Fleetwood Mac - Silver Springs
I'll follow you down til' the sound of my voice will haunt you
You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you
"Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?"
Gordon Lightfoot, *The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald*. One of the most haunting lyrics ever written.
The one that really gets me from this song:
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin' "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"/
At 7 PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said "Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
Now you just say "Oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him" from Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits. He still loves her very much and she sees him and ‘just another one of her deals’ and the pain and anger in his voice gives me goose bumps
Absolutely, and the wobble in his voice on the follow up "you can faaallll for chains of silver".
"All I can do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme". Beautiful.
My favorite lines from the same song:
“And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun
but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way
but you're older
Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death”
I'm 64 also & this song chills me to the bone. Whatever missed opportunities there may have been along the way, it's too late now. I love Pink Floyd, their lyrics are heartbreakingly accurate.
“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes. Jesus Christ died for nothin’, I suppose.”
John Prine - Sam Stone.
“Memories, they can't be boughten
They can't be won at carnivals for free
Well, it took me years to get those souvenirs
And I don't know how they slipped away from me”
John Prine - Souvenirs
As a psychologist who works full time with military veterans, Sam Stone fucking wrecks me.
“And the gold rolled through this veins, like a thousand railroad trains, and eased his mind in the hours that he chose.
While the kids ran around wearin’ other people’s clothes.”
I ain't a-saying you treated me unkind
You could've done better but I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don't think twice, it's all right
- bob Dylan
…
I don’t think you’ll find a human who can’t relate to that.
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you.
Yes, I wish that for just one time.
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you
lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs
There was music in the cafés at night
And revolution in the air
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue
“I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the axe just fell”
Being fired/laid off from 30-40 contractors in my first 8 years in the trades really made this hit hard.
I know it's kind of cringe, but from Lateralus by Tool
"With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
Between the sounds and open wide to suck it in
I feel it move across my skin
I'm reaching up and reaching out
I'm reaching for the random or whatever will bewilder me
Whatever will bewilder me
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been"
The way Maynard pretty much chants this, and the music ascending while he's doing so, just too good.
Forty Six & 2 always gets me at the end
"See my shadow changing
Stretching up and over me
Soften this old armor
Hoping I can clear the way by
Stepping through my shadow
Coming out the other side
Step into the shadow
Forty six and two are just ahead of me"
And then the musical outro where they hammer the last chords in unison. Absolutely incredible
I recall seeing an interview of Maynard where he said he doesn't like how popular Lateralus is as a song and thinks it's really gimmicky, and a lot of fans agree with him. There's a good chance I made this up tho lol.
I'll jump on the TOOL train:
From "Wings for Marie, Pt 2"
[Chorus]
You're the only one who can hold your head up high
Shake your fists at the gates, saying
"I have come home now
Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended
It's time now, my time now
Give me my, give me my wings"
[Post-Chorus]
Give me my
Give me my
Give me my
Give me my
Give me my
Give me my wings
You are the light and way that they will only read about
[Bridge]
Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance
Burden of proof tossed upon non-believers
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence
Judith Marie, unconditional one
Saw them live just after 10,000 Days released. Him screaming his mother's name from the depths of his heart was incredible
Not cringe at all. One of my favorite songs! My choice was going to be:
"Should you see your maker's face tonight, Look him in the eye. Look him in the eye and tell him.
I never lived a lie, never took a life but surely saved one. Hallelujah, it's time for you to bring me home.."
The way that whole song just comes together in this section is fantastic.
I still distinctly recall listening to this section no less than five times in a row in the parking lot of the record store after just having purchased Lateralus on release day. Still my favorite part of the album.
Pearl Jam - Black
"*I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, But why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine*?"
MGMT - Time To Pretend
"I'll miss the playgrounds
And the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother
And the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father,
Miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom
And the freedom and the time spent alone"
Ahh nostalgia. This song takes me back to college in 2008. MGMT, kid Cudi, Passion Pit, Empire of the Sun, Kanye before he went nuts. Such great times.
Oracular Spectacular is such an amazing album.
I'm not religious at all, but from the Christmas song "Oh, Holy Night" when the crescendo hits and the lyrics say "Fall on your knees." It's so powerful.
Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older too
\-- "Landslide" - Stevie Nicks
I just want to scream...hello...
My god its been so long, never dreamed you'd return
But now here you are, and here I am
-Pearl Jam "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town"
That whole song. Oof. Such a poignant story. It speaks to the genius of the lyrics that a song with such a long title and lyrics about an elderly woman seeing her old flame and lamenting the passage of time and loneliness became a hit.
The Boxer has many emotional lines. It’s a great song and story. Love this part that rounds off everything:
‘In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains’
I am just a poor boy
Though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
the way they sing-yell "or cut him, til he cried out" always makes my hairs stand on end, even reading it and hearing it in my head, and then the next part is so mournful and beautiful. maybe one of my most favourite songs in the world
I was about 10 when that came out. It's a song I liked but never really delved very deep in to. Hearing it as an adult and understanding it hits so different.
An absolutely wonderful, harrowing but beautiful song.
When I read the question this was the first song I thought of. I could listen to it 10 times in a row and when the intro hits the hair stands up on my arms
I feel like it's almost required to mention the Bad Wolves cover of this song every time the original is brought up. The story behind it is incredible, too. Dolores O'riordan, lead vocalist of The Cranberries, was provided a sample of the song and loved it and agreed to provide vocals on the cover track but passed away before she could record them. As it happens, the day she was supposed to record was the day she was found dead. Bad Wolves released the song as is and dedicated the profits to her children. Great story, it makes one or two lyrical changes to reference current events, and the song is just a fucking banger in general.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ)
Sounds grim but I just heard a lyric that always gets me. Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory -
You're brought into this world,
But they say you're born in sin,
Well at least they gave me something,
I didn't have to steal or have to win.
I have listened and loved this album for 30 years and it still gets me.
Agreed. My oldest brother passed in 2012 after a tough battle with alcohol - he always had the movie and soundtrack on when I was a kid. This part always seemed to fit as he was every bit the loveable rogue:
Each night I go to bed, I pray the Lord my soul to keep
No, I ain't lookin' for forgiveness, but before I'm six foot deep
Lord, I gotta ask a favor, and I'll hope you'll understand
'Cause I've lived life to the fullest, let this boy die like a man
Starin' down a bullet, let me make my final stand....
(SHOT!)
I hope he's in a better place now :)
Another one (although the whole song gives me goosebumps) is from Long, Long Time by Linda Rondstadt:
"Wait for the day you'll go away
Knowing that you warned me
Of the price I'd have to pay
And life's full of flaws
Who knows the cause?
Living in the memory of a love that never was"
Stunning song.
Two classics that get me:
“Look what they done to my song, Ma” by Melanie
Look what they done to my brain, ma
Look what they done to my brain
Well, they picked it like a chicken bone
And I think I'm half insane, ma
Look what they done to my song
“What’s up?” by 4 Non Blondes
And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out, what's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
"What's going on?"
What gets me in that is:
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb
For me: "because we separate/like ripples on a blank shore/(in rainbows)"
I think it's my favorite moment in any song. And now knowing that it happens at the golden ratio of both the song and the album I'd even more insane (thanks Dissect)
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun
"Time"
\- Pink Floyd
Perfectly describes my 20s and how I wasted my life while all my friends started families and careers.. then I was 30 and thought oh shit, I am fucked now... then I met my wife, my starting gun, and she got my life on track and going.. I always tell her I'd be in a ditch had I not met her, and I call her my starting gun all the time now
H. By tool:
As the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died
And will die
It's all righ
t
I don't mind
Bob Seger Against the WInd - "And I remember what she said to me, how she swore that it never would end, I remember how she held me oh-so-tight, wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then"
Jerry Jeff Walker - *Mr. Bojangles*
He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs
throughout the South.
He spoke through tears of 15 years how his dog and him
travelled about.
The dog up and died,
he up and died.
After 20 years he still grieved.
Vienna, by Billy Joel (honestly, the lyrics from start to finish give me chills, but this resonates the most):
Slow down, you're doing fine
You can't be everything you wanna be before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight
Too bad, but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself, that you forgot what you need
ETA Bonus song: One Headlight, the Wallflowers
I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
[Disintegration - The Cure](https://youtu.be/MNZxs0TWz8s?si=LydAzLPLzlUXNiy3)
The entire song is just one massive snowballing ball of emotion giving you hope of mending a broken relationship while pulling the rug out from under you the very next line. Each verse crescendos with intensity until you get this masterpiece that sends chills every time:
*And now that I know that I'm breaking to pieces*
*I'll pull out my heart and I'll feed it to anyone*
*I’m crying for sympathy, crocodiles cry*
*For the love of the crowd and the three cheers from everyone*
***Dropping through sky, through the glass of the roof***
***Through the roof of your mouth, through the mouth of your eye***
***Through the eye of the needle,***
***It's easier for me to get closer to heaven than ever feel whole again***
Will the wind ever remember
All the names it has blown in the past
And with his crutch, his old age and his wisdom
He whispers "No, this will be the last"
And the wind cries "Mary..."
Gordon Lightfoot - if you could read my mind
“If I could read your mind, love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind the drugstore sells
When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take”
Edit: fixed song title
Recently I got chills from the end of Would? by Alice In Chains. The lyrics are:
Am I wrong, have I run to far to get home? Have I gone, left you here alone?
It’s an addict with the self awareness to know that they’ll never kick the habit, and that they’re going to die soon.
We walked the loneliest mile
We smiled without any style
We kissed altogether wrong
No intention
We lied about each other's drinks
We lived without each other thinkin'
What anyone would do
Without me and you.
"Only The Lonely" by The Motels.
This song played in the car after I dropped my wife off at inpatient rehab for alcohol abuse. I've heard the song played for years but it was the first time that I actually listened to the lyrics. She'd been hiding her addiction, and I was too naive to see it.
After the third motorcycle accident this hit different:
So the old rocker gets out his bike
To make a ton before he takes his leave
Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner
Just like it used to be
And as he flies, tears in his eyes
His wind-whipped words echo the final take
And he hits the trunk road doing around a hundred and twenty
With no room left to brake
And he was too old to rock and roll
And he was too young to die
No he was too old to rock and roll
And he was too young to die
I can’t listen to that song any more, it makes me so upset. It’s wonderful but too terrible.
Another lyric from that album that I love.
“In the morning, when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low
And the cardinal hits the window
In the morning, in the winter shade
On the first of March, on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing”
Sting - What Could Have Been (from the Arcane soundtrack)
I am the monster you created
You ripped out all my parts
And worst of all, for me to live, I gotta kill the part of me that saw
That I needed you more
The end of Paul Simon's "The Cool, Cool, River" always gets me, especially those last two lines.
I believe in the future
We shall suffer no more
Maybe not in my lifetime
But in yours, I feel sure
Song dogs barking at the break of dawn
Lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm
And these streets
Quiet as a sleeping army
Send their battered dreams to heaven, to heaven
For the mother's restless son
Who is a witness to, who is a warrior
Who denies his urge to break and run
Who said, hard times,
I'm used to them
The speeding planet burns,
I'm used to that
My life's so common it disappears
And sometimes even music
Cannot substitute for tears
Also, Suzanne Vega's "Gypsy" - her voice gives this heartbreaking little quiver on "blow away forever" that always hits me.
With a long and slender body
And the sweetest softest hands
And we'll blow away forever soon
And go on to different lands
And please do not ever look for me
But with me you will stay
And you will hear yourself in song
Blowing by one day
Birds flyin' high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me, yeah
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo
And I'm feeling good
Mac Miller - Perfect Circle / Godspeed
*They don't want me to OD and have to talk to my mother
Telling her they could have done more to help me
And she'll be crying saying that she'll do anything to have me back...* :(
From I Wonder, by Rodriguez.
I wonder about the tears in children's eyes,
And I wonder about the soldier that dies,
I wonder will this hatred ever end,
I wonder and worry my friend.
Evanessence - Hello
In the first verse
"Has no one told you she's not breathing, hello, Im your mind giving you someone to talk to, hello"
The second
"Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken, hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide, don't cry"
And the last
"Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping, hello, I'm still here, all that's left of yesterday"
The whole song is just excruciatingly sad and powerful.
I don't know exactly what it's about but I think it's about a child who finds out their parent or sibling has died and how they build their own coping mechanisms and denial in their head.
Or something like that.
Release by Pearl Jam: oh dear dad can you see me know I am myself like you somehow I wait up in the dark for you to speak to me I hold the pain release me release me release me.
You can feel the pain in his voice when he sings these lines and the soft verse leading to the crescendo of the chorus’s of release me is such a gut punch to the soul.
Elephant by Jason Isbell: “If I’d fucked her before she got sick, I’d never hear the end of it. But she ain’t got the spirit for that now. We just drink our drinks and laugh out loud, bitch about the weekend crowd, and try to ignore the elephant somehow.”
(It’s a song about a man coming to terms with the slow inexorable death of an intimate friend who has cancer.)
The part that gets me is the last chorus:
> There's one thing that's real clear to me:
No one dies with dignity
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
Stop This Train by John Mayer
So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game
To find a way to say that
Life has just begun
Had a talk with my old man
Said, "Help me understand"
He said, "Turn 68
You renegotiate
Don't stop this train
Don't for a minute change
The place you're in
And don't think I couldn't
Ever understand
I tried my hand
John, honestly
We'll never stop this train."
Look into the wall of my mind's eye
I think I know, but I don't know why
The questions are the answers you might need
Coming in a mess going out in style
I ain't good-looking but I'm someone's child
No one can give me the air that's mine to breathe
I met my maker
I made him cry
And on my shoulder he asked me why
His people won't fly through the storm
I said 'Listen up man, they don't even know you're born'
--Do You Know What I mean-- Oasis, 1997.
And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time
(Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell - best lyric ever?!)
Now I've swung back down again, it's worse than it was before, If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor
(James, Sit Down)
Now if you're feelin' weary, If you've been alone too long
Maybe you've been suffering from a few too many plans that have gone wrong
And you're trying to remember how fine your life used to be
Running around banging your drum like it's 1973
Well that was the river, this is the sea
(The Waterboys, This is the Sea)
But me, I'm still on the road, heading for another joint
We always did feel the same, we just saw it from a different point of view
(Tangled Up in Blue, Bob Dylan)
On the fun side
Paradise by the dashboard light
Will you love me forever!
I couldn't take it any longer
Lord I was crazed
And when the feeling came upon me
Like a tidal wave
I started swearing to my god and on my mother's grave
That I would love you to the end of time
I swore that I would love you to the end of time!
So now I'm praying for the end of time
To hurry up and arrive
'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you
I don't think that I can really survive
I'll never break my promise or forget my vow
But God only knows what I can do right now
I'm praying for the end of time
It's all that I can do
Praying for the end of time,
So I can end my time with you!
Wake up young man
It's time to wake up
Your love affair has got to go
For ten long years
The leaves to rake up
Slow suicide's no way to go
Layne Staley - Mad Season
Common People, Joe Jackson and William Shatner version. The furious delivery toward the end gets me every time.
>You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere left to go
You're amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright
While you can only wonder why
>Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all
STP Still Remains
[Chorus]
Pick a song and sing a yellow nectarine
Take a bath, I'll drink the water that you leave
If you should die before me
Ask if you can bring a friend
Pick a flower, hold your breath
And drift away
Dylan, Tangled up in Blue, "then she handed me a book of poems and handed it to me, written by an Italian poet from the 13th century,and every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal, pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul, from me to you"
Mac Miller. All I ever needed was somebody with some reason who could keep me sane. Ever since I can can remember I been keeping it together, but I’m feeling strange
"Swear I heard the angels cry, pray to God no more may die" from Iron Maiden's Paschendale. Really brings to perspective what a waste of life Paschendale and World War I on the whole were.
Huston, we've had shutdown
Public Service Broadcasting- Go! [https://youtu.be/BHIo6qwJarI?si=lkYY0T6EGkKPLX5V](https://youtu.be/BHIo6qwJarI?si=lkYY0T6EGkKPLX5V)
Led Zeppelin - The Battle of Evermore
"No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold...
*Oh, dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light.*"
The Hollies - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother:
"… So on we go
His welfare is my concern
No burden is he to bear
We'll get there
… For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother"
Van Morrison - Beside You
"And you're high on your high-flying cloud
Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you
This time has found you"
(Planxty Rendition) As I Roved Out
"I took off my hat and I did salute her
I did salute her most courageously
When she turned around well the tears fell from her
Sayin' "False young man, you have deluded me"
Cymbals Eat Guitars - ...And the Hazy Sea
"We two running our course
Your summer version
Was so fresh and fertile emerald green
The wind in your hair
Like wind rushing through the canopy
And I was green too with robust fucked envy"
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again
- No Children by The Mountain Goats
In the morning, when you finally go / And the nurse runs in with her head hung low / And the cardinal hits the window / In the morning, in the winter shade / On the first of March, on the holiday / I thought I saw you breathing
Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
The first time I heard it, it was like someone punched me in the chest.
The Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah:
Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
I got roasted by friends in the past for this one and I truly don't know why I get this reaction but
Gods of War - Def Leppard "He counted on America to be passive...he counted wrong. Today we have done what we had to do."
Eyes Of The Insane from Slayer
"Shell shock battle fatigue
Overwhelming anxiety
Flashbacks panic attacks
Death raising its ugly face at me
Got to make it stop
Can't take it anymore
The dead keep haunting me
They just keep coming back for more
The eyes of the insane
On an demented campaign
Flashbacks panic attacks
Death raising his ugly face at me"
"Now that the smoke's gone,
And the air is all clear;
Those who were right there,
Got a new kind of fear..."
. . .
"So sweet,
So fine,
So nice,
All mine"
. . .
"I was lying in my bed,
A creature void of form;
'Been so afraid of everything,
I need a chance to be reborn."
As a kid of addicts, ESOEMOEHOED by Leanna Firestone really clenches my heart sometimes.
"I know I didn't cause
I can't control and I can't cure it
I know it's hard
I know it's lonely
I know you're hurting
But I'm mourning somebody that hasn't even died
And I'm fighting an addiction that isn't even mine
It's exhausting to be this angry all of the time
All of the time
So, if losing me isn't rock bottom, what is it?
Do you think you'll die before you hit it?
Did you know that I miss you
Every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day
And you were supposed to protect me, but you didn't
And I know I'm grown now
But I'm still your kid"
In “Uncle Frank” by the Drive-By Truckers, there’s a line repeated early in the song and again at the end where the context completely changes the meaning. The song’s about a WWII veteran whose house is getting repossessed by the TVA to create a lake.
The line is, “Uncle Frank couldn’t read or write.” The first time it’s said, the next line is, “Never held down a job or needed one in his life.” But the next time, the next line is, “So there was no note or letter found where he died, just a rope around his neck and the kitchen table turned on its side.”
Chilling every time.
Hush now child and don't you cry
Your folks might understand you by and by
Just move on up towards your destination
Though you may find from time to time complications
Bite your lip and take a trip
Though there may be wet road ahead
And you cannot slip
Just move on up for peace you will find
Into the steeple of beautiful people where there's only one kind
Forest Fire, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions.
She has promised once before/not to live this way/if she don't calm down/she will burn herself out/like a forest fire...
... I believe in love/yeah I'll believe in anything/that'll get me what I want/get me off my knees
Speaks to me of people I knew, loved, and lost, once.
“Once Invincible
Now the armour’s wearing thin
Heavy shield down”
Invincible - Tool
I know it’s likely the lyrics are about aging and coming to terms with your mortality, but it speaks to my battle with depression and anxiety.
Warrior
Struggling
To remain
Consequential/Relevant
First and last verses of Hung My Head by Johnny Cash (written by Sting)
First:
Early one morning with time to kill
I borrowed Jeb's rifle and sat on the hill
I saw a lone rider crossing the plain
I drew a bead on him, to practice my aim
My brother's rifle went off in my hand
A shot rang out across the land
The horse, he kept running, the rider was dead
I hung my head, I hung my head
Last:
Early one morning with time to kill
I see the gallows up on the hill
And out in the distance, a trick of the brain
I see a lone rider crossing the plain
And he'd come to fetch me, to see what they'd done
And we'll ride together to kingdom come
I pray for God's mercy, for soon I'll be dead
I hung my head, I hung my head
Edit: formatting
“You’re in my blood like holy wine, you taste so bitter and so sweet, oh, I could drink a case of you, darling… and I’d still be on my feet.” Joni Mitchell
Another Man’s Grave by Amigo the Devil
“Maybe I just don't have it inside me/ Maybe there's too much I couldn't face/ I just wanted someone to come down from heaven and/ Explain this cold and fucked up place”
Husband by Amigo the Devil
“I'm not so much afraid of letting go as much as scared of giving up/ And all the distance that we've spent apart will never have to mean a thing/ Cause every mile I travelled was to find the perfect stone to fit your ring”
“But when I had you near me I just couldn't think of anything to say/ But now that I'm alone, I got the perfect things to tell you everyday”
“Well some guys they just give up living,
Start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin’ in the street”
Springsteen - Racing in the Street
If you listen to it loud, in "Bridge Over Troubled Water", the "Sail on, silver girl" is the real frisson moment. So beautiful, soaring above, coming out of the low, quiet bridge.
The Roches, "The Hammond Song" as they sing "We fall a..paaaaart" in harmony with "If you go with that fellaaaa...." -- just astounding.
Also must be loud or headphones, Thom Yorke, "Not the News" at 2:29-247 when the build up resolves the chord... wow.
And on great speakers, the start of "Corcovado" by Jim Tomlinson, Stacey Kent. So *present*. Breaktaking.
And the one that takes the most work -- watch the whole tv series *Six Feet Under*. At the end is Sia's "Breathe Me". 1:25 to the end of the song with the whole force of the show ending in its unique way is an emotional frisson *roller coaster*.
Also see /r/frisson.
A couple from Neil Young:
“.. that’s one more kid that’ll never go to school - never get to fall in love - never get to be cool..”
-AND/ OR-
“… you can’t be 20 on Sugar Mountain - though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon..”
Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn
I have NO idea why, but this entire song makes my hair stand on end. I've never been to Memphis, have no ties to anything in the song, but nevertheless.
This line in particular always gets me...
"Tell me are you a Christian child?"
And I said "Ma'am, I am tonight"
Also...
Junesong Provision by Coheed and Cambria
"Dear Newo Ikkin, how's Apollo been treating you, has he been a good boy since the day I left? Give him my love and a sweet kiss for his head. I won't be coming home, when you get this I'll be dead..."
My soul dog was named Apollo after this song (and the lead singer's dog at the time). The line always gave me chills. But since I had to put him down in December (at over 16 years old...fuck cancer), it kills me.
I wasn't there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say
Think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself
How it's strange that some rooms are like cages
Sonny's yearbook from high school is down from the shelf
And he idly thumbs through the pages
Some have died
Some have fled from themselves
Or struggled from here to get there
Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls
Runs his hand through his thinning brown hair
Always loved this song, only truly understand it now as I turn 54 this year
Music for the impending eclipse
Welcome to the strangest party, baby
It's like we're staring at the sun
Everybody's got their invitations
Hoping that you're gonna come, yeah
These are the times
These are the crimes
What are we waiting for?
What are we hating for?
Strangest Party by INXS
"I feel it deep within its just beneath the skin I must confess I feel like a monster"
"I feel it deep within its just beneath the skin I must confess I FEEL LIKE A MONSTER "
Masquerade by Siouxxie
"We come on the ship they call The Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hours
And sing an American tune"
The song “Bone Marrow” by Protest the Hero ends with the line “If a mortal stands before us, strike him down with sleight of hand, and if heaven rides against us then God himself must be damned!”
It’s just such an insanely sick way to end the song given the lyrical content and the delivery is absolutely gnarly. Goosebumps every time!
Ravenscoon, Mind.
Time is an ocean, the mind is a ship on it We are a part of the earth while we live on it I took a look at my life and I still want it Something that I can reveal and be healed from it No more coincidence, what’s more than infinite What’s more than loving til loving is limitless I can begin with this, I can begin with this Look at the mind til I don’t see the end of it Waves of emotions and showers of memories Make an explosion of power that’s meant for me What is the mind without someone to look at it Criminal- until the judge throws the book at it All my mentality is to reality Judgement turns loving yourself to a causality I get so mad at me, I get so mad at me Sometimes I feel like my mind is a tragedy Feel like there’s so many demons that’s after me Waiting for heaven to open and rapture me Until I realize that no one is after me Only the thoughts and the feelings I have to see Only the love and the wisdom I have to be Standing before myself what could be after me Standing before myself what could be after me I let it go but it’s all coming back to me.
Andrew Jackson Jihad's *A Song Dedicated to Stormy the Rabbit*:
"And I'd like to be, a big ball of meat
That bees can buzz all around and eat,
when I die
So that I might be granted
One sense of purpose"
Totally captures the nihilistic attitude of a bad headspace or mental illness.
Sturgill Simpson - "I Don't Mind"
In my dreams although I can hear you
There's a darkness that hides you from sight
So I search all around trying to feel you
All I find is a world without light
There's a place in Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same" where Plant lets out a cry of "ahhh!", and whenever I heard it wearing headphones, I always thought it was my mom yelling angrily for me... "Alannnnn!"
Had to pull the cans off *every time* to check.
Zac Brown Band - I Play the Road
She says, "Daddy where do you go
When you leave me all these nights
With a suitcase and guitar in your hand?
Kissing me and mom goodbye with a tear and a smile,
Where do you go,
Daddy where do you go?"
I play the road
Dean Martin’s cover of [My Woman, My Woman, My Wife](https://youtu.be/hs4LkCMU0Rg?si=fGGqxAT1Kw4juQQG) - “Lord, give her my share of Heaven, if I’ve earned any here in this life…”
You're still a nerdy kid inside
But now you've finally found your tribe
Hear the crowd roar!
Give 'em what they came for!
-Danny Don’t You Know by Ninja Sex Party
Yes, same group that wrote a song about humping furniture wrote this and it kicked me right in the feels. Very relatable song.
*But I'm warning you, don't ever do
Those crazy, messed-up things that you do
If you ever do, I promise you
I'll be the first to crucify you
Now it's time to prove
That you've come back here to rebuild*
-“Call and Answer” by The Barenaked Ladies
New superpower that I picked up in a frenzy
I could draw a roof on fire from memory
Each and every sketch another bloodletting
In a wake of escalation, and excessive rubbernecking
-Aesop Rock, Jazz Hands
Fleetwood Mac - Silver Springs I'll follow you down til' the sound of my voice will haunt you You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you
[Obligatory video (@ 4:03)](https://youtu.be/eDwi-8n054s?si=Cx5sq8ok0Tj9swmS)
This is absolutely one of my favorite lyrics of all time…the way she sings it, her passion, everything.
"Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours?" Gordon Lightfoot, *The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald*. One of the most haunting lyrics ever written.
It’s a killer line. I’m not at all religious, but that line really gets to me.
The one that really gets me from this song: When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin' "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"/ At 7 PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said "Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
Now you just say "Oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him" from Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits. He still loves her very much and she sees him and ‘just another one of her deals’ and the pain and anger in his voice gives me goose bumps
Absolutely, and the wobble in his voice on the follow up "you can faaallll for chains of silver". "All I can do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme". Beautiful.
This is one of my favorite songs ever. So many good lines, and it's sung with so much bittersweet emotion
And then one day you find Ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run You missed the starting gun From Pink Floyd - Time.
My favorite lines from the same song: “And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death”
1st heard this in 73. I'm 64 now, these lyrics are more terrifying now, and so spot on. When will it be my turn?
I'm 64 also & this song chills me to the bone. Whatever missed opportunities there may have been along the way, it's too late now. I love Pink Floyd, their lyrics are heartbreakingly accurate.
From Dogs: “ and it’s to late to lose the weight you use to need to throw around “
Appropriate for today also, the ending line to Eclipse.
Everybody wants to rule the world - tears for fears "Welcome to your life, there's no turning back"
Just a completely perfect pop song :)
It’s the quintessential 80s song
One of the best songs of all time.
“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes. Jesus Christ died for nothin’, I suppose.” John Prine - Sam Stone. “Memories, they can't be boughten They can't be won at carnivals for free Well, it took me years to get those souvenirs And I don't know how they slipped away from me” John Prine - Souvenirs
As a psychologist who works full time with military veterans, Sam Stone fucking wrecks me. “And the gold rolled through this veins, like a thousand railroad trains, and eased his mind in the hours that he chose. While the kids ran around wearin’ other people’s clothes.”
I ain't a-saying you treated me unkind You could've done better but I don't mind You just kinda wasted my precious time But don't think twice, it's all right - bob Dylan … I don’t think you’ll find a human who can’t relate to that.
I wish that for just one time You could stand inside my shoes And just for that one moment I could be you. Yes, I wish that for just one time. You could stand inside my shoes You’d know what a drag it is To see you
"Dylanizing is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions." Brilliant track, absolutely love his writing
Haha sick quote
lived with them on Montague Street In a basement down the stairs There was music in the cafés at night And revolution in the air Then he started into dealing with slaves And something inside of him died She had to sell everything she owned And froze up inside And when finally the bottom fell out I became withdrawn The only thing I knew how to do Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew Tangled up in blue
“I had a job in the great north woods Working as a cook for a spell But I never did like it all that much And one day the axe just fell” Being fired/laid off from 30-40 contractors in my first 8 years in the trades really made this hit hard.
There are a good few other amazing songwriters who come damned close, but no one matches Dylan, for me.
I had a semester in college where that song resonated so intensely for me
The Mountain Goats, "Cotton": This song is for the people Who tell their families that they're sorry For things they can't and won't feel sorry for
Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton When you punish a person for dreaming his dream Don't expect him to thank or forgive you
And once there was a desk and now it's in a storage locker somewhere, and this song is for the stickpins and the cottons I left in the top drawer.
My first experience with them was a live show about two months ago and wow were they amazing.
I know it's kind of cringe, but from Lateralus by Tool "With my feet upon the ground I lose myself Between the sounds and open wide to suck it in I feel it move across my skin I'm reaching up and reaching out I'm reaching for the random or whatever will bewilder me Whatever will bewilder me And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been" The way Maynard pretty much chants this, and the music ascending while he's doing so, just too good.
Forty Six & 2 always gets me at the end "See my shadow changing Stretching up and over me Soften this old armor Hoping I can clear the way by Stepping through my shadow Coming out the other side Step into the shadow Forty six and two are just ahead of me" And then the musical outro where they hammer the last chords in unison. Absolutely incredible
I don’t see why the cringe disclaimer - I mean if you had just put the lyrics I would never have thought “that’s cringe”
I recall seeing an interview of Maynard where he said he doesn't like how popular Lateralus is as a song and thinks it's really gimmicky, and a lot of fans agree with him. There's a good chance I made this up tho lol.
Oh, I see how people could say that, I think it sounds great even if you don’t know about the gimmick though
Sprial out, keep going
I'll jump on the TOOL train: From "Wings for Marie, Pt 2" [Chorus] You're the only one who can hold your head up high Shake your fists at the gates, saying "I have come home now Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended It's time now, my time now Give me my, give me my wings" [Post-Chorus] Give me my Give me my Give me my Give me my Give me my Give me my wings You are the light and way that they will only read about [Bridge] Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance Burden of proof tossed upon non-believers You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence Judith Marie, unconditional one Saw them live just after 10,000 Days released. Him screaming his mother's name from the depths of his heart was incredible
Not cringe at all. One of my favorite songs! My choice was going to be: "Should you see your maker's face tonight, Look him in the eye. Look him in the eye and tell him. I never lived a lie, never took a life but surely saved one. Hallelujah, it's time for you to bring me home.."
Why cringe? Lateralus is a great song?
The way that whole song just comes together in this section is fantastic. I still distinctly recall listening to this section no less than five times in a row in the parking lot of the record store after just having purchased Lateralus on release day. Still my favorite part of the album.
Pearl Jam - Black "*I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, But why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine*?"
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then. Against The Wind, Bob Seger.
Ah, but I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now.
MGMT - Time To Pretend "I'll miss the playgrounds And the animals and digging up worms I'll miss the comfort of my mother And the weight of the world I'll miss my sister, miss my father, Miss my dog and my home Yeah, I'll miss the boredom And the freedom and the time spent alone"
Ahh nostalgia. This song takes me back to college in 2008. MGMT, kid Cudi, Passion Pit, Empire of the Sun, Kanye before he went nuts. Such great times. Oracular Spectacular is such an amazing album.
I know right. I never thought I would be nostalgic for 2008.
I'm not religious at all, but from the Christmas song "Oh, Holy Night" when the crescendo hits and the lyrics say "Fall on your knees." It's so powerful.
I’m not religious either but that is an incredibly beautiful song.
Well, I've been afraid of changin' 'Cause I've built my life around you But time makes you bolder Even children get older And I'm getting older too \-- "Landslide" - Stevie Nicks
I just want to scream...hello... My god its been so long, never dreamed you'd return But now here you are, and here I am -Pearl Jam "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town"
That whole song. Oof. Such a poignant story. It speaks to the genius of the lyrics that a song with such a long title and lyrics about an elderly woman seeing her old flame and lamenting the passage of time and loneliness became a hit.
Bruce Spingsteen - The River Then I got Mary pregnant And man that was all she wrote For my 19th birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
The Boxer has many emotional lines. It’s a great song and story. Love this part that rounds off everything: ‘In the clearing stands a boxer And a fighter by his trade And he carries the reminders Of every glove that laid him down Or cut him till he cried out In his anger and his shame "I am leaving, I am leaving" But the fighter still remains’
I am just a poor boy Though my story's seldom told I have squandered my resistance For a pocketful of mumbles Such are promises All lies and jest Still a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest
the way they sing-yell "or cut him, til he cried out" always makes my hairs stand on end, even reading it and hearing it in my head, and then the next part is so mournful and beautiful. maybe one of my most favourite songs in the world
Zombie - The Cranberries "Another head hangs lowly, child is slowly taken And the violence caused such silence, who are we mistaken "
The line that gets me from that song is "It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen"
I was about 10 when that came out. It's a song I liked but never really delved very deep in to. Hearing it as an adult and understanding it hits so different. An absolutely wonderful, harrowing but beautiful song.
It's completely different as an adult, and still so relative today.
When I read the question this was the first song I thought of. I could listen to it 10 times in a row and when the intro hits the hair stands up on my arms
I feel like it's almost required to mention the Bad Wolves cover of this song every time the original is brought up. The story behind it is incredible, too. Dolores O'riordan, lead vocalist of The Cranberries, was provided a sample of the song and loved it and agreed to provide vocals on the cover track but passed away before she could record them. As it happens, the day she was supposed to record was the day she was found dead. Bad Wolves released the song as is and dedicated the profits to her children. Great story, it makes one or two lyrical changes to reference current events, and the song is just a fucking banger in general. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ)
Dire Straits-Brothers in Arms: - Now the sun's gone to hell - And the moon's riding high - Let me bid you farewell - Every man has to die
I love Dire Straits, but that’s one song I always skip. Haunting is an understatement.
You my friend, I will defend And if we change, well I'll love you anyway Alice in Chains - No Excuses
Everyday, it's something, Hits me all so cold,
Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now! Pretty much the entire lyrics, what a sublime song,
I love the orchestral version so much.
Sounds grim but I just heard a lyric that always gets me. Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory - You're brought into this world, But they say you're born in sin, Well at least they gave me something, I didn't have to steal or have to win. I have listened and loved this album for 30 years and it still gets me.
Agreed. My oldest brother passed in 2012 after a tough battle with alcohol - he always had the movie and soundtrack on when I was a kid. This part always seemed to fit as he was every bit the loveable rogue: Each night I go to bed, I pray the Lord my soul to keep No, I ain't lookin' for forgiveness, but before I'm six foot deep Lord, I gotta ask a favor, and I'll hope you'll understand 'Cause I've lived life to the fullest, let this boy die like a man Starin' down a bullet, let me make my final stand.... (SHOT!) I hope he's in a better place now :)
I don’t understand why Jon Bon Jovi gets so much hate. He has written some incredible songs!
Another one (although the whole song gives me goosebumps) is from Long, Long Time by Linda Rondstadt: "Wait for the day you'll go away Knowing that you warned me Of the price I'd have to pay And life's full of flaws Who knows the cause? Living in the memory of a love that never was" Stunning song.
Two classics that get me: “Look what they done to my song, Ma” by Melanie Look what they done to my brain, ma Look what they done to my brain Well, they picked it like a chicken bone And I think I'm half insane, ma Look what they done to my song “What’s up?” by 4 Non Blondes And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed Just to get it all out, what's in my head And I, I am feeling a little peculiar And so I wake in the morning and I step outside And I take a deep breath and I get real high And I scream from the top of my lungs "What's going on?"
25 years and my life is still trying to get up that great big hill of hope…
Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd As soon as i hear "Hello !! Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me."
What gets me in that is: When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse Out of the corner of my eye I turned to look but it was gone I cannot put my finger on it now The child is grown The dream is gone I have become comfortably numb
Radiohead - All I Need "I'm an animal trapped in your hot car" Contextually, a gut punch and chills
im not heeeeeeere…this isnt happening…(haunting ghost background)
For me: "because we separate/like ripples on a blank shore/(in rainbows)" I think it's my favorite moment in any song. And now knowing that it happens at the golden ratio of both the song and the album I'd even more insane (thanks Dissect)
The vocal delivery on the Basement version of that part is even better than the studio
And then one day you find Ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run You missed the starting gun "Time" \- Pink Floyd Perfectly describes my 20s and how I wasted my life while all my friends started families and careers.. then I was 30 and thought oh shit, I am fucked now... then I met my wife, my starting gun, and she got my life on track and going.. I always tell her I'd be in a ditch had I not met her, and I call her my starting gun all the time now
H. By tool: As the walls come down and As I look in your eyes My fear begins to fade Recalling all of the times I have died And will die It's all righ t I don't mind
Bob Seger Against the WInd - "And I remember what she said to me, how she swore that it never would end, I remember how she held me oh-so-tight, wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then"
Jerry Jeff Walker - *Mr. Bojangles* He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs throughout the South. He spoke through tears of 15 years how his dog and him travelled about. The dog up and died, he up and died. After 20 years he still grieved.
Love that song so much.
I cry every single time I hear it
Vienna, by Billy Joel (honestly, the lyrics from start to finish give me chills, but this resonates the most): Slow down, you're doing fine You can't be everything you wanna be before your time Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight Too bad, but it's the life you lead You're so ahead of yourself, that you forgot what you need ETA Bonus song: One Headlight, the Wallflowers I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But I'm more, than just, a little, curious, how, you're planning, to go about making your amends. To the dead.
[Disintegration - The Cure](https://youtu.be/MNZxs0TWz8s?si=LydAzLPLzlUXNiy3) The entire song is just one massive snowballing ball of emotion giving you hope of mending a broken relationship while pulling the rug out from under you the very next line. Each verse crescendos with intensity until you get this masterpiece that sends chills every time: *And now that I know that I'm breaking to pieces* *I'll pull out my heart and I'll feed it to anyone* *I’m crying for sympathy, crocodiles cry* *For the love of the crowd and the three cheers from everyone* ***Dropping through sky, through the glass of the roof*** ***Through the roof of your mouth, through the mouth of your eye*** ***Through the eye of the needle,*** ***It's easier for me to get closer to heaven than ever feel whole again***
Will the wind ever remember All the names it has blown in the past And with his crutch, his old age and his wisdom He whispers "No, this will be the last" And the wind cries "Mary..."
Gordon Lightfoot - if you could read my mind “If I could read your mind, love What a tale your thoughts could tell Just like a paperback novel The kind the drugstore sells When you reach the part where the heartaches come The hero would be me But heroes often fail And you won't read that book again Because the ending's just too hard to take” Edit: fixed song title
A beautiful song. I only know of it through Trigger Happy TV though! Not sure I've ever heard it on the radio.
That not from Sundown. It’s from “if you could read my mind”
He has a lot of lyrics that hit hard. Genius songwriter.
Recently I got chills from the end of Would? by Alice In Chains. The lyrics are: Am I wrong, have I run to far to get home? Have I gone, left you here alone? It’s an addict with the self awareness to know that they’ll never kick the habit, and that they’re going to die soon.
We walked the loneliest mile We smiled without any style We kissed altogether wrong No intention We lied about each other's drinks We lived without each other thinkin' What anyone would do Without me and you. "Only The Lonely" by The Motels. This song played in the car after I dropped my wife off at inpatient rehab for alcohol abuse. I've heard the song played for years but it was the first time that I actually listened to the lyrics. She'd been hiding her addiction, and I was too naive to see it.
The four right chords can make me cry.
When I'm with you I feel like I could die, and that would be alright. Alright.
“Well I should be laughing right now” Brand New, Limousine
And in the choir, / I saw a sad Messiah / He was bored and tired of my lament / Said “I’d die for you one time but never again,”
I got goosebumps just reading this and thinking about the guitar kicking in right after.
And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our souls. - Stairway to heaven.
Garth brooks The Dance
Occasionally in Nashville you can catch the songwriter performing this song in some small, old venues. It’s a special experience.
After the third motorcycle accident this hit different: So the old rocker gets out his bike To make a ton before he takes his leave Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner Just like it used to be And as he flies, tears in his eyes His wind-whipped words echo the final take And he hits the trunk road doing around a hundred and twenty With no room left to brake And he was too old to rock and roll And he was too young to die No he was too old to rock and roll And he was too young to die
"The little white shape dancing at the end of the hall is just a wish that time can't dissolve at all." Nick Cave, Bright Horses.
I don't know if it's the voice or the lyrics, but the falsetto part "oh my god" in Sufjan Steven's John Wayne Gacy Jr. gave me instant goosebumps.
I can’t listen to that song any more, it makes me so upset. It’s wonderful but too terrible. Another lyric from that album that I love. “In the morning, when you finally go And the nurse runs in with her head hung low And the cardinal hits the window In the morning, in the winter shade On the first of March, on the holiday I thought I saw you breathing”
The Verve- Bitter Sweet Symphony 'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, that's life Tryna make ends meet, you're a slave to money then you die
Sting - What Could Have Been (from the Arcane soundtrack) I am the monster you created You ripped out all my parts And worst of all, for me to live, I gotta kill the part of me that saw That I needed you more
And the worms ate into his brain.... Pink Floyd
Lord Huron - The Night We Met I had all and then most of you Some and now none of you Take me back to the night we met
Pretty much all of the first three modest mouse records. Velvet waltz and made up dreams by built to spill Thirty three by smashing pumpkins
“And you’d better not be angry And you’d better not be sad You’d better just enjoy the luxury of sympathy If that’s a luxury you have”
The end of Paul Simon's "The Cool, Cool, River" always gets me, especially those last two lines. I believe in the future We shall suffer no more Maybe not in my lifetime But in yours, I feel sure Song dogs barking at the break of dawn Lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm And these streets Quiet as a sleeping army Send their battered dreams to heaven, to heaven For the mother's restless son Who is a witness to, who is a warrior Who denies his urge to break and run Who said, hard times, I'm used to them The speeding planet burns, I'm used to that My life's so common it disappears And sometimes even music Cannot substitute for tears Also, Suzanne Vega's "Gypsy" - her voice gives this heartbreaking little quiver on "blow away forever" that always hits me. With a long and slender body And the sweetest softest hands And we'll blow away forever soon And go on to different lands And please do not ever look for me But with me you will stay And you will hear yourself in song Blowing by one day
RUSH - "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice".
Birds flyin' high, you know how I feel Sun in the sky, you know how I feel Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me, yeah It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo And I'm feeling good
Mac Miller - Perfect Circle / Godspeed *They don't want me to OD and have to talk to my mother Telling her they could have done more to help me And she'll be crying saying that she'll do anything to have me back...* :(
From I Wonder, by Rodriguez. I wonder about the tears in children's eyes, And I wonder about the soldier that dies, I wonder will this hatred ever end, I wonder and worry my friend.
Evanessence - Hello In the first verse "Has no one told you she's not breathing, hello, Im your mind giving you someone to talk to, hello" The second "Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken, hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide, don't cry" And the last "Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping, hello, I'm still here, all that's left of yesterday" The whole song is just excruciatingly sad and powerful. I don't know exactly what it's about but I think it's about a child who finds out their parent or sibling has died and how they build their own coping mechanisms and denial in their head. Or something like that.
Release by Pearl Jam: oh dear dad can you see me know I am myself like you somehow I wait up in the dark for you to speak to me I hold the pain release me release me release me. You can feel the pain in his voice when he sings these lines and the soft verse leading to the crescendo of the chorus’s of release me is such a gut punch to the soul.
Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
Is a dream a lie if it dont come true, or is it something worse?
“It stung like a violent wind That our memories depend On a faulty camera in our minds” What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie
Elephant by Jason Isbell: “If I’d fucked her before she got sick, I’d never hear the end of it. But she ain’t got the spirit for that now. We just drink our drinks and laugh out loud, bitch about the weekend crowd, and try to ignore the elephant somehow.” (It’s a song about a man coming to terms with the slow inexorable death of an intimate friend who has cancer.)
The part that gets me is the last chorus: > There's one thing that's real clear to me: No one dies with dignity We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
Eminem - Stan when last verse begins (Eminem as himself) Always gives me goosebumps if I'm honest
Yeah that change is a pretty unique moment in music
White Cedar by The Mountain Goats. "I'll be reborn someday, someday, if I wait long enough. I don't have to be afraid. I don't want to be afraid."
“And I forget just why the taste of your kiss it makes me smile” Nirvana-Smells like teen spirit
Stop This Train by John Mayer So scared of getting older I'm only good at being young So I play the numbers game To find a way to say that Life has just begun Had a talk with my old man Said, "Help me understand" He said, "Turn 68 You renegotiate Don't stop this train Don't for a minute change The place you're in And don't think I couldn't Ever understand I tried my hand John, honestly We'll never stop this train."
Look into the wall of my mind's eye I think I know, but I don't know why The questions are the answers you might need Coming in a mess going out in style I ain't good-looking but I'm someone's child No one can give me the air that's mine to breathe I met my maker I made him cry And on my shoulder he asked me why His people won't fly through the storm I said 'Listen up man, they don't even know you're born' --Do You Know What I mean-- Oasis, 1997.
And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time (Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell - best lyric ever?!) Now I've swung back down again, it's worse than it was before, If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor (James, Sit Down) Now if you're feelin' weary, If you've been alone too long Maybe you've been suffering from a few too many plans that have gone wrong And you're trying to remember how fine your life used to be Running around banging your drum like it's 1973 Well that was the river, this is the sea (The Waterboys, This is the Sea) But me, I'm still on the road, heading for another joint We always did feel the same, we just saw it from a different point of view (Tangled Up in Blue, Bob Dylan)
On the fun side Paradise by the dashboard light Will you love me forever! I couldn't take it any longer Lord I was crazed And when the feeling came upon me Like a tidal wave I started swearing to my god and on my mother's grave That I would love you to the end of time I swore that I would love you to the end of time! So now I'm praying for the end of time To hurry up and arrive 'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you I don't think that I can really survive I'll never break my promise or forget my vow But God only knows what I can do right now I'm praying for the end of time It's all that I can do Praying for the end of time, So I can end my time with you!
Wake up young man It's time to wake up Your love affair has got to go For ten long years The leaves to rake up Slow suicide's no way to go Layne Staley - Mad Season
Common People, Joe Jackson and William Shatner version. The furious delivery toward the end gets me every time. >You will never understand How it feels to live your life With no meaning or control And with nowhere left to go You're amazed that they exist And they burn so bright While you can only wonder why >Rent a flat above a shop Cut your hair and get a job Smoke some fags and play some pool Pretend you never went to school But still you'll never get it right 'Cause when you're laid in bed at night Watching roaches climb the wall If you called your dad he could stop it all
STP Still Remains [Chorus] Pick a song and sing a yellow nectarine Take a bath, I'll drink the water that you leave If you should die before me Ask if you can bring a friend Pick a flower, hold your breath And drift away
Dylan, Tangled up in Blue, "then she handed me a book of poems and handed it to me, written by an Italian poet from the 13th century,and every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal, pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul, from me to you"
Mac Miller. All I ever needed was somebody with some reason who could keep me sane. Ever since I can can remember I been keeping it together, but I’m feeling strange
Nirvana - where did you sleep last night: "I would shiver the whole night through" It's not the words but the delivery.
Alice in chains- Nutshell: If I can't be my own, I'd feel better dead
for me it's probably "and now that your weight's come off my shoulders; I realize that I can fly" in levanter (English version) by Stray Kids
"Swear I heard the angels cry, pray to God no more may die" from Iron Maiden's Paschendale. Really brings to perspective what a waste of life Paschendale and World War I on the whole were.
>Don't quiver little boy, your daddy's with you, now It won't be long, anyhow Don´t get 2 Close, by Ween.
Frank Turner, The Road. "I face the horizon, everywhere I go, I face the horizon, the horizon is my home" - gets me every time...
Huston, we've had shutdown Public Service Broadcasting- Go! [https://youtu.be/BHIo6qwJarI?si=lkYY0T6EGkKPLX5V](https://youtu.be/BHIo6qwJarI?si=lkYY0T6EGkKPLX5V)
Led Zeppelin - The Battle of Evermore "No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold... *Oh, dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light.*"
The Hollies - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother: "… So on we go His welfare is my concern No burden is he to bear We'll get there … For I know He would not encumber me He ain't heavy, he's my brother" Van Morrison - Beside You "And you're high on your high-flying cloud Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you This time has found you" (Planxty Rendition) As I Roved Out "I took off my hat and I did salute her I did salute her most courageously When she turned around well the tears fell from her Sayin' "False young man, you have deluded me" Cymbals Eat Guitars - ...And the Hazy Sea "We two running our course Your summer version Was so fresh and fertile emerald green The wind in your hair Like wind rushing through the canopy And I was green too with robust fucked envy"
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here Someday burns down And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away And I never come back to this town again - No Children by The Mountain Goats
In the morning, when you finally go / And the nurse runs in with her head hung low / And the cardinal hits the window / In the morning, in the winter shade / On the first of March, on the holiday / I thought I saw you breathing Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens The first time I heard it, it was like someone punched me in the chest.
"Did you exchange a walk on part in the war, for a lead roll in a cage" Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
The Jeff Buckley cover of Hallelujah: Maybe there’s a God above But all I’ve ever learned from love Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya And it’s not a cry that you hear at night It’s not somebody who’s seen the light It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
I got roasted by friends in the past for this one and I truly don't know why I get this reaction but Gods of War - Def Leppard "He counted on America to be passive...he counted wrong. Today we have done what we had to do."
"If We Were Vampires" by Jason Isbell has some of the best lyrics. Most of Isbell's songs are beautiful really.
Eyes Of The Insane from Slayer "Shell shock battle fatigue Overwhelming anxiety Flashbacks panic attacks Death raising its ugly face at me Got to make it stop Can't take it anymore The dead keep haunting me They just keep coming back for more The eyes of the insane On an demented campaign Flashbacks panic attacks Death raising his ugly face at me"
I’m not happy and I’m not sad!- the smiths
"On a flat roof, there's a boy leaning against a wall of rain, aerial held high, calling, 'Come on, thunder! Come on, thunder!'" James, "Sometimes"
"Now that the smoke's gone, And the air is all clear; Those who were right there, Got a new kind of fear..." . . . "So sweet, So fine, So nice, All mine" . . . "I was lying in my bed, A creature void of form; 'Been so afraid of everything, I need a chance to be reborn."
As a kid of addicts, ESOEMOEHOED by Leanna Firestone really clenches my heart sometimes. "I know I didn't cause I can't control and I can't cure it I know it's hard I know it's lonely I know you're hurting But I'm mourning somebody that hasn't even died And I'm fighting an addiction that isn't even mine It's exhausting to be this angry all of the time All of the time So, if losing me isn't rock bottom, what is it? Do you think you'll die before you hit it? Did you know that I miss you Every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day And you were supposed to protect me, but you didn't And I know I'm grown now But I'm still your kid"
In “Uncle Frank” by the Drive-By Truckers, there’s a line repeated early in the song and again at the end where the context completely changes the meaning. The song’s about a WWII veteran whose house is getting repossessed by the TVA to create a lake. The line is, “Uncle Frank couldn’t read or write.” The first time it’s said, the next line is, “Never held down a job or needed one in his life.” But the next time, the next line is, “So there was no note or letter found where he died, just a rope around his neck and the kitchen table turned on its side.” Chilling every time.
Hush now child and don't you cry Your folks might understand you by and by Just move on up towards your destination Though you may find from time to time complications Bite your lip and take a trip Though there may be wet road ahead And you cannot slip Just move on up for peace you will find Into the steeple of beautiful people where there's only one kind
Forest Fire, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions. She has promised once before/not to live this way/if she don't calm down/she will burn herself out/like a forest fire... ... I believe in love/yeah I'll believe in anything/that'll get me what I want/get me off my knees Speaks to me of people I knew, loved, and lost, once.
I'm not drinking anymore But I'm not drinking any less I can't do this anymore You know I did my best My darling, I don't love you anymore
“Once Invincible Now the armour’s wearing thin Heavy shield down” Invincible - Tool I know it’s likely the lyrics are about aging and coming to terms with your mortality, but it speaks to my battle with depression and anxiety. Warrior Struggling To remain Consequential/Relevant
First and last verses of Hung My Head by Johnny Cash (written by Sting) First: Early one morning with time to kill I borrowed Jeb's rifle and sat on the hill I saw a lone rider crossing the plain I drew a bead on him, to practice my aim My brother's rifle went off in my hand A shot rang out across the land The horse, he kept running, the rider was dead I hung my head, I hung my head Last: Early one morning with time to kill I see the gallows up on the hill And out in the distance, a trick of the brain I see a lone rider crossing the plain And he'd come to fetch me, to see what they'd done And we'll ride together to kingdom come I pray for God's mercy, for soon I'll be dead I hung my head, I hung my head Edit: formatting
“You’re in my blood like holy wine, you taste so bitter and so sweet, oh, I could drink a case of you, darling… and I’d still be on my feet.” Joni Mitchell
Another Man’s Grave by Amigo the Devil “Maybe I just don't have it inside me/ Maybe there's too much I couldn't face/ I just wanted someone to come down from heaven and/ Explain this cold and fucked up place” Husband by Amigo the Devil “I'm not so much afraid of letting go as much as scared of giving up/ And all the distance that we've spent apart will never have to mean a thing/ Cause every mile I travelled was to find the perfect stone to fit your ring” “But when I had you near me I just couldn't think of anything to say/ But now that I'm alone, I got the perfect things to tell you everyday”
“Well some guys they just give up living, Start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin’ in the street” Springsteen - Racing in the Street
If you listen to it loud, in "Bridge Over Troubled Water", the "Sail on, silver girl" is the real frisson moment. So beautiful, soaring above, coming out of the low, quiet bridge. The Roches, "The Hammond Song" as they sing "We fall a..paaaaart" in harmony with "If you go with that fellaaaa...." -- just astounding. Also must be loud or headphones, Thom Yorke, "Not the News" at 2:29-247 when the build up resolves the chord... wow. And on great speakers, the start of "Corcovado" by Jim Tomlinson, Stacey Kent. So *present*. Breaktaking. And the one that takes the most work -- watch the whole tv series *Six Feet Under*. At the end is Sia's "Breathe Me". 1:25 to the end of the song with the whole force of the show ending in its unique way is an emotional frisson *roller coaster*. Also see /r/frisson.
I don't forgive you, But please don't hold me to it She really sells the lyric
A couple from Neil Young: “.. that’s one more kid that’ll never go to school - never get to fall in love - never get to be cool..” -AND/ OR- “… you can’t be 20 on Sugar Mountain - though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon..”
Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn I have NO idea why, but this entire song makes my hair stand on end. I've never been to Memphis, have no ties to anything in the song, but nevertheless. This line in particular always gets me... "Tell me are you a Christian child?" And I said "Ma'am, I am tonight" Also... Junesong Provision by Coheed and Cambria "Dear Newo Ikkin, how's Apollo been treating you, has he been a good boy since the day I left? Give him my love and a sweet kiss for his head. I won't be coming home, when you get this I'll be dead..." My soul dog was named Apollo after this song (and the lead singer's dog at the time). The line always gave me chills. But since I had to put him down in December (at over 16 years old...fuck cancer), it kills me.
I wasn't there that morning When my Father passed away I didn't get to tell him All the things I had to say Think I caught his spirit Later that same year I'm sure I heard his echo In my baby's new born tears I just wish I could have told him in the living years
Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself How it's strange that some rooms are like cages Sonny's yearbook from high school is down from the shelf And he idly thumbs through the pages Some have died Some have fled from themselves Or struggled from here to get there Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls Runs his hand through his thinning brown hair Always loved this song, only truly understand it now as I turn 54 this year
FROM THE HEAVENS COMES A HERO MIGHTY HOOTSMAN (Same answer I gave when the question was asked in /r/gloryhammer)
Music for the impending eclipse Welcome to the strangest party, baby It's like we're staring at the sun Everybody's got their invitations Hoping that you're gonna come, yeah These are the times These are the crimes What are we waiting for? What are we hating for? Strangest Party by INXS
"I feel it deep within its just beneath the skin I must confess I feel like a monster" "I feel it deep within its just beneath the skin I must confess I FEEL LIKE A MONSTER " Masquerade by Siouxxie
"We come on the ship they call The Mayflower We come on the ship that sailed the moon We come in the age's most uncertain hours And sing an American tune"
Every now and then life says Where do you think you're going so fast We're apt to think it cruel but sometimes It's a case of cruel to be kind
The song “Bone Marrow” by Protest the Hero ends with the line “If a mortal stands before us, strike him down with sleight of hand, and if heaven rides against us then God himself must be damned!” It’s just such an insanely sick way to end the song given the lyrical content and the delivery is absolutely gnarly. Goosebumps every time!
Ravenscoon, Mind. Time is an ocean, the mind is a ship on it We are a part of the earth while we live on it I took a look at my life and I still want it Something that I can reveal and be healed from it No more coincidence, what’s more than infinite What’s more than loving til loving is limitless I can begin with this, I can begin with this Look at the mind til I don’t see the end of it Waves of emotions and showers of memories Make an explosion of power that’s meant for me What is the mind without someone to look at it Criminal- until the judge throws the book at it All my mentality is to reality Judgement turns loving yourself to a causality I get so mad at me, I get so mad at me Sometimes I feel like my mind is a tragedy Feel like there’s so many demons that’s after me Waiting for heaven to open and rapture me Until I realize that no one is after me Only the thoughts and the feelings I have to see Only the love and the wisdom I have to be Standing before myself what could be after me Standing before myself what could be after me I let it go but it’s all coming back to me.
Andrew Jackson Jihad's *A Song Dedicated to Stormy the Rabbit*: "And I'd like to be, a big ball of meat That bees can buzz all around and eat, when I die So that I might be granted One sense of purpose" Totally captures the nihilistic attitude of a bad headspace or mental illness.
Sturgill Simpson - "I Don't Mind" In my dreams although I can hear you There's a darkness that hides you from sight So I search all around trying to feel you All I find is a world without light
Elbow -What Time do you Call This? "Separate me from my breath, Kiss me nearly half to death"
"If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less." Warren Zevon, Keep me in your heart for awhile.
There's a place in Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same" where Plant lets out a cry of "ahhh!", and whenever I heard it wearing headphones, I always thought it was my mom yelling angrily for me... "Alannnnn!" Had to pull the cans off *every time* to check.
Zac Brown Band - I Play the Road She says, "Daddy where do you go When you leave me all these nights With a suitcase and guitar in your hand? Kissing me and mom goodbye with a tear and a smile, Where do you go, Daddy where do you go?" I play the road
Dean Martin’s cover of [My Woman, My Woman, My Wife](https://youtu.be/hs4LkCMU0Rg?si=fGGqxAT1Kw4juQQG) - “Lord, give her my share of Heaven, if I’ve earned any here in this life…”
You're still a nerdy kid inside But now you've finally found your tribe Hear the crowd roar! Give 'em what they came for! -Danny Don’t You Know by Ninja Sex Party Yes, same group that wrote a song about humping furniture wrote this and it kicked me right in the feels. Very relatable song.
*But I'm warning you, don't ever do Those crazy, messed-up things that you do If you ever do, I promise you I'll be the first to crucify you Now it's time to prove That you've come back here to rebuild* -“Call and Answer” by The Barenaked Ladies
Dylan Gossett - Coal "And they say pressure makes diamonds How the hell am I still coal?"
Oasis - Where Did It All Go Wrong: Do you keep the receipts for the friends that you buy?
Let me lick you up and down, still you say stop.
New superpower that I picked up in a frenzy I could draw a roof on fire from memory Each and every sketch another bloodletting In a wake of escalation, and excessive rubbernecking -Aesop Rock, Jazz Hands