"Oh Lonesome Me"

August 8, 2007 6:58 PM

What are some songs that universally produce emotional reactions? Joy, sadness, or whatever?

The first time I heard "The World at Large" by Modest Mouse, I had an emotional reaction to it. The song had no association to any memory or prior experience yet it transported me to this extremely melancholy place.

I realize this is extremely subjective, but are there other songs not associated with memory that have produced intense emotional responses in you? I'm not ruling out any genre, just looking for intensity of emotion.

posted by Xurando to media & arts (63 comments total)

Barber's Adagio for Strings is good enough at inspiring pathos to be part of the soundtrack of movies, and a regular selection at funerals.
posted by paulsc at 7:06 PM on August 8, 2007

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 7:07 PM on August 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

Related.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:18 PM on August 8, 2007

Kathy Mattea's "Where've You Been" seems to evoke a universal sense of sadness and bittersweet/melancholy joy.

Francis Dunnery's "Good Life" seems capable of bringing most sensitive people to a startling introspection on their relationships.

Darrell Scott's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" paints a vivid picture of a life most of us will never know first-hand (coal mining), and the result is a song that leaves you gasping for breath.

And even though your question hints at songs that take aim at the sadder emotions, there are any number of songs that reflexively generate sheer, mind-numbing happiness: "Life is Grand" by Camper Van Beethoven, "1234" by Feist, "Happy" by Martin Sexton, "Always Love" by Nada Surf, etc. The beat goes on, la de da de dee ...
posted by jbickers at 7:20 PM on August 8, 2007

amazing grace
posted by white light at 7:22 PM on August 8, 2007

particularly on bagpipes
posted by white light at 7:23 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Gorecki's 3rd Symphony.
posted by Nelson at 7:23 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Bruddah Iz's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" seems to get people really emotional, in my experience.
posted by GaelFC at 7:24 PM on August 8, 2007 [3 favorites]

Also, "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves is my example of a song that exemplifies "happy."
posted by GaelFC at 7:25 PM on August 8, 2007

Dust in the Wind - Kansas
posted by any major dude at 7:25 PM on August 8, 2007

Forever Young - Alphaville
posted by any major dude at 7:26 PM on August 8, 2007

Hey Jude
posted by amyms at 7:33 PM on August 8, 2007

National anthems? O Fortuna?
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 7:42 PM on August 8, 2007

Beethoven's Ode to Joy
posted by frobozz at 7:46 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Personally:

Ave Maria
O Holy Night ("Faaaaaaaaaaaallll on your knees")
The Beatles' "Something"
Various arrangements of "My One and Only Love" (Joshua Redman from "Live at the Village Vanguard", f'rinstance)
And, weirdly, the largo movement of Dvorak's "New World Symphony," especially when the music is sung (caution: over-the-top patriotism on display there).
posted by emelenjr at 7:49 PM on August 8, 2007

I'm confused. Are you looking for this:

What are some songs that universally produce emotional reactions? Joy, sadness, or whatever?

Or are you looking for this:

are there other songs not associated with memory that have produced intense emotional responses in you?

The former asks for songs that produce specific emotional reactions in everyone. The latter merely asks us to list songs that produce a specific emotion in an individual answerer.

If its the latter, then this can continue to be a list of songs that individual people find happy, sad, angry, etc.

If its the former, then we have tackle the question of whether certain musical components really do have a universal appeal, or whether they are all culture-bound. I'm not an expert in this matter, but I do know that certain melodies may sound particularly harmonious or dissonant in one musical system but not in others - and this has a real effect on the emotional reaction that it will produce in listeners.
posted by googly at 7:50 PM on August 8, 2007

I can barely listen to a Death Cab for Cutie song without crying, esp. "What Sarah Said" and "I Will Follow You Into the Dark." Actually, about 98% of their songs will make me sad and weepy. Gosh I love them!
posted by momzilla at 7:52 PM on August 8, 2007

Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt." He had about a year left to live, and if you listen to the song it feels like he knew it. Look on You Tube for the video.

I was going to list some more but once I listed this one nothing else deserved a spot except for "Hallelujah."
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:55 PM on August 8, 2007

Barber's Adagio for Strings is good enough at inspiring pathos to be part of the soundtrack of movies, and a regular selection at funerals.

Interesting. That was NPR's official theme music on 9/11 and immediately thereafter.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 8:08 PM on August 8, 2007

Tracy Chapman's "Fastcar". It just makes you want to kill yourself. I think it's one of the most flat out depressing and hopeless songs ever made.
posted by hammurderer at 8:09 PM on August 8, 2007

Damn, you're right hammurder. I was like 5 when that song was popular, so I've really never listened to it.

Fleetwood Mac - Landslide (especially the more recent "This is for you daddy" live version) just really stirs me up. Not really sad, but just very reflective about growing older.
posted by ALongDecember at 8:21 PM on August 8, 2007

"Danny Boy"
posted by kirkaracha at 8:23 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

If you've lost your dad, Billy Bragg's "Tank Park Salute" (not his video; lyrics) will break your heart.
"You were so tall/how could you fall?"
posted by kirkaracha at 8:29 PM on August 8, 2007

This is entirely subjective, and basically unanswerable, except to say that no, I don't think there are any songs that universally produce a certain emotional reaction. Musical language is culutral and learned, not innate.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:33 PM on August 8, 2007

This is gonna go on for a very long time, unless the subject truly becomes "what makes a universally emotional song, if such a thing exists?"

if it's just "well here's my list.." then I think we've already covered that no?
posted by revmitcz at 8:38 PM on August 8, 2007

Lee Greenwood's "Proud to Be an American" makes me feel all sorts of...ill.
posted by sourwookie at 8:39 PM on August 8, 2007

Starship's We Built This City on Rock n Roll provokes an intense & universal reaction in most people.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:55 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Glosoli by Sigur Ros.

For extra effect, listen to it while running at dusk somewhere nice.
posted by tmcw at 9:29 PM on August 8, 2007

seasons in the sun by terry jacks
posted by Flood at 9:34 PM on August 8, 2007

How about suicidal? I will not be listening to Gloomy Sunday.
posted by tellurian at 9:35 PM on August 8, 2007

Everybody everybody everybody loves Aretha's version of "Respect" (though "funky" isn't necessarily an emotion).
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 9:40 PM on August 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

The first time I heard Lyle Lovett's Family Reserve I teared up, which is quite out of character (though I rather enjoyed it). My life has been relatively funeral-less, so it didn't really speak to me on a personal level.
posted by pmbuko at 9:45 PM on August 8, 2007

It pains me, but Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) emotes all kinds of high school nostalgia.
posted by Sfving at 10:02 PM on August 8, 2007

While the question is a little ambiguous and these sorts of lists could be endless, I'll contribute two songs that have always evoked emotion within me (not necessarily sadness), and, I believe, would be likely to do so in others:

'Peach, Plum, Pear' by Joanna Newsom from The Milk-Eyed Mender

'Staralfur' by Sigur Ros

I'd also throw in some early-period U2 - the title track from The Unforgettable Fire would be a good choice. And for a non-classical instrumental piece, check out 'Gone' by M83.
posted by dustinAFN at 11:13 PM on August 8, 2007

Nimrod from the Enigma Variations by Elgar is almost a cliché, but still produces a strong emotional reaction in me.

And Love Letter by Nick Cave makes me well up every time I hear it - I haven't got any memories associated with it, it's just lyrically and musically one of the most bitter-sweet songs I know.
posted by greycap at 11:14 PM on August 8, 2007

Let's not be pedantic here - *anything* by Sigur Ros.

And Alina, by Arvo Part.
posted by UbuRoivas at 11:51 PM on August 8, 2007

These have mostly faded for me over time but were very emotionally potent even after hearing them many times:

Radiohead: Creep
(I hate admitting to that one but I had a HUGE emotional reaction the first dozen or so times hearing it and I know Im not alone)
Otis Redding : "I've been loving you (too long)"
Elvis Costello: "I want you"
Kate Bush: "Wuthering Heights"
(Ugh tha one is embarassing too)
Harry Nilsson: "Without You"
(okay I'll stop the commentary because every song that has gotten me extreemly emotional from just hearing it is embarassing to me)
Daniel Johnston: "Honey I sure miss you"
Jonathan Richman: "Hospital"
Elliot Smith: "Needle in the Hay" and "2:45 AM"
XTC: "Dear God" and "Dictionary"
Bruce Cockburn "If I Had a Rocket Launcher"

Hope I am answering the question. None of these are associated with specific memory triggers for me, and they all hit me fucking hard emotionally when I heard them and had lasting power for many, many listenings.
posted by DanielDManiel at 11:53 PM on August 8, 2007

Oh shit, most of mine and many, many more are indeed covered in the previous post pointed out by revmitcz above. Especially if you are looking for the sad side of the emotional spectrum, I second just looking at that.
posted by DanielDManiel at 12:18 AM on August 9, 2007

Good call GaelFC, when I read the question I thought of the scene in High Fidelity where Jack Black busts in on Cusack and the other clerk listening to "sad bastard music" (Belle & Sebastian), then puts on that song. From the opening bar you know that is the perfect choice of song for the antithesis of sad bastard music.

Also, since we're listing all the canon of sad and/or bittersweet songs, no one has mentioned "What a Wonderful World."
posted by good in a vacuum at 12:18 AM on August 9, 2007

That's obviously the Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan version, right, good in a vacuum?
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:22 AM on August 9, 2007

perfect choice of song for the antithesis of sad bastard music

meh. Happyland: Theme from Happyland
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:25 AM on August 9, 2007

I still don't get this. Is your question "what music make you feel emotional?" Or is it "are there pieces of music that make everyone feel emotional?" I assume it's the latter, but people seem to be answering as if it's the former.
posted by ludwig_van at 1:40 AM on August 9, 2007

I'm not sure this is what you're after, but here's my 2 cents:

Back in the early 90's, I worked as an assistant manager at a bookstore chain that also sold CDs. We were required to play music that we carried as stock, particularly Broadway faves of the moment like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables (or "Less Mizzerlobbies!", as one of my favorite customers called it.) Toward closing time, we often found ourselves with a lot of customers who were too involved in books to actually, you know, go home. So a few of us began experimenting with musical selections, hoping to find the most perfectly
non-soothing pieces that might shake up people enough to get them moving, yet leave them feeling warm and fuzzy enough to shell out for the merch.

We failed. But here are some of the music choices that were effective, in their own ways:

Philip Glass, "Rubric" Dancepieces The corporate office required us to play this, but early on it became clear that the music on this cd, and 'Rubric' specifically, provoked all kinds of anxiety and disorientation among customers and employees alike. After about 10 minutes, people became snappish and jittery; one woman walked head on into a bookshelf. I ended up banning it after I realized one of our guys was conducting his own sadistic social experiments by playing the CD on low volume at random times during the day, just to gleefully watch the mayhem ensue. (So Not Cool, Jim.)

Ute Lemper, I'm a Stranger Here Myself
This live performance doesn't match the caterwauling intensity of the studio version, but you get the idea. Personally, I love this recording, but the seething frustration in Ute's performance, those bloodcurdling high notes and terrible growls, always shocked the last minute shoppers out of their private reveries. But it's a short song, and the distractable types would find another book to leaf through once it finished. That's when we loaded up our Big Gun,

Ethel Merman's Rose's Turn, one of the most emotionally draining Broadway numbers ever written and, as performed by La Merman, the equivalent of the most toxic person alive playing a trumpet hand hammered out of fillet knives and razors inside your head. This recording could give Dina Lohan the squirts. Always cleared the joint out, lickety split, although we lost a lot of last minute sales as booklovers would toss aside the reading material as they fled. But we were young and selfish and unconcerned with corporate profit.
(This version of the song performed by Bette Midler is intense, but lacks the unmitigated-by-an-audience terror of the studio version.)

We only played Miles Davis's Bitches Brew once. There was a stampede out the front door. A furious middle aged man cornered me and demanded I "turn off that goddamn jungle claptrap" or he would have me fired. I still don't quite understand it, but that's a hell of a reaction for you.
posted by maryh at 3:07 AM on August 9, 2007 [5 favorites]

Once again, there is no given universal reaction that any song is guaranteed to produce, so you are probably on a fruitless quest in that sense. If, however, you just want some good songs, here are a few I enjoy.


Arvo Pärt: "Fratres." (Version VI) for Strings and Percussion. The best performance is by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, under the conductor Franz Welser-Most. There really is a big difference between the different versions out there, so I recommend this one if you can get it.

Arvo Pärt: "Spiegel Im Spiegel." The variances between different orchestrations are not so important with this one. Very moving, perhaps the best example of Pärt's famous tintinnabuli style.

Arvo Pärt: "Kanon Pokajanen." This one is quite sad. It's eighty minutes of an unaccompanied choir singing in D minor. And, I mean, it's unabashedly, dramatically depressing, unlike Barber's Adagio, which is arguably the better of the two pieces for its sense of restraint and introspection. Still, the "Prayer After the Canon" is quite extraordinary after you have been listening for seventy-odd minutes. I enjoy listening to it at Christmas, oddly enough.

W. A. Mozart, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." Unabashedly joyful! I'm sure you've heard many snippets from this, if not the whole thing at some point.

W. A. Mozart, "Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major." Mozart was (in my opinion) the best piano composer in history, and this one, particularly the third movement, is enthralling.

Stravinsky, "Symphony of Psalms." There's not much I can even think of to say about this, except that you should really give it a listen. The first movement is quick and fiery, and the third movement is all kinds of things at once. If you are ever lucky enough to see this performed in concert, the final "alleluia, laudate Dominum" sounds like the last noise you will ever hear. (I was lucky enough to perform it!)

Handel, "Zadok the Priest." This one is quite famous as the music traditionally played at the coronation of the British monarchs. About as majestic as Handel can get, which is pretty damn majestic.

Mendelssohn, "Sechs Spruche, Op. 79: IV - In Der Passionszeit." Very brief motet which is quite moving on repeated listens.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 3:46 AM on August 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Howard Goodall (who incidentally, wrote the theme tune to Blackadder) had a really good TV series called How Music Works, which goes some way to answer the 'why does it make me sad?' question. It's fascinating stuff. Here's a (YT) taster of his style, though this clip doesn't answer your question.

On whether songs can be inherently sad - I say absolutely. This Bronski Beat song made me cry the first time I heard it, as a child. I had no idea what it was about and couldn't even make out the words.
posted by tiny crocodile at 4:49 AM on August 9, 2007

I guarantee that Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" will wreck any woman in her 30s. Oh, Lloyd Dobler, why can't you be real?
posted by headspace at 4:52 AM on August 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Mary H - that Bette Midler thing is unhinged! Almost like Bjork....
posted by tiny crocodile at 4:59 AM on August 9, 2007

I still don't get this. Is your question "what music make you feel emotional?" Or is it "are there pieces of music that make everyone feel emotional?"

well, good old ludwig van, o my droog, as you so correctly stated earlier, these things are very much culturally conditioned. if we were mongolians or tibetans, then perhaps some throat singing would be the bee's knees, but assuming that we are all more or less western, then arbitrary things like major & minor chords will resonate amongst most of us.

it's always possible to assign our own cultural interpretations onto music that may not have been meant to have been heard in the way that we in the west hear them. some possible examples:

* choying drolma & steve tibbetts
* djivan gasparayan
* ghazal (the persian-indian impro partnership, not the entire ghazal tradition)
* toumani diabate

~ i am conscious that these (and others) resonate with me in ways probably unintended, or even laughable, to the musicians, but hey - try listening to gasparayan's "i will not be sad in this world" & tell me that it's not the greatest irony you have ever encountered!
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:31 AM on August 9, 2007

I dare you to sing "Jeremiah was a bullfrog!" without a smile on your face.

What a Wonderful World by Louie Armstrong seems to be almost universally liked. A local radio station used to play it at 8a every single morning. Few better ways to start your day.

I Grieve by Peter Gabriel gives me a big lump in my throat every time I hear it. The loss is so real.
posted by widdershins at 5:33 AM on August 9, 2007

"Fanfare For The Common Man" -- Arron Copeland

"Hello Goodbye" -- The Beatles

"Paint It Black" -- The Rolling Stones

"In The Nick Of Time" -- Edgar Meyer/Joshua Bell from the album "Short Trip Home"

"In The Hall of the Mountain King" -- Edvard Grieg

"The Mooche" -- Duke Ellington

"Tempted by the Fruit of Another" -- Squeeze

"The Godfather" theme -- Nino Rota

The "Shower" music from "Psycho" -- Bernard Herrmann

The theme from "Jaws" -- John Williams

"Pomp and Circumstance" -- Elgar

"Jupiter" from "The Planets" -- Holst

"Mars" from "The Planets" -- Holst

"Queen of the Night" song from "The Magic Flute" -- Mozart

"Glitter and Be Gay" from "Candide" -- Leonard Bertstein

"The Blue Danube" -- Strauss

Theme from "Double Indemnity" -- Miklos Roza

"The Rite of Spring" -- Stravinsky

"So What" from "Kind of Blue" -- Miles Davis

"Sweet Blindness" -- Laura Nyro

"Good Vibrations" -- The Beach Boys

"Piano Man" -- Billy Joel

"Harmour Love" -- Syreeta Wrigh

"8th String Quartet" -- Shotokovich
posted by grumblebee at 6:46 AM on August 9, 2007

ludwig_van: I guess we're answering with our own personally emotional selections, which are hopefully chosen because of some quality that many other (Western) ears can appreciate.

That said, the third movement of Beethoven's 16th string quartet (Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo) is, in my opinion, one of the most emotive pieces I've ever heard. It is melancholy and bittersweet, and to my ears portrays the pain of a very vulnerable soul. That it is a movement in his last work brings me over the edge just about every time.

The entirety of the album Ambient 2: Plateaux of Mirror, a collaboration between Brian Eno and Harold Budd, has a very distinct mood of detached, melancholy reflection to it.

Wise One, by John Coltrane (on Crescent, my favorite Coltrane recording) is a very reflective, reverent tune.
posted by invitapriore at 6:58 AM on August 9, 2007

I'm going to go with Pomp and Circumstance, and any variation of the wedding march. Instant tears!
posted by infinityjinx at 7:46 AM on August 9, 2007

Bob Dylan - If You See Her Say Hello
posted by wsg at 9:28 AM on August 9, 2007

"Desperado," as sung by 9-year-old Sheila Behman on The Langley Schools Music Project, killed me the first time I heard it. But after listening to this interview with her and her music teacher on NPR, it's so devastating I can't listen to it anymore.
posted by granted at 9:29 AM on August 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seconding Henryk Gorecki's Third Symphony "The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs". Turn up the volume or put on headphones and if you can keep a dry eye when Dawn Upshaw reaches that first huge crescendo, then you one cold hearted bastard.
posted by elendil71 at 9:29 AM on August 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Purcell, "When I am laid in earth."

Isn't that what music is for, to induce emotion?
posted by futility closet at 9:38 AM on August 9, 2007

A stack of Neil Young songs fit the bill: some popular, others less so. Some of my favorites:

• "Birds" from After the Gold Rush

• "Out on the Weekend" from Harvest

• "Ambulance Blues" from On the Beach

• "Don't Cry" from the Eldorado EP

• "Western Hero" and "Train of Love" from Sleeps with Angels
posted by porn in the woods at 10:44 AM on August 9, 2007

Tracy Chapman's "Fastcar". It just makes you want to kill yourself. I think it's one of the most flat out depressing and hopeless songs ever made.

Heh. I kind of feel the opposite. Fast Car almost makes me kind of hopeful.

To answer the question I would have to say Pachabel's Canon.
posted by triggerfinger at 11:11 AM on August 9, 2007

The middle eight of 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me' gets me every single time...'when you take me in your arms and drive me slowly out of my mind'...oh, there I go again!
posted by DandyRandy at 11:47 AM on August 9, 2007

I can remember O fortuna.
posted by radsqd at 1:23 PM on August 9, 2007

well, good old ludwig van, o my droog, as you so correctly stated earlier, these things are very much culturally conditioned. if we were mongolians or tibetans, then perhaps some throat singing would be the bee's knees, but assuming that we are all more or less western, then arbitrary things like major & minor chords will resonate amongst most of us.

Well, I just think it would be a different discussion if we're actually talking about what is or isn't universal in music. I gave my opinion earlier that there aren't really universals, but when I discussed this with my girlfriend she mentioned a study she'd read about that tested people's reactions to pieces of music and found that folks were able to identify the emotional character of certain pieces regardless of their cultural background, which would seem to condradict what I said. Unfortunately she didn't have any specific info on the study she was thinking of, but maybe I could get her to find out.

In any case, there would still seem to be quite a gap between "this is a piece of music that is widely recognized as being emotional in different times and for different people" (Adagio for Strings or Beethoven's 9th are good examples), and "this is a song that always makes me sad." I mean, the question kind of starts things off in the wrong direction, I think. I know the song "The World at Large" and I think it's nice, but it's hard to imagine describing it as some kind of universal emotion-trigger. Maybe I should listen to it again, though.
posted by ludwig_van at 1:25 PM on August 9, 2007

(i'd go with Blame it on the Tetons ahead of The World at Large, anyway. if you didn't speak english, you might actually find the latter to be quirkily optimistic in tone...)
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:00 PM on August 9, 2007

Peter Gabriel's "Biko."
It isn't my favorite song; it isn't even in my top 100. But whenever I hear it I'm moved.
I think it's lyrically the best 'political' song I've heard. I think the song is powerful because it moves from the specific (a location of a political crime) to the general (justice) at the same time it moves from despair to hope. Both the music and the lyrics are very simple. That gives the song power too.
posted by ferdydurke at 3:37 PM on August 9, 2007