to circumstances that were unique to myself that I was still dealing with the effects of, but listening to the whole song and the genuine nature of the lived experiences told in the lyrics really helped me see things through another lens that I'm still thankful for today. This part especially helped me do some self-reflection and realize that I was in part misplacing my hate on entire groups of people rather than those who specifically wronged me, and that all I was doing was damaging potential friendships I could have with people who were no different from myself outside of physical characteristics.
Feels weird being open about this, and I know that it's really odd for someone to say a song of all things got them to change some racist thoughts they held, but I was a teenager at the time with a shitty life in and out of the house, and while it's no excuse, it was hard to be rational when all you felt was anger at the world and didn't know where the hell to aim it.
I feel when I was younger I was really insensitive to racial issues,
Isn't that the beauty? We didn't even have a concept of "race" as kids. We develop that. As kids everyone is literally the same thing. Just looks a bit different.
But i hear you. And i don't think it's weird, that tupac gave you the nudge to ponder. As a teeny you most likely only listened to yourself or maybe some idol-figures. So you actively listened to tupac with your mind not just your ears. Makes total sense to me.
What a luck, you listened to him and not some of those fuckbitches-begangsta-blingbling-imbeciles of today 😁
Mad World. I respect Tears for Fears, but Gary Jules did it much better
IMHO, Jasmine Thompson aced the song.
The Pentatonix version comes in tied for second place.
Why? I think the song really nails how we can feel about this world sometimes. It was a fairly good description of me In my more depressed times, or at least, it triggers some very familiar feelings of the past. How can I describe it.. It's like I am looking at myself and the world through dead eyes. There are no feelings, no emotion and just the buzz of the world happening around me for no reason. (That description almost mirrors some of the lyrics, now that I think about it. What can I say? It's an accurate song.)
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Yup.
That line has always hit me right in the feels.
Honestly, the Thompson/Pentatonix versions were both heart- and soulless. Dunno how they got this popular? Even though I love TearsForFears, Gary Jules indeed did the best version of it.
"The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had..."
Ouch.
A Different Kind Of Human by AURORA
The song resonates with me so deeply, feeling like I don't belong anywhere, as an autistic/trans/lesbian individual. The idea of "my people" arriving in a mothership and warmly embracing me for all that I am, and taking me somewhere I belong, is enough to make me well up just thinking about the song.
Lovely song! And hey, don't separate yourself from "those people" by being "your people". I, for example, separate "good" from "bad" people. Couldn't care less about their level of neuro-divergence, genitals or preference :)
Don't worry, I don't separate myself from others, any separation is external!
remember me, from Coco (the lullaby version)
Porter Robinson - Goodbye to a World It's a fun song since it's electronic and dance. There's not even many lyrics, but at the same time it manages to be a very emotional song. It genuinely makes you feel like you're at the end of a world.
The absolutely achingly long build up invokes such strong tension and vivid mental imagery of the end of some fantastical world, the end of a story. And then the final chorus hits like a truck: the final, thunderous cry of a world at its end. Then all is stripped away and you're left with a half-broken voice singing the same refrain, and it's truly over.
Porter Robinson is a musical storytelling genius!
Aside from Mad World by Gary Jules and *Everything's alright" by Laura Shigihara, which have already been mentioned, I have a few off the top of my head:
Nice songs!! As you obviously love japanese stuff, enjoy those you might not know:
Kenji Kawai is such an amazing composer. I didn't know about that particular composition you linked to (and thank you for sharing, it's great!) but I know he made soundtracks for both Ghost in the Shell animated movies, which are so, so good. Here's what I think is a medley of the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack played live. It opens with Making of a Cyborg, one of the most iconic pieces of the first movie.
I also really liked the 2nd song! I'm not sure but is her name Hako Yamasaki? Just so I can look for more of her stuff.
Kawai totally is! And I guessed you didn't know, coz that Movie the song is from is super old. Yet still stuck thanks to the amazing soundtrack! GITS is also cool, yes!
Aye, it's Hako Yamasaki-san. Boomer-material I guess. Though we're both not ,-)
Betty by Hot Mulligan.
The song is about the death of a beloved pet.
She used to sleep tucked in a tiny ball. Used to listen when I'd sing her favourite song. Held her fingers so she'd wake with me. Get drunk and sink into the couch for TV.
Couple years you couldn't go outside. But as long as she was here then I would be just fine. Had a cough, it made me nervous then. Thought it would pass by the time winter met its end, oh.
Doctor said, "It doesn't go away". Nothing left to do but hope and medicate. Held her fingers so she'd wake with me. Get drunk and stay awake for days, I'd watch her breathe.
Got her ashes from the vet today. I can't look at them or find the proper place. She used to sleep tucked in a tiny ball. Used to listen when I sang her favourite song, oh.
The song "ONE MORE LIGHT" by Linkin Park was already hard to listen to, knowing the dude who sang it killed himself shortly after makes it worse...
Oh yes, totally. Love that song (and don't even like the Band much)! Also love "Crawling" from him. Fits too.
Mount Eerie’s album, A Crow Looked at Me, is crushing. Phil Elverum’s wife died shortly after their first child was born. It’s a raw grief album. I listen to this when I need a good cry. https://youtu.be/-1UyUsz0A-A?si=3JY1CLXZIxxKxDl6
Frightened Rabbit’s “Modern Leper” also hits me in the chest.
Well, I crippled your heart a hundred times
And still can't work out why
You see, I've got this disease
I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life
Sting - The Soul Cages
This album was written when his father died. It's a loose concept album and it devastates from beginning to end but if you haven't heard it before two of the tracks hit hard as standalones:
Queen ’39
"In the year of ’39
Came a ship in from the blue
The Volunteers came home that day, and they bring good news
Of a world so newly born
Though their hearts so heavily weight
For the Earth is old and grey
Little darling, we'll away but my love this cannot be
For so many years are gone
Though I'm older but a year
Your mother's eyes from your eyes cry to me”
The reality of deep space travel.
That whole Offerings album is amazing and fits this theme.
I have to add Anthems by Broken Social Scene, it feels like nostalgia for an adolescence I didn’t get.
Truetrue. But Empiricist just hits right. Especially the live version.
Anthems surely got something. Need to re-listen a few times! Thanks for sharing.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way
It’s not intrinsically emotionally gripping, but my dad loved the heck out of that album and it evokes memories of him singing along and dancing to it.
For me, it’s a song about missing him.
S Club 7 - Never Had A Dream Come True
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei9qcH_jpqY
Heard a long distance dedication on live radio by the late Casey Casem back when he was still doing America's Top 40. I still think it was my Ex fiance who sent it. She knew i listened to that show. looking back im not sure it was really her but it wrecked me to even hear this song for years after that.
Best I Am - Flaw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fnKCrI6VZjE
Not even a parent, just kinda reminds me of things I should remember but always seem to forget.
Didn't know that one. Lovely track!
This is a bit on-the-nose and blatant, because the song has actual (or very realistic-sounding acted) crying in it. Lunatic Soul - Out On A Limb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C7u0k-yrFg
It's also a banging song & band in general.
I've mentioned it in a similar thread but Sting - What Could Have Been (ft. Ray Chen) is one that just breaks me down into a sobbing mess every time I listen to it.
Always Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes
a dear friend of mine's mother and grandmother died the same week. this song came on the radio when i picked her up at the airport and we both started bawling.
The Heart Remains a Child - Everything But the Girl
just because it is heartrendingly real.
Jim Croce - Time in a Bottle is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Never fails to put a lump in my throat.
Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
Sitting in the back row of the movie Ghost probably our 4th or 5th time seeing it, he finally got the nerve to kiss me, it was truly magic, I miss him so much.
This song plays at one of the hardest moments of the visual novel Steins;Gate. It also starts the same moment in the anime, but the VN truly nails the nature of the moment better.
Without spoiling it, all I can say is that the scene is just as sad as the song is.
Edit: The S;G0 version has strings and captures even more of the feelings, although the original is more than enough on its own.