Emo!... Songs That Make the A.V. Club Cry

[Rae]

Thought it would be fun to riff off of this mixlist that appeared in this morning's AV Club:

http://www.avclub.com/content/featur...e_the_a_v_club

Great list with some of my favorites; I especially liked the shout outs to Talib Kweli's "For Women" (so, so true) as well as Jawbreaker and Elvis Costello's "Veronica".

What are some songs that make you all misty-eyed? Feel free to list some of yr own tear-jerkers (provided nobody says "Cats in the Cradle"). I'll come back with some of mine later this afternoon when I have a little more time.

~Rae

[nobody]

No time to read the list just yet...will get to it later.

But, I just saw emo and had to point out that my buddy that does intake at a local psych ward says that emo kids account for about half the intake these days what with all the cutting themselves and such in an effort to be cool.


OK...one that makes me misty eyed...The Pogues: Measure of My Dreams...history with a girl and that song and all. Actually, quite a few Pogues songs, but that one in particular.

[Stone]

Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun
Don McLean - American Pie

Those work for you?

[Stone]

Okay seriously,

Jimmy Cliff - "Many Rivers to Cross"
Patsy Cline - "I Fall to Pieces"

[kexodusc]

No time to read the list just yet...will get to it later.

But, I just saw emo and had to point out that my buddy that does intake at a local psych ward says that emo kids account for about half the intake these days what with all the cutting themselves and such in an effort to be cool.

LOL - the man speaks the truth.

What the - Dolly Parton and Uncle Tupelo in the same list?
Interesting mix of music.
But if Jawbreaker or Elliott Smith make you cry you need a kick in the ass, quit being a pussy.

Maybe I'm getting older, but man I hate Emo kids...They need to be punched in the face. My office tower is in a shopping mall, every day I have to march through a small crowd of emo kids who still haven't found the nerve to throw themselves off the bridge. They all get to the coffee shop the same time I go it seems, no matter what time it really is, and stand in line debating which $5 blend of milkshake and coffee pretending to be from some foreign country best reflects how they feel that day.

My biggest pet peeve is seeing these kids getting out of there mom's Audi and then proceeding to bum spare change off pedestrians all day. What the hell is that all about?

Back when I was their age, kids who thought about how they felt got spitballed on the bus and wedgied until they bled.

Ugh, Emo. I thought the music world really outd-id itself blurring the hell out of what constituted "Alternative" music when you could find Pavement, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Lisa Loeb on the same shelf at a music store.

But Emo had to outdo it. Ask any idiot Emo kid what Emo means and they'll tell you anything from Fugazzi to Fall Out Boy. I don't know if it's punk music or wuss rock.

These guys would get killed at a Pantera concert.

[Davey]

I've been first and last
Look at how the time goes past.
But I'm all alone at last.
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true.

[3-LockBox]

These guys would get killed at a Pantera concert.

if they're lucky...

[Rich-n-Texas]

What's an emo kid? I don't think we have them in Texas. (No, I didn't click the link. Last time I clicked a link here... Disgusting!!!)

I'll answer after I've seen more people reply seriously. I have a few.

[Rae]

Okay, here are a few of mine. Let it be known that I outed myself as a total crybaby years ago when I told Stone that Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing" made me emotional, so I'll make no effort to act tough.

Bill Withers - "I Can't Write Left-Handed" from Live at Carnegie Hall 1973
I already said enough about this one in an earlier thread.

Liz Phair - "Divorce Song" from Exile in Guyville
There are a lot of emotional stunners on that exposed nerve of a record, but the suckerpunch for me always comes late in this tune, which chronicles a final disasterous road trip during a doomed marraige. After spending most of the first few verses on bitching and recrimination, the narrator finally reveals how much of her self-worth is invested in the other person's opinion of her: "and the license said you had to stick around until I was dead/ but if you're tired of looking at my face, I guess I already am."

7 Year Bitch "M.I.A." from Viva Zapata!
The centerpiece of an album written in response to the brutal rape & murder of Gits frontwoman Mia Zapata. Singer Selene Vigil howls with frustration, anger, and sadness over the loss of a friend and the deep hurt that came with knowing that for all the self-actualization and empowerment that had come from riot-grrrl culture, it could just as arbitrarily be taken away. Their typical bass-driven punk style is at an absolute frenzy as Vigil struggles with her own instinctual response to the crime and levels her lyrics directly at the (still unknown) perpetrator of the crime: "did society do this to you?/ does society have justice for you?/ well if not, I do."

The Replacements - "Answering Machine" from Let It Be, Loudon Wainwright III - "Motel Blues" from Album II, and Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago" from Come On Feel the Illinoise
Three songs about the life of being a musician on tour and often living on the road. The first two deal with the same feelings of loneliness and aching for home-- in Paul Westerberg's lo-fi masterpiece, he distorts familiar samples of automated phone messages ("if you'd like to make a call, please hang up and dial again. if you need help, hang up and dial your operator") until they are unrecognizable ("if you need help, if you need help, if you need help") as he sings the rueful refrain "how do you say you're okay to an answering machine?". In the Wainwright song, Loudon starts off playfully seducing an underage fan in a bar before slowly admitting that he can't bear to spend another night on the road alone. And the third is part of Stevens' complex personal mythology, but nails a certain overwhelming feeling of transience as he breaks down: "if I was crying in the van, with my friend/ it was for freedom from myself and from the land," before echoing "I made a lot of mistakes," over and over again.

Jack Logan - "Teach Me the Rules" from Mood Elevator
I don't know a lot about the background of this song or this record, but it's always been the perfect breakup song for me-- the lyrics paint the picture of the bizarre feelings of estrangement and desperation that come after devoting all of your time and emotional investment to someone else... the sense of not knowing what to do when the other person isn't there. My favorite passage is where the protagonist sings "I found a pair of shoes/ I found abandoned shoes/ while walking through the woods/ what should I do?/ teach me the rules."

Cat Power - "Names" from You Are Free
Chan Marshall recounts various horrific abuses suffered by childhood friends in an oddly detached way, cycling through half a dozen names before the kicker comes almost as an afterthought at the end, as she finishes one verse with "I don't know where he is," and then adds "I don't know where they are," a melancholy sense of loss and meaninglessness that echoes the final lines of Built to Spill's equally affecting "Twin Falls, Idaho."

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - "Biomusicology" from The Tyranny of Distance
I get weird lil' tears of joy whenever Ted sings "if we'd ne'er lost/ or ne'er been misguided/ we'd've ne'er reached seas so shining".

phew!

*sob*

~Rae

[newtrix1]

Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun

I was going to half-jokingly, half-seriously post this song since it was the first song I ever remember getting emotional over as a kid (somewhere around age 10?). I can't beleive you posted it!

[-Jar-]

Cocteau Twins "Half-gifts"

intimacy's when we're in the same place at the
same time dealing honestly with how we feel
and who we really are..

god that song just *fits* Liz is an amazing songwriter when you can get the lyrics..

Snow Patrol "Run" - I know this song is just huge, but .. like the one before, it just *fits*

Tom Waits "Take it With Me"

In a land there's a town, and in that town there's a house,
and in that house there is a woman,
and in that woman is a heart I love,
I'm gonna take it with me when I go..

awesome

-jar

[jrhymeammo]

Great list with some of my favorites; I especially liked the shout outs to Talib Kweli's "For Women"

~Rae

I'm with you on that one, Rae. Though I never cried to any of his CDs, I've seen alot of girls cry at his show to that track. Maybe a new batch of girls are crying to to his newer track with Jean. I've also seen a show with Jean and Kwa on the same stage. That brings me back....

Thanks to Kex, now I know I can post the word PUSSY.

JRA

[Rae]

Tom Waits "Take it With Me"

The Tom Waits song that always stirs a little something in me is "Johnsburg, Illinois." Not a sad song at all; in fact, a simple little portrait of true love for his wife, Kathleen Brennan, but it's something about the melancholy piano-tinkling and direct lyrics...

she's my only true love
she's all that I think of
look here in my wallet
that's her
she grew up on a farm there
there's a place on my arm
where I've written her name
next to mine
you see I just can't
live without her
and I'm her only boy
and she grew up outside McHenry
in Johnsburg, Illinois.

~Rae

[nobody]

In The Neighborhoos kinda gets me as a Tom Waits song that's not really sad at all..it just puts me in a meloncholy state because it holds a lot of memories for me.

[GMichael]

LOL - the man speaks the truth.

What the - Dolly Parton and Uncle Tupelo in the same list?
Interesting mix of music.
But if Jawbreaker or Elliott Smith make you cry you need a kick in the ass, quit being a pussy.

Maybe I'm getting older, but man I hate Emo kids...They need to be punched in the face. My office tower is in a shopping mall, every day I have to march through a small crowd of emo kids who still haven't found the nerve to throw themselves off the bridge. They all get to the coffee shop the same time I go it seems, no matter what time it really is, and stand in line debating which $5 blend of milkshake and coffee pretending to be from some foreign country best reflects how they feel that day.

My biggest pet peeve is seeing these kids getting out of there mom's Audi and then proceeding to bum spare change off pedestrians all day. What the hell is that all about?

Back when I was their age, kids who thought about how they felt got spitballed on the bus and wedgied until they bled.

Ugh, Emo. I thought the music world really outd-id itself blurring the hell out of what constituted "Alternative" music when you could find Pavement, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Lisa Loeb on the same shelf at a music store.

But Emo had to outdo it. Ask any idiot Emo kid what Emo means and they'll tell you anything from Fugazzi to Fall Out Boy. I don't know if it's punk music or wuss rock.

These guys would get killed at a Pantera concert.

Um.. Anger management? Decaf?

I don't know squat about Emo anything. Maybe I'd be just as upset if I did.

[Swish]

Like Bill Murray mentioned in Stripes. Well, I was going to be a jokester and say The Night Chicago Died (I heard my daddy cry) and maybe Maxwell's Silver Hammer, but only because it made me cry to think the Beatles would actually record something that bad. Since Stone already played the wag card, I guess one I would submit would be this one...

I thought that we'd be
Further along by now
I can't remember how
We stumbled to this place

I loved you like a long lost brother
On a bad day maybe I thought why bother
I've seldom seen so much anger
In a face

I wanna do better
I wanna try harder
I wanna believe
Down to the letter

Jesus and Mary
Can you carry us
Across this ocean
Into the arms of forgiveness

I don't mean to laugh out loud
I'm trying to come clean
Trying to shed my doubt
Maybe I should just keep
My big mouth shut

More often than not
When it comes to you
You want whatever's not in front of you
Deep down I know this includes me too

So tell me your troubles
Let your pain rain down
I know my job I've been around
I invest in the mess
I'm a low cost dumping ground

Trouble is I'm so exhausted
The plot, you see, I think I've lost it
I need the grace to find what can't be found

That has to be my favorite from that record, although there are quite a few gems on it.

Swish

[Jim Clark]

OK, I honestly don't think that anything I've listened to has moved me to tears in a very long while. Several have had, and continue to have a big emotional impact on me.

Reindeer Section (pre Snow Patol band) - You Are My Joy. Always makes me think of my family and how important they are to me. Typical of most Gordon Lightbody songs, the delivery is always extremely heartfelt and earnest. Syrupy and sappy to some but always hits an emotional note with me. One of my most valuable faves from the current music scene. Myspace link to the song: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endID=41798469
BTW, if you take the time to listen to the track, please be sure to check out the others as well, Cartwheels in particular. I've comped that track in the past but it's so freaking good that it always deserves another listen. (street teamer for a now defunct band signing off )
I won't leave you out of my will
But I will leave you out of my mind - for now

I won't be there to break your sweet heart
But not being there might break your sweet heart

You are my joy - you are my joy
You are my joy - you are my joy
You are my joy - you are my joy
You are my joy - you are my joy

If I could cradle you into my arms
I would cradle you tight in my arms - always

So don't be scared of all the hurtful words
Cause in the end they'll hurt themselves much more

You are my joy - you are my joy
You are my joy - you are my joy

Gary Jules - Mad World. Donnie Darko is an intensely emotional movie and this cover was used to devasting effect. Being the biggest T4F's fan around for miles a cover has to really have the goods to top the original. This gem comes through in spades. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Nq086QB1Q

Somwhere Over The Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and his ukelelee are mandatory listening as far as I'm concerned. For those that don't know this guy is a native Hawaiian who was morbidly obese and passed away in 1997. The cover was brought to national attention on an episode of ER when Mark Green (Anthony Edwards) dies. This guy for all his heft had an amazingly delicate voice and was a remarkable talent and the cover is about as good as good can get. His CD is a joy to listen to. Utube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4XhMANcCbM

jc