Embarassing admissions - What songs make you choke up?

Steamtronic · #1 11-16-2012, 03:07 AM

This has been a dark secret of mine for a looooooong time. Thank god for the anonymity of the interwebz!

There are some songs that effect me emotionally to the point where I actually choke up on the lyrics when trying to sing them. I've never actually teared up (well.......maybe once or twice) but I can get an emotional rush so powerful out of some songs that I have a physical reaction. No pharmaceutical/adult beverage/religious/significant other/regretted ex- connection - I just find the combination of lyric and melody so powerful it moves me deeply enough to react emotionally.

And I've got to say its a really nice & very powerful feeling; just its not the kind of thing thats easy to share with your mates, especially when you play classic rock as your first preference.

The one that gets me every time - "A Case Of You" - the version by Diana Krall (the Joni Mitchell original is OK but there's something about Krall's piano arrangement....). I also get a bit chokey with "Message To My Girl" by Crowded House, and the old jazz standard "All The Way". Thankfully I dont have to sing them on gigs or anything, just noodling around on my keyboards at home.

Now I've put it out there......who else gets effected by powerful songwriting?

shackled · #2 11-16-2012, 03:20 AM

Hmm, nope. I can't think of any.

GigJones · #3 11-16-2012, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steamtronic

There are some songs that effect me emotionally to the point where I actually choke up on the lyrics when trying to sing them. I've never actually teared up (well.......maybe once or twice) but I can get an emotional rush so powerful out of some songs that I have a physical reaction.

Almost every aspect of music moves me on some level (emotionally or physically): the notes, the lyrics, and the performance.

There are songs, whose lyrics (message) connect with me very deeply that, depending on if my emotions are riding closer to
the surface than normal, I’ll tear-up.

Some instrumental pieces create such a strong vibe, within me, that I am easily taken away to another time or place.

And, I will openly admit that I cried the first time I saw Stevie Ray Vaughn play. I have never, ever, seen anyone pour that
much sincere heart-felt emotion into every note played -- body and soul.

Joe Nerve · #4 11-16-2012, 03:48 AM

Really can't say why this song gets me. I heard it the first time flipping through channels on the TV, and I stopped on a soap opera where it was the background music... I believe the guy's woman had just died. Song busted me up then, and for some reason I still can't listen to it without choking up and/or actually crying. And I'm not a cryer. Far from it in fact http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxlHA0aD_EU

And, even more embarrasing than that, and I'm gonna guess I'm on of the few on the planet that this song chokes up... at the 2:30 mark in this song, well, yeah.... it gets me just about every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxlHA0aD_EU

Steamtronic · #5 11-16-2012, 04:02 AM

Is it wrong to get moved more by music than by what you feel for people?

**Kazoo_Legend** · #6 11-16-2012, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steamtronic

This has been a dark secret of mine for a looooooong time. Thank god for the anonymity of the interwebz!

There are some songs that effect me emotionally to the point where I actually choke up on the lyrics when trying to sing them. I've never actually teared up (well.......maybe once or twice) but I can get an emotional rush so powerful out of some songs that I have a physical reaction. No pharmaceutical/adult beverage/religious/significant other/regretted ex- connection - I just find the combination of lyric and melody so powerful it moves me deeply enough to react emotionally.

And I've got to say its a really nice & very powerful feeling; just its not the kind of thing thats easy to share with your mates, especially when you play classic rock as your first preference.

The one that gets me every time - "A Case Of You" - the version by Diana Krall (the Joni Mitchell original is OK but there's something about Krall's piano arrangement....). I also get a bit chokey with "Message To My Girl" by Crowded House, and the old jazz standard "All The Way". Thankfully I dont have to sing them on gigs or anything, just noodling around on my keyboards at home.

Now I've put it out there......who else gets effected by powerful songwriting?

Whatever's playing when Rudy runs out onto the field.

Steamtronic · #7 11-16-2012, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shackled

Hmm, nope. I can't think of any.

Sir, you have no soul.

lowfreq33 · #8 11-16-2012, 05:31 AM

Most recent was Highway 20 Ride, Zac Brown Band. The lyrics hit pretty close to home regarding a good friend of 20+ years and his current custody situation.

AuntieBeeb · #9 11-16-2012, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steamtronic

The one that gets me every time - "A Case Of You" - the version by Diana Krall (the Joni Mitchell original is OK but there's something about Krall's piano arrangement....). I also get a bit chokey with "Message To My Girl" by Crowded House, and the old jazz standard "All The Way". Thankfully I dont have to sing them on gigs or anything, just noodling around on my keyboards at home.

I have to admit, I'm amazed that Krall can move you that much. She's a superb pianist, and her band do get a fantastic groove going on some tunes, but I just find her voice lacking - to me it sounds really sterile and emotionless, and I think it's the thing that lets her down. But you know, each to their own.

To answer your question, there are a few songs which I find quite cathartic to sing, but the one that comes closest to moving me to tears is one I don't sing - could never sing, for that matter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkn-S...eature=related
"Eden" by Hooverphonic. I think it's a combination of the wonderfully bleak arrangement and the slightly vulnerable sound of her voice, but it really gets me.

SquierJazz72 · #10 11-16-2012, 06:14 AM

This is not one I've ever actually sung publicly, but Honey, by Bobby Goldsboro.

My first girlfriend, back in high school died when I was 16. She was 15. Even though it was over twenty years ago and my life has moved on, the incident left a big enough mark on me that that song still gets me everytime. I doubt I could get through it if I tried.

**mjac28** · #11 11-16-2012, 06:27 AM

The Beatles- In My Life and anything slow by Taylor Swift that girl has my number

Chazinroch · #12 11-16-2012, 06:33 AM

Yes there are a few that move me quite deeply...some to tears.

edmidlifecrisis · #13 11-16-2012, 06:52 AM

I have a hard time listening to Tears In Heaven. This cranky, cynical, atheistic old coot just can't take hearing EC sing about his lost son. As I have two sons now, it gets to me.

sloasdaylight · #14 11-16-2012, 06:52 AM

Call me a Dog - Chris Cornell's solo acoustic version more so than the album version. His voice is just so, I dunno.
Hunger Strike - The album version of this. Eddie Vedder's voice is so powerful in it, and the general tone of the song.

They don't make me tear up every time I hear them, but every once in a while I'll have to swallow hard.

1958Bassman · #15 11-16-2012, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steamtronic

Is it wrong to get moved more by music than by what you feel for people?

Depends on how badly people have treated you or what you have seen. People have potential, but they often disappoint. Music is something that was created by someone, for some reason but the music itself can't hurt someone in the same ways.

As much as I think people suck on a lot of levels, if you aren't seeing how good they can be, I think you need to look harder or in different places.

JoZac21 · #16 11-16-2012, 06:57 AM

"Nothing Compares 2 U" - as performed by Sinead O'Connor (written by Prince).

After all these years, that song still is the musical equivalent of chopping an onion...