It can downright stink to hear certain songs on the radio when you are feeling sad about life. It’s the worst. There is no downplaying it. It can be the worst when you are going about your life, trying to get by, and all of a sudden you are ambushed by some song that makes you feel all the feels. In my life, I have cried publicly in plenty of places. Once, I was just walking on a railtrail and I only thought about a certain thought song and I started crying and people saw me, ugly crying, while walking.
That being said, I also think there is a certain power when you listen to a song on purpose and allow yourself to get certain emotions out. It can be cathartic.
Here is my list of songs (just in time for Valentine’s Day), because Valentine’s Day can be romantic but it can also stir up a lot of feelings. I tend to think that we humans in northerly climates are at their most vulnerable and maybe in their saddest mindset in mid-February. Winter can take a toll. We might be fresh-out of our stores of Post-2020, whoop-ass energy.
[That being said, this article about the song “This Year” by the Mountain Goats always gets me laughing. Its a jokey article written in 2020 about we are a people collectively were/ are feeling. If you don’t know it, you should totally give yourself the gift of listening to “This Year”. It has sort of become an anthem for me this past 23 months. It’s the kind of song that can lift you up]
Sometimes giving yourself a good cry can be a gift. I believe that just thinking about songs that made you a puddle at one point in your life can give you strength if they don’t have that power over you anymore.
This is not a definitive list, but just a jumping off point. . ;
11 Songs To Help Your Get Your Cry On! (if that’s what you want)
- “I Would Do Anything for Love But I Won’t Do That” by Meatloaf. Really, there are a bunch of songs on Bat Out of Hell I that have that power over me. “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Heaven Can Wait” do the job too. Thank you Meatloaf, you will be missed.
- “Breath” by Faith Hill. This song was newly popular on the radio the first time I really got my heart swished and it only continued to get more popular as that spring wore on. At the time, I hated it so much, now I mostly think it is sentimental dribble.
- “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed. I didn’t discover this song until I found a album of cover songs by Duran Duran. I know this is sacrilege to people who like the original, but the Duran Duran cover is my favorite version.
- “Un-break My Heart” by Toni Braxton. I had never been in love when I first heard this song played on the radio but it made me sad anyway. I wished it hadn’t been as popular as it was at the time because I didn’t like how it made me feel. It still makes me feel uncomfortable.
- “The Dance: by Garth Brooks. They played this song as one of the slow dance songs at almost every dance when I was in high school in the 90’s in rural Pennsylvania. It doesn’t always elicit feelings in me but once and a while it really gets me.
- “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” Five for Fighting. I really like Five for Fighting (who is just one guy) but his songs really do have an emotional overtone. This one was the first song of his that I remember being popular. When I would hear it at my internship in 2001, I would ask myself, “Why is this song doing this to me?”
- “Landed” or “Brick” by Ben Folds. Ben Folds really feels the feels sometimes.
- Shooting Star, by Bob Dylan. I can also cry a pretty good cry to “To Make You Feel My Love” and “Lay Lady Lay”. I guess that’s why he won a Nobel Prize for songwriting. Go figure.
- “I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton. I like Whitney Houston but this is the one that gets me.
- “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby”, “Goodnight Elizabeth”, “Colorblind”, “Amy Hit the Atmosphere”, “Sullivan Street” by the Counting Crows. Why is Adam Duritz for sad?
- “Do You Realize” by The Flaming Lips. I know that they are a fun band, the fun-ness is part of their vibe but this song never fails to get me.
What songs are kryptonite for you. Comment below.
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For me, some of the emotional reaction songs are
– “Champagne Problems” , Taylor Swift
– “The Way I Tend to Be”, Frank Turner
– “The Blessings”, Dar Williams
– “Perhaps Love”, John Denver (sung with Placido Domingo)
I enjoy Champagne Problems the way many people like the movie Titanic: it’s sad but the main characters are fictional, so it’s cathartic.
“Perhaps Love” is not a romantic song to me, but it makes me think about my family and friends. There is a particular line that makes me cry because it makes me miss Mom. I seek it out to listen to, and I feel sad in a sweet way. If I ever randomly heard it in a grocery store, though, I would be a puddle. “If I should live forever and all my dreams come true, my memory of love would be of you.”
Hi Liz,
This winter I have started enjoying Harley and Sons tea. You an order it online with no shipping fee or buy it in some stores. There is one tea called Paris, which I am really into this winter. When I drink it sometimes it makes me want to listen to Come Monday by Jimmy Buffet, which is a sad/ happy song. It makes me wistful for some reason. I love it though and the tea.
I love/hate is Everybody Hurts by REM. The title & lyrics say it all. It’s a great song that I kinda cringe when I hear 😢😂 All the feels.
I’ll have to check out you & Elizabeth’s songs.
Hi Annie,
I love Nightswimming by REM but it gives me the feels. Also Everybody Hurts