Sad Songs Say So Much

Ya big crybaby
Posted by Hello

Do songs make you cry?
Are you one of those people that hears a certain melody, and you are instantly fighting back tears? Eyes welling up while you drive in your car because a heartwrenching tune has popped up on your iPod?

That's me. Big time. At the movies, watching tv, in the car...doesn't matter.

Sometimes it has nothing to do with the lyrics either. It can be the slow aching drone of a cello, or the sad, simplistic minor keys on a piano. But they just WRENCH something out of you, don't they? I hate to admit this, but at Sea World ( during Shamu's show ) , they started to play the most ridiculous adult-contemporary drivel - a ballad that had a chorus of "You Raise Me Up" (something perfect for an Olympic ice skating performance) and I will admit that it got me. I sat misty eyed, watching these amazing killer whales soar thru the water to this song, and while it might have been their beauty that made me teary, the song helped. A REALLY STUPID song, too.

I mean, everyone knows that music can really heighten an emotion. What the fuck do you think movie scores and soundtracks are for? The scene in "She's Having a Baby" where Kevin Bacon's wife is rushed in to have an emergency c-section, while he sits afraid and helpless in the hallway is ALREADY a tearjerker. Adding Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" in the background is enough to make you fall on the floor in a bawling heap. It's perfect. It's torture.

I love a good cry. I love hearing a song that makes me feel it right down to the center of my being. I love that a song can be so sad, or beautiful, or raw that I am in tears. Sure, it's happened at inopportune moments, but that's okay. It's great that a piece of music can evoke that much feeling in me. Whether it's their voice, their words, their music - or a combination of all three - it's a great compliment to those artists. They got me. YOU moved me. Thank you. Sometimes it's like they are singing TO you, or it's like you could have written the words yourself. Whatever it is, it got under your skin and the tears are a-flowing.

Here are some of my all-time favorite weepy tunes. The first song (REM) is obvious ( by the title alone) , but it still doesn't take away anything from it. It GOT me. It's an anthem for anyone embracing some pain, and who can't relate to that? All the others songs on here have made Kleenex an extra buck or two as well. I have to explain The Dixie Chicks one though. I respect them musically, but it's not really my cup of tea. A couple years ago, a friend mine took her life and it really hit many of us hard. The worst being that she left behind a 2 year old son ( as the mother of a little boy, this was crushing to me. ) At the funeral, they played "Godspeed" by the Dixie Chicks, and it was like she had come out of the clouds and was singing to her little boy. They could not have chosen a better song, and at the same time, it was so incredibly painful to hear. That song will forever make me cry. And the last song I chose (INCUBUS) , while I find it very pretty and touching in a lyrical sense, it was the last 30 seconds that caved me in. Something about the way he sings it just tears thru me.
*sigh*
Pardon me while I tune in and sob ....

Note: Many songs off of Sarah McLachlan's "Fumbling Thru Ecstasy" album can get me going too, but I couldn't pick just one...so I left them off the list.

REM - Everybody Hurts
Aimee Mann - Wise Up
Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should've Come Over
Jennifer Holliday - And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going
Dixie Chicks - Godspeed
Sinead O'Connor - Troy
India.Arie - Ready For Love
Incubus - Southern Girl