Songs that Emotionally Affect You, though without an apparent reason....

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

For some reason, that outro/coda of "Across this Antheap" by XTC (off Oranges & Lemons), wherein Andy Partridge gets caught up in a stuttering mantra of on and on and on and on and on... really gets me, and I honestly have no idea why. Moreover, it's easily the most "rocking" track on the album (i.e. there are plenty of other tracks designed to evoke pathos/melancholly etc.), rendering it the one least likely to get someone choked up.

It might possibly be because the album came out during the second semester of my senior year of college, and I equate the track with that time period. Moreover, even though it's a comparatively raucous, rocking track, it is still lyrically steeped in regret and a sense of powerlessness.

Does this track affect you that way? Are there songs that have the same effect on you?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

The live version of Talking Heads' "Air" gets me for some reason.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"One More Time" makes me want to cry. And it's just supposed to be a dance track, right?

― Not That Chuck, Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Swimming Song" by Louden Wainright III tears me up even though it's just a stupid happy song about, uh, swimming. Or is it?

― may pang (maypang), Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a few cuts on Metallica's Black Album where the solos and harmony playing grab me by the balls ... "My Friend of Misery," "Holier Than Thou," "Nothing Else Matters."

Built to Spill's "The Plan" on their live album has become my official emo anthem ... makes me wanna cry, shout in ecstasy, laugh and get agressive all at once. The solo is unbelievable and usually reduces me either to tears or some form of catharsis. Shouldn't have this effect, but it does.

And another oddity: "Don't You Want Me" by the Human League. Such a perfect pop song, I can't help but get all gushy, especially on the pre-chorus ("Don't ... don't you want me?).

― Chris O., Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Right with you on Across This Antheap.
The bells at the start of One Of The Millions gets me too.

― mzui, Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

hmm yeah i find One More Time strangely moving.

Aphex Twin's "Flim" gets me all choked up and there's no lyrics.

― searchanddelete, Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I did get kinda weepy to the "One More Time" bridge once. Though "Sexy Boy" by Air does infitely more for me.

― Chris O., Thursday, 22 January 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

hmm, the "no apparent reason" bit is weird though. cos the minor keyness of sexy boy, for instance, makes it kindof a reason.
see, i find the Boo Radleys' "Wake up Boo" a little sad.

― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 22 January 2004 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always found "Dancing Queen" to be a very sad song. I have no idea why.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 22 January 2004 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Agreed on "One More Time" -- totally unexplainable.

― roxymuzak, Thursday, 22 January 2004 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

My Bloody Valentine's "When You Sleep" has always sounded very twee-sad to me.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 23 January 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

'Wendell Gee' by REM absolutely tears me up, and I don't even understand the song. The emotionality reaches a place beyond reason, where understanding ceases to matter.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll second "Dancing Queen". It's pretty inexplicable, since I don't think most people think of it as a sad song, in fact I feel pretty silly admitting it, but it does have a little bit of an effect on me. It's in the chorus, mostly.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

The "If the wind were colour and if the air could speak" part of Wendell Gee kinda kills me too sometimes, most likely because of the way Mike Mills is wailing away in the background at that point.

― may pang (maypang), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:53 (twenty-one years ago)

"One More Time" is moving because it's like he is personally willing the song back into a celebration, despite the dark surroundings. it's a triumph of spirit over environment.

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"Coney Island Baby" by Lou Reed just tears, not as in crying, but as in tears me apart. the song is so heavy.

― jimwentworth (wench), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:08 (twenty-one years ago)

For what it's worth, I think most of the songs that make me feel sad, as opposed to ones I simply recognize as conveying sadness, are in major keys rather than minor.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Like "Somewhere over The Rainbow" or how about those classics that weave in and out of major-minor like "You Don't have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield, etc...

― jimwentworth (wench), Friday, 23 January 2004 04:16 (twenty-one years ago)

squarepusher - "tommib"

― sean marvin (williamtell), Friday, 23 January 2004 05:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Lush - "Stray"

The only lyrics I can understand are "Do you still see me? Do you still hear me? Do you still need me?" - or thats what I hear. The vocal melody is pretty haunting too. I remember being at the beach with a broken heart when I first heard that just sitting by the ocean with no one around and that song just really got to me at that moment - and still does every bit as much to this day.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Friday, 23 January 2004 05:50 (twenty-one years ago)

The "without apparent reason" part comes in when I find out the opening lyrics which make it seem more like a song about a crazy acid trip.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Friday, 23 January 2004 05:51 (twenty-one years ago)

or a pleasant acid trip, who knows?

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Friday, 23 January 2004 05:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, "Dancing Queen" was exactly the song I was thinking of when I opened this thread. By the end of the song, I'm always so proud of that girl who became the dancing queen. She outdanced everyone in the whole world and... why do I have a tear in my eye?

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Friday, 23 January 2004 06:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Because she's having the time of her life - it's all downhill from there.

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 23 January 2004 06:58 (twenty-one years ago)

"Summerland" by the Cocteau Twins is another one --- I have no idea what on God's Green Earth Liz is chirping about, but it still makes me heart ache.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 23 January 2004 07:32 (twenty-one years ago)

ruff squad - "armour"

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 23 January 2004 07:33 (twenty-one years ago)

There is the true story that when the two women in Abba heard the instrumental backing track for "Dancing Queen", before they'd put the vocals on, they both burst into tears. The chords during the "You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life" are pure melancholy for me.

― Rob M (Rob M), Friday, 23 January 2004 08:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"Lick My Love Pump"

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 23 January 2004 09:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, there is an unmistakable feel of remembrance and loss in Dancing Queen. The video, with its faded blurry colors, just adds to that.

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Friday, 23 January 2004 09:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Taylor Parkes had a terrific riff on Dancing Queen and sadness in his thing on The Visitors way back when.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Friday, 23 January 2004 09:23 (twenty-one years ago)

The album "Not Available" by The Residents, and "Paris 1919" (the album)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 23 January 2004 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, "Dancing Queen," too. Although I always thought of it as a happy song until I saw "Muriel's Wedding." Since then, it's always been a two hanky job.

― Not That Chuck, Friday, 23 January 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Yet another vote for "Dancing Queen"! 's gotta be that minor key or the celestial descending piano.

Ace of Bass' "All That She Wants" reminds me of "Dancing Queen", and not just because they're Swedish.

― Scott, Monday, 26 January 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, what's Summerland on?

― Leee Majors (Leee), Monday, 26 January 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Four Calendar Cafe

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 26 January 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Ambushed by Unexpected Emotion

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Friday, 8 July 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

def leppard - now

what a horrible admission, but there's something about the melody in the chorus...

other songs affect me emotionally definitely, but more often than not there's a good reason

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 1 February 2007 12:39 (eighteen years ago)

six years pass...

want to revive this in light of the fetal position/whiskey thread. there are certain songs that i experience as emotionally devastating -- sometimes due to personal associations and sometimes not -- that most people would not regard in this way. an example of this is haddaway's "what is love?". for most people, their major association with that song is "a night at the roxbury", but all i think about when i think of that song are the parts when he says "baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more" which -- repeated as they are -- are a really simple, elegant expression of the vulnerability that comes with "putting yourself out there" romantically. probably i had some profound experience of listening to this song at a vulnerable time that i am not remembering and this is what has caused me to hear that song as sad and desperate rather than a glossy, somewhat overly theatrical dance track. similarly, blink-182's music reminds me of feeling alienated in middle school, as it was the music of the popular kids who had things to do on the weekend. when i hear their music i feel strongly aware of the limited amount of time i have in life, and feel like i am missing out on something important.

does anyone else feel "wounded" by songs that other people seem to experience as either happy or neutral?

― Pat Finn, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 01:30 (twelve years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.