Oct 13, 2017 - But I digress... What song(s) always give you the chills?
I had so much fun working on my GOACA playlist that I’m about to start another, and today, when I was listening to the first and “The Only Living Boy In New York” came on, I was totally transported. I’m curious: what song or songs never fail to reduce you to a weepy mess?
Kim France
I was born in Houston, Texas in 1964 and have lived in New York City since 1988. I had a long career in magazines, working at Sassy, Elle, New York, and Spin, and in 2000, I founded Lucky magazine, which I edited for ten years.
Without fail, Last Kiss-cover version by Pearl Jam
Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bleecker Street”. It was used to great and effect at the end of an episode of Mad Men and has given me feelings ever since.
Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” – so beautiful.
It’s on your list:)
Wise up.. Aimee Mann
Gets me every time!
Also at my moms Memorial service a couple years back,
we had a singer sing “Bridge over troubled water” because she loved it.
And everybody at the service, mostly over 70 or 80 years old sang along..
Gets me even now as I’m writing this.
Quite a moment.
That’s so beautiful, Caroline.
That’s really beautiful, Caroline.
California Dreaming.
“Naked as We Came,” Iron and Wine
“Romulus” and “Casimir Pulaski Day,” Sufjan Stevens
“Pale Green Things,” Mountain Goats
“River” and “A Case of You,” Joni Mitchell
Almost anything by Nick Drake, it’s too hard to choose…
“Casimir Pulaski Day” does it to me, too.
And “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith.
Needle in the Hay is brutal.
“Getting good marks…”
Speaking of needles–“The Needle and the Damage Done,” Neil Young
We have the same musical taste, Susanna. I was just thinking about Joni Mitchell this morning and realizing how torn-up I’ll be when she goes. “A Case of You,” “Blue,” “River,” …I’d forgotten about “Casimir Pulaski Day,” tears me up and reminds me of my 16-yr old niece who died of leukemia at home. Also, the song she chose for her funeral, “Lord of the Dance”(An old Shaker hymn sung to the tune of “Simple Gifts.”).
And “Laundry Room,” by The Avett Bros.
Val, I didn’t know you’d lost a child. So sorry to hear it.
God, I’m a flake. I read that wrong! Sorry nevertheless, Val!
That’s ok. My niece and I were very close. It’s been 6 yrs and I miss her terribly.
Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens–just added to my playlist before my trip to Italy to visit my daughter. My mom passed while I was there and as we flew home I listened to this on repeat.
Imagine-Lennon
The Weight-The Band
Sweet Baby James-JT
You’ve Got A Friend-Carole King
Sweet Jane-Lou Reed
Ohio-CSNY
Heart of Gold-Neil Young
“Imagine” gets me too
Corny, I suppose, but true: Desperado – The Eagles
Have you heard The Langley Schools Music Project ever?? It’s a recording of a public school choir (grades 1-6, I think) in the 70’s singing a variety of pop songs as part of some experimental music thing they were doing in that school district then. There’s a version of Desperado sung by a little girl on there that’s truly beautiful. Also, a full choral version of God Only Knows, which is another weeper for me, come to think of it (their version, not the original so much!) The entire thing is amazing – the album is called Innocence and Despair. I think it’s on YouTube.
OMG I LOVE the Langley Project! Those recordings are amazing – I love that you know it!! A gymnasium full of Canadian kids with a four-track performing the hits of the day as taught by their enterprising substitute music teacher – brilliant. It really is the best version of Desperado, but I love the upbeat ones too – Help Me Rhonda and Saturday Night are pretty exciting. (Their spirit lives on in that great kids’ chorus from PS22 on Staten Island.)
I’m with you on that one, Debra, corny or not.
Stardust by Willie Nelson
It’s a Hard Rain a-Gonna Fall by Leon Russell
To Love Somebody by Karl Blau
I guess I’m a sucker for cover songs that bring a whole new angle to the lyrics.
Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley. Ugh, just thinking of it makes me get all the feels.
OH MY GOD YES
“Mister Bojangles” made me sob when I was about 6 years old and I don’t think I’ve heard it without tearing up since. And Glen Phillips’ (Toad the Wet Sprocket) “Go” has me bawling every single time.
Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure. Reminds me of my great love David who couldn’t get off the junk so he ended it in the only way he knew how. Twenty yrs later I still miss him a bunch.
“Last Goodbye” by Jeff Buckley
And along Eloise’s train of thought: I cried my eyes out at about age 6 or 7 when I heard “Yesterday Once More” by The Carpenters.
There have to be more than just these two, but Nina Simone’s cover of Where Does the Time Go and Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors.
PS, Aw yeah new playlist!!
In This World by Sean Alan. It was used as the ending credits for an episode of Better Things – one of the most brilliant shows out there. The lyrics pretty much sum up everything about being a mother/ partner/ friend. Also, California Dreaming. Now and forever.
“A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke always causes me to burst into tears. It is magic.
Yes. It’s so good. I listen to it regularly.
Alone Again Naturally by Gilbert O’Sullivan
This song is so sad and true I think that’s why it reduces me to tears every time.
Song for You-Leon Russell
A beautiful but sad love song
Field of Gold by Sting. There’s also a beautiful versio of it that came out around 9/11 but I can’t remember the name of the female artist that sang it.
Eva Cassidy did a beautiful version of Fields of Gold–released in 1996 (I think?), the same year she died of melanoma at age 33.
Sting’s “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying” always gets me. It’s a brutally honest depiction of divorce and how little a role he has in his kids’s life now.
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow – The Shirelles
When the Stars Go Blue – Ryan Adams
Thirteen – Big Star
Back To Black – Amy Winehouse
Feeling Good – Nina Simone
Redemption Song, Bob Marley
How To Save a Life, The Fray
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, Willie Nelson (I’m choking up even as I type this one)
(Don’t You) Forget About Me, by Simple Minds. It’s so angsty and wonderful and reminds me how fleeting time is. *tears up*
Boulder to Birmingham – Emmy Lou Harris – brings me to tears every single time
Blue Sky – Patty Griffin – gives me chills in a more uplifting way – it’s soaring!
It doesn’t get me every time, but I have a vivid memory of being in high school, driving in my car, listening to Paul Simon’s The Obvious Child, and feeling chills and tears simultaneously. It was thrilling.
Kim, if you haven’t listened to the Song Exploder podcast episode featuring St. Vincent talking about New York I think you would really enjoy it.
“Lake Charles” by Lucinda Williams
“Whiskey Whiskey Whiskey” by John Mayer
I love Lake Charles. She did a live in-studio version on a radio station here and just killed it. Beautiful song.
Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchie sang Lake Charles when I saw her in SF a few years ago. A beautiful cover.
Lucinda is so good!
can’t let go Lucinda williams
Zombies — This Will Be Our Year
Sam Cooke — Change Is Gonna Come
They’re hopeful but not naive. I listen to them when I need hope.
Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt.”
And “Watching the Wheels” by John Lennon.
Yes to his version of Hurt. It hurts!
God Only Knows, covered by David Bowie.
it was playing in my car when i drove up on a car wreck in the wheat fields of Eastern Washington. Traffic was slowed and there were people standing in the road, watching their car burn. Like something out of a movie.
Oh, I love this cover too! What a story.
Maybe a bit of the cornball facto but especially in these times,
Nanci Griffith- From a Distance gets me every time!
Yes! So many of her songs are timely today. LOVE her.
Elvis Presley Blues by Gillian Welch
Some of these are new to me – thank you!
“Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder
Oh, the Langley School Project gets to me too.
I also think the Beatles’ Blackbird is very moving.
running up that hill — kate bush, or preferably the chromatics cover. the line “there is thunder in our hearts” speaks to me in so many different ways
I LOVE the Chromatics cover of that song. It’s one of my anthems. (Love the original too, of course.)
Lake Song (The Decemberists)
Our House (CSNY)
“Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell. Especially the later version – her voice carrying the weight of all those years…
Oh, and how could I have forgotten…”Landslide.” Stevie Nicks, now and forever.
Oh maaaaaaaaaaaaaan 😭
Oh maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan 😭
Yup.
God yes. Landslide — I *am* a landslide when I listen to this.
Every time I hear it.
People Have the Power–Patti Smith
Wild Is The Wind, the Bowie version (and of course the Nina Simone version, too). Always a sucker for sad love songs.
Here Comes a Regular — the Replacements.
Ship Without a Rudder — the Lemonheads.
For Emily whenever I may find her — Simon and Garfunkle
Because the Night — Patti Smith or Bruce Springsteen
There are so many I’ve not heard of, so thank you!
Ok here’s my top 3.
The Living Years, Mike & The Mechanics (if you’ve lost a dad, this hits hard)
For the Good Times, Al Green (a killer after a breakup)
I Shall Be Released, Nina Simone (need I say more?)
Cedar Lane by First Aid Kit and I’d Have to Be Crazy by Willie Nelson
Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” was playing when I realized that it was time to put my cat, Daisy, to sleep. She was curled up in my lap staring at me with those perfect eyes that still make me weep when I picture her.
THEN, the Beatles “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was playing at the vet when the procedure happened. I was like, seriously world?????
Both songs still reduce me to puddles after 10 years.
My after the vet, laying on the couch to cry and hurt, go to is Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. It’s not the lyrics — which are wonderful but don’t quite speak to this loss. It’s the feel of the whole thing. The love that loves to love to love…
The Rose, Bette Midler….gets me every time
I’ve always had a notion to specify it be sung by a full gospel choir at my funeral
for motivation, The Wheel by Jerry Garcia…a little pep talk
GAH, I have three more!
I cannot forget…
– Got You Under My Skin, Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons
– Layla, Unplugged version, Eric Clapton
– I Will Survive, CAKE
Fast Car, Tracy Chapman.
Anchorage, Michelle Shocked.
Ho perso le parole, Ligabue.
Awesome post. For me, Seasons of Love from Rent. Reminds me of all the sweet wonderful young men and women with AIDS who died way too young and tragically when I was a medical resident in San Francisco in the 90’s; so many deaths , so glad that is over.
Landslide (Stevie nicks)
Thunder road (Bruce Springsteen)
You can sleep while I drive (melissa ethridge)
Fire and rain (James Taylor)
Cats in the cradle (harry chapin) – can’t believe I’m the first to mention that one…
Gotta stop or I’ll need 10 more comment boxes….
Learning to Fly, Pink Floyd. It’s so damn emotional!
Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
First Day of My Life- Bright Eyes
Angie- Rolling Stones
The Waiting – Tom Petty (sort of odd but “You’re the only one that’s ever known how to make me wanna live like I wanna live now” gets me every time.)
Radiohead – Black Star:
“I keep falling over I keep passing out when I see a face like you”
The Gillian Welch cover (complete with Dave Rawlings solo) is beautiful as well.
Everyday People, Sly and the Family Stone
Side of the Road, Lucinda Williams
Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel
I’ll Be Seeing You, covered by Francoise Hardy and Iggy Pop
Sara Bareilles covering “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” is gorgeous, haunting, and brings out every nuance of sadness in that song and I CAN’T GET ENOUGH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAti8JNmJi8
Strangers by the Kinks!
thank you for reminding me of this one… SO GOOD
“The Ship Song,” by Nick Cave. Once it was playing while I was driving, and I had to pull over, I was sobbing so hard.
I second. Also, lots of Leonard Cohen. It just gets me. He got me. May he rest in peace.
This Woman’s Work- Kate Bush
I can’t help crying when I listen to this one!
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda- The Pogues. Maybe the saddest song ever.
The River- Bruce Springsteen. I’m been huge fan of the Boss for decades, but didn’t think much of this song when I was young. I just needed to stop being so young. 🙂
Yes to both of these!
Really for “Girls of a Certain Age”: “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack
Also: “The River” and “Factory” and “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen
Also: “Stay with Me Baby” by Lorraine Ellison
Also: “Unforgettable Fire” and “Love Comes Tumbling” by U2
OMG…Christiana you nailed it!
I was reading through this, thinking…I love so many of these, and then there are the ones I don’t know and want to play and then…
I’ll add Springsteen’s “Walk Like a Man” and then quite a few from the other Bruce, Cockburn.
And Patty Griffin does it to me, also. “Long Ride Home” and “Nobody’s Crying.”
“Killing Me Softly”…Roberta Flack.
So many of the above, and more. But the most recent thing to cut right through me is Kate McKinnon singing Hallelujah on SNL on Nov. 12 last year. It was Hilary to us, all of us who loved her and whose souls were just so crushed right then. I still listen to it on particularly bad Trump days — makes me feel worse but also less alone.
Hallelujah, as sung by Kate McKinnon. (Not kidding.)
That totally made me cry.
Ah! I didn’t realize that S., right above me, said the same! Well, I’m glad it’s not just me.
There are 70’s singer/songwriters whose whole catalogue of songs can turn me into a weeping mess. (Since Tamara Winawer mentioned him – I’m looking at you Harry Chapin!)
Here are some other songs that get me every time.
Nat King Cole – Nature Boy
Nada Surf – Always Love
John Haitt – Have a Little Faith in Me
Janis Ian – At Seventeen
Tom Rush’s cover of Joni Mitchell’s Urge for Going
Tom Waits – Soldier’s Things
I Wanna Be Adored – Stone Roses
This Guy’s in Love With You by Burt Bacharach. The perfect combination of joy and heartbreak!
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Tom Waits “Tom Traubert’s Blues”. You’ll never stop crying
Amen.
Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone, Bill Withers.
The Sundays’ Here’s Where the Story Ends. Makes my heart hurt in the best, nostalgic/painful way.
Yes,I totally agree!
Me too Rebecca.
And Famous Blue Raincoat by Leonard Cohen.
The Long and Winding Road- Beatles, Meeting Across the River- Bruce Springsteen, A Case of You- Joni Mitchell
The one that kills me EVERY SINGLE TIME is Dar Williams’s “The Babysitter”
Bless you for mentioning Dar! Lots of her songs get me, even silly ones like Teenagers Kick Our Butts – it makes me think of the wonderful kids I teach and my own two little ones, all of whom are or will be awesome, difficult, kick-butt teenagers.
I just adopted a baby so This Will Be Our Year by the Zombies and I Must Be In A Good Place Now by Bobby Charles makes me cry instantly. Long December by Counting Crows and Harvest Moon by Neil Young give me the sentimental sobs.
Shawn Colvin’s “Riding Shotgun Down the Avalanche”
And on a positive note: “California Stars” by Wilco (lyrics written by Woody Guthrie)
Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain sung by Willie Nelson. Both bring to mind my daughter who died at age 10.
So sorry, Donna, about your daughter. Heartbreak for life. Willie Nelson does come through when sadness goes that deep.
So sorry for your loss, Donna.
Love to you, Donna
Oh Donna. I am so sorry.
So sorry for your loss, Donna. No words…
I love so many of these! And I’d like to add Wake Up, by Arcade Fire.
There are so many good ones mentioned.
I’d add Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “You’re All I Need”
And there are a million jazz songs that do me in––Etta James “At Last” always begins the list
Patsy Cline..”Crazy” is always good when I’m feeling…crazy.
Crosby, Still, Nash and Young can send me to a different planet. (I’m that old)
“Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby” EmmyLou Harris, Gillian Welsh, Allison Krause (these three ladies can knock my socks off)
Kim, would you consider curating a GOACA playlist for us from these reader selections?
There are so many good songs here so I think I might have to! Thanks for the suggestion.
Yay. Yes.
So many good ones already, but these two get me…
Stand By Me, Ben E. King
Forever Young, by Bob Dylan
Oh! “Forever Young” by Dylan was the song my husband and daughter danced their Father/Daughter dance to at her wedding. I was crying.
This is an amazing thread; thank all of you. I’d have to say:
Dar Williams’ We Learned the Sea and any of Bruce Cockburn’s live, acoustic versions of Lovers in a Dangerous Time. The original of that one is too driving-80s-pop to really transport or send one trembling, but oh, the acoustic versions …
Aimee Mann wise up
Genesis In the Air Tonight
It’s weird but I don’t listen to music as much as I used to. Or maybe not in the same way as I used to.
The Breeders cover of Happiness is a warm gun
Antony and the Johnsons cover of Bey’s Crazy in Love
Tortise and Will Oldham’s cover of Thunder Road
Springsteen’s Thunder Road
Coltrane Alabama
Steppin’ out Joe Jackson-total 80’s nostalgia
When the Sun Dies Betty Carter
Angel from Montgomery, Bonnie Raitt
Bob Dylan, Infidels Sweetheart like you. Hell, the WHOLE ALBUM(and I don’t care if you all don’t like it
Damn, you got me going here.
Joe Jackson gets me every time. Fools in Love is the song that really pulls at my heart.
“The Book of Love” by The Magnetic Fields, particularly the cover by Peter Gabriel. So achingly beautiful.
i don’t know why i didn’t think of this at first.
Michael Stipe sang Ashes to Ashes w/ Karen Elson @ a Bowie tribute. it’s incredibly moving.
Because Gary Jules version of “Mad World” always makes me think it’s Michael Stipe! So sad.
Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver or anyone else. Immediate tears.
Bowie:
Rock N Roll Suicide
Lazarus
Life on Mars
his cover of I Know It’s Going To Happen Some Day
Tift Merritt: Hopes Too High, Broken
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Despair
Aimee Mann: Wise Up, This Is How It Goes
U2: Bad, Running to Stand Still
Ryan Adams: Lucky Now
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova: Falling Slowly
Cowboy Junkies: A Horse in the Country
Mother of Pearl by Rory Music
Of course, I meant RoXy Music.
For Baby, for Bobbie by John Denver
Darcy Farrow by John Denver
The first is joyous, the second is tragic. Both are capable of making tears squirt out of my eyes.
Last Kiss by practically anybody–but lately Pearl Jam
I first heard a version of it in the very late ’60s or early ’70s while riding with my Dad in our VW Bug. It was the first time I realized a song could tell a story.
Lana del Rey Once Upon a Dream. I have goosebumps thinking about it.
More than This, Roxy Music
Solisbury Hill, Peter Gabriel
Straight into Darkness, Runnin’ Down a Dream, Breakdown, anything TP
Some that weren’t mentioned:
Everyday Boy — Joan Armatrading
Crying — kd lang (cover of Roy Orbison classic)
Ghost in You — Psychedelic Furs
Transatlantacism — Death Cab for Cutie
Call the Days — Nadia Reid
Under Pressure — Bowie/Mercury (Tears, tears, tears. Such vibrant artists!)
Song for Zula — Phosphorescent
Calling all Angels — Jane Siberry and kd lang (kd lang’s restraint is enough to make one weep.)
North Dakota — Lyle Lovett
Holocene — Bon Iver
Ivo — Cocteau Twins
Song to the Siren — This Mortal Coil
Little Green, by Joni Mitchell.
100 years, by Five for Fighting.
If I’m feeling vulnerable, I have to shuffle past these if they come onto my Apple Music. 🙁
No Gordon Lightfoot?
The Way I Feel and Early Morning Rain
Springsteen’s “Racing in the Street”
Clapton’s “Old Love”
Pink Floyd’s “Wish you were Here”
Bowie’s “Rock & Roll Suicide”
And THIS cover of “This Guy’s in Love with You” by Sammy Davis, which is sexy, tough, brilliant, vulnerable…did I mention sexy??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxKtN7m60SA
“Paddy’s Gone” – Antony & the Johnsons
“Revelator” – Gillian Welch
“Strange Fruit” – Nina Simone
Ditto on Song for Zula.. I find that many Nick Cave songs also do it for me. And “Night Windows” by the Weakerthans, a band from my home town…
One more, Back in the Highlife Again – Warren Zevon Version!
Oh man, great question. I have too many!
The Wind – Cat Stevens
Something So Right – Paul Simon
That’s Where It’s At – Sam Cooke
Staralfur – Sigur Ros
Day Dreaming – Aretha Franklin
Amie – Pure Prairie League
Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show
Rainbow Connection – Willie Nelson cover
Forgiveness – Don Henley
Hold On – WIlson Phillips
Night Swimming – R.E.M.
Just Breathe – Pearl Jam, playing on the drive home after saying goodbye to my dad.
Army Dreamers – Kate Bush, puts me in memory of a classmate’s brother, killed in The Troubles. We all had crushes on that handsome, handsome boy.
late to this party, but: Pocahontas by Neil Young
I will never tire of that song.
There are so many great songs here! Would add
Common People -Pulp
All the Umbrellas in London -Magnetic Fields