“Do it for her” from Steven Universe. If you haven’t watched the series. I won’t ruin it.

Likewise, “Leaves From the Vine” from ATLA

It almost feels like cheating, but Somewhere Only We Know by Keane always manages to get me, especially since it seems like the lyrics become more poignant the older I get.

Honorable shoutout goes to Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt.

1916 by Motorhead.

Quite possibly the most heartbreaking anti-war song ever written.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTG6I3jxdnc

Wings for Marie pt 1 and 2 by Tool. It’s a 17 minute pair of tracks so there’s no expectation of you, dear random reader, to slog through it, but it’s very meaningful to me. It is haunting and beautiful though.

Part 1: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BNTo34xOwoM

Part 2: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qJq9y9xPKWs

I lost my mother unexpectedly and when I was rather young (mid 20’s).

As a little relevant back history of the lead singer, he was at odds with his mother when she was alive but she passed of cancer. My take on the song is that this is an ode to her.

My mother was mentally ill and we never had a good relationship, but after that loss I spent a lot of time thinking about all that was strong and good in her. And I miss her still, despite everything. This song evokes those feelings and still brings me to tears to this day.

Edit: updated formatting a bit and the links. The parts 1 and 2 video I found worked fine via ddg but the direct link didn’t seem to work, so changed to links to the individual songs.

Undertale from Toby Fox

https://youtu.be/8CeYNJ-s0Kw?si=ybFwzAxK8uVi62KV

No matter how many times I listen to it, tears ALWAYS rush to my eyes

I still remember listening to Changes by Tupac and Talent for the first time while I was waiting for the bus downtown to head home.

At the time hiphop and rap as a whole was something I hated, but there was something that really stood out about this one track the person across the shelter from me was blasting. The lyrics hooked me from the get go:

"I see no changes, wake up in the morning, and I ask myself Is life worth living, should I blast myself? I’m tired of bein’ poor…"

I didn’t grow up with the best surroundings, and it felt like a gut punch having a song played by a random stranger on their speaker speak to my experience like that. Followed later with:

"I see no changes, all I see is racist faces Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races We under, I wonder what it takes to make this One better place, let’s erase the wasted"

I feel when I was younger I was really insensitive to racial issues, and part of that was owed to circumstances that were unique to myself that I was still dealing with the effects of, but listening to the whole song and the genuine nature of the lived experiences told in the lyrics really helped me see things through another lens that I’m still thankful for today. This part especially helped me do some self-reflection and realize that I was in part misplacing my hate on entire groups of people rather than those who specifically wronged me, and that all I was doing was damaging potential friendships I could have with people who were no different from myself outside of physical characteristics.

Feels weird being open about this, and I know that it’s really odd for someone to say a song of all things got them to change some racist thoughts they held, but I was a teenager at the time with a shitty life in and out of the house, and while it’s no excuse, it was hard to be rational when all you felt was anger at the world and didn’t know where the hell to aim it.

A Different Kind Of Human by AURORA

The song resonates with me so deeply, feeling like I don’t belong anywhere, as an autistic/trans/lesbian individual. The idea of “my people” arriving in a mothership and warmly embracing me for all that I am, and taking me somewhere I belong, is enough to make me well up just thinking about the song.

Porter Robinson - Goodbye to a World It’s a fun song since it’s electronic and dance. There’s not even many lyrics, but at the same time it manages to be a very emotional song. It genuinely makes you feel like you’re at the end of a world.

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Passenger - Let Her Go - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RBumgq5yVrA

And Garth Brooks - The Dance - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhnFvxTjok

Because I’m tired of watching the people I love die.

Sia - Breathe Me (mainly because of Six Feet Under)

Honorable mention to Dan Folgelberg - Same Old Lang Syne.

Depressing songs? That’s my expertise. I’ll try to keep it short:. Off the top of my head:

Richard Ashcroft - The Drugs Don’t Work - Lyric: “'Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls
I’m coming too, just like you said. You leave my life, I’m better off dead”

Kate Bush - This Woman’s Work - about a woman (almost) dying during childbirth. Think most people can relate to the thought of their mother (or mother of their children) dying. (And if that’s not you, internet hugs. Sorry, if that’s all I can offer you.)

Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Mark Almond isn’t the best singer, this sounds like a cheesy 80s song about a break-up… and then the chorus hits. Anger and bitterness seem to mask true pain.

Regina Spektor - Becoming All Alone Again - Key lyrics: “Why doesn’t it get better with time?
I’m becoming all alone again.”

The Knife - Is it still light outside? - a cheery song about the doctor coming for a visit after something happened.

Bowie and Mercury = Under Pressure - Aftersun version - Key lyric: “Why can’t we give love one more chance? Why can’t we give ourselves one more chance?” and “this is our last dance” - in this version Bowie never gets to finish the lyric. Love doesn’t get one more chance. The movie’s equally depressing.

Pink Floyd - High Hopes - about regret and growing old. Key lyric: “Running before time took our dreams away, leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground to a life consumed by slow decay”. Obviously Pink Floyd has other great songs, I chose one of them.

Mad World. I respect Tears for Fears, but Gary Jules did it much better

IMHO, Jasmine Thompson aced the song.

The Pentatonix version comes in tied for second place.

Why? I think the song really nails how we can feel about this world sometimes. It was a fairly good description of me In my more depressed times, or at least, it triggers some very familiar feelings of the past. How can I describe it… It’s like I am looking at myself and the world through dead eyes. There are no feelings, no emotion and just the buzz of the world happening around me for no reason. (That description almost mirrors some of the lyrics, now that I think about it. What can I say? It’s an accurate song.)

remember me, from Coco (the lullaby version)

Lauren Shigihara - Everything’s Alright
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nIZxh_nc64w

The lyrics by themselves tell a story, but this song is the capstone to indie game To The Moon, which is an emotionally devastating tale. The theme of being near each other despite all else going wrong (thus making it all okay) was what made it my wife’s song of choice to sing to our son while he was in the NICU. I cannot hear this without my emotional state falling apart.