Songs That Destroy You

Weird topic and one that I don't know has been covered on the board.

Had Peter Gabriel's best of playing in the background at work and the song "Father, Son" came on. My Dad passed back in 2011, so I'm usually pretty ok, but for whatever reason, this song gives me the "There's something in my eye!" moment something fierce even now.

Any songs that wreck and of you - reminders of exs, old friends, family members or just one of *those* moments?

Oh, and I suppose there should be props given to songs that make us suddenly need to leave the room at social gatherings just because the bastard who wrote the damn thing could have made us weep openly at the recitation of a Chinese menu... I'm looking at Roger Waters for this one. The Gunner's Dream still makes me misty.

I wish I knew how to reply to this thread proper, but I don't, so I guess I'll just wing it.

One of my ex's for me said to me that I reminded her of "Poison" by Alice Cooper. We used to play the song a lot. I found it to be a very sweet gesture because she had been out of a relationship for a while, along with several other failed relationships and she was reluctant to get involved with anybody else before she met me. Two weeks before Valentine's Day, she died in the hospital due to some jackass running her over. Now I can't even listen to the song anymore.

Let's also add "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross. Since my father passed last month, I can barely bring myself to listen to it anymore, but it's still a great song nonetheless.

One more. "Not Alone" by Red. Still can never listen to that song without my tear ducts getting a little moist. But I guess I'm asking for that since I've been a Red fan for years. I also consider it very special to me because I personally dedicated it to a friend who had a childhood filled with lots of abuse and attempted suicides.

Sorry to hear the stories behind those for you. Also, sorry to hear about your Dad. For what it's worth, it does get easier given time. It doesn't really go away, but it does get easier.

Best advice I can offer there is to let the process work on you rather than to try to contain it. Nothing makes it worse more than trying to hold it back and contain it - speaking from experience.

Mike and the Mechanics "The Living Years" for me. It came out about a year before my dad passed away from cancer. Knowing he didn't have much time left, he said he wanted to at least make it to see my baby (my daughter) born. Sadly, he didn't make it and passed away in December. My daughter was born the following June. On his birthday. And although the song is about not getting along with your parent,my dad and I got along great and the following passage from the song gets me :

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears

It's been a long time but I sure still miss him.

Those songs have become much easier to listen to now than before. I let out all my pain with Luther, Stevie Wonder, Seal, and old Motown classics that my dad would always listen to when he died. Cried like a baby. It would be me and him in his Toyota Echo, driving down the highway, watching the wheat-filled expanse of the Midwest prairies blur by me, and we'd be listening to DeBarge, George Benson, Bobby Caldwell, Michael Jackson, and Earth, Wind, & Fire for the millionth time, not once bored of hearing them even then I could probably sing them ad nauseam back then (can't even do that now, heh). Those wonderful memories kept me comforted.

All I know is that I'll probably never listen to "Poison" again, this much I'm sure of.

Ugh...  "The Living Years."  Sort of funny story about that song.  I browse dollar bins at this record store I frequent and I was out with my friend and now roommate.  She saw The Living Years on vinyl and I picked it up for her just because we were planning on chilling out and spinning some records.  

Fast forward to later that evening, I'm playing some PC game or other and the title track comes on.  I'm totally oblivious and never paid attention to the lyrics or meaning of the song.  This was less than a year after my Dad passed.  So, all of a sudden, she just goes, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry."  

I look up, totally oblivious because I had been in the zone and actually hear the words for probably the first time EVER and start misting up.  I think I said something like, "Oh, for ****'s sake!"  That song could have played through and I never would have paid it any mind except for her apologizing for having me pick it up.  Even then, I found the setup pretty funny, but that song was pretty much made to sink the proverbial battleship.

And "Icy," much as I like "Poison," I'm sure there are legions of Cooper fans who would happily never hear that song again, so you could have done worse.

Funny because I'm not an Alice Cooper fan. Wasn't alive when his stuff came out, when his music became popular, when he was at his musical zenith, none of that. Only album I own is his "Welcome 2 My Nightmare," and I don't listen to it that much anymore. I know "School's Out" and "I'm Eighteen" respectably through metal covers, but that's all.

Some people talk a lot of smack on Brutal Planet for being his "Rob Zombie" album, but it was the first album to come out after I got into his stuff. Definitely worth a listen. Not exactly the style you'd expect from him.

Black by Pearl Jam. Not many songs can depress me that much, but it does and I love it anyways. It doesn't remind me of anything or anyone, it's just a sad song in a depressing key.

Everyone here knows that I have much more compassion for animals than I do for people.  In that vein, the song "The Last Of The Great Whales" by Solas still breaks me up every time I hear it.  The lyrics are from the point of view of the last whale as he's dying after first seeing his mate killed.  And no, I'm not into PETA or Greenpeace or other organizations like that who have hijacked this song.   

Probably most here won't have the same reaction I do but here it is anyway:

These get me:

My older brother passed away several years ago. The day after he died, I was running around taking care of some errands before flying off to Florida for his funeral. I had Thin Lizzy's "Fighting" on in the car and "Spirit Slips Away" came on. Hit me right between the eyes. It didn't make me sad though; it was more of a comfort to me. Great song!

Another one or two I've got.

"I'll Be There" by Megadeth. One of my personal favs by them. It serves as a perfect contrast to "In My Darkest Hour." Gets me right there every time.

"Bleeding Me" by Metallica. Reminds me of my struggle my dad went through fighting diabetes and his cravings with eating.

"Alone You Breathe" by Savatage.  When a dear friend of mine from college passed away from kidney disease in 1996 (she was only 27 years old), I listened to that song day in and day out throughout the mourning process. That track (and to a lesser extent, "St. Patrick's" off of "Streets") pretty much summed up the emotional hell I was going through at the time.

"Fiddler on the Green" by Demons & Wizards. This album came out shortly after my Dad passed away from a brutal (but thankfully brief) battle with leukemia. There's a mention of someone being "taken too early" by the Grim Reaper in that song that gets me every time.

"Alone You Breathe" along with "If I Go Away" pretty much do the same for me, though I don't associate them with a specific person.

Hell, when I saw Jon Oliva, he looked like he was going to cry when he was singing "If I Go Away." Some of his songs are just emotional weapons.

"I will be there" by KISS  hit me hard when it came out.  Finding out you had a 16 year old daughter with an old high school girlfriend all of a sudden can be an emotional strain.   Not only to me, but my wife, and my  (new) daughter as well.

The other one is "Old Man" by Neil Young.  My dad was 45 when I was born and died in a motorcycle accident.  I was off in the Tri-State area on my "adventure" of trying to become a rock star (i984)

This, but then the whole film and everything in it destroys me. Also, I (almost) worship Sundfør.

I have no idea what the song is actually about but it always reminds me of my Grandpa Kearney.  We were very close, and over 24 years after he died I still think of him every day.  


In the same vein this one reminds me of my growing up in South Bend, Indiana.  Every place I've ever lived has been "home" but something about that time and place with family and friends always stayed closer to my heart.

"Go Walking Down There" by Chris Isaak.

"Apart" by The Cure

Also, it's rough for me to listen to the album "Ugly" by Life of Agony.

All of these songs are part of a soundtrack for a brutal time in my life.

"Life" by a one Mr. Devin Townsend. Not dedicated to anybody in particular, but the meaning is so simple, yet so ultimately powerful at the same time. I always tear up when I'm going through a very hard time in my life (which is almost all the time, unfortunately) upon listening to it.

All That I Bleed by Savatage gets me every time.

For some reason Springsteen's "My Hometown" has always wrecked me. In the past, it was just the general, depressing notion of the whole situation. Now, with a 2 year old son, if I hear the end part where he's driving with his son through the town...well, I'm misting up just thinking about it.

Loretta Lynn's "Van Lear Rose" does it to me, as well, but in a good way. Not sad.

Tom Petty's "Wildflowers", too, but again, in a good way. I was listening to the album heavily when my wife was pregnant, and that tune seemed quite fitting.

As an adult, not much. But as a teen, I would have to say several songs by The Outfield, especially Say It Isn't So. I was a HUGE metal fan at the time but I was also a huge fan of this pop-rock band. This song used to speak to me in many ways.

The Outfield were great.I still listen to Play Deep on ocassion.

Kings & Queens by Thirty Seconds to Mars. I was going through some deep shit when I first heard that song. Now everytime I hear it, I'm reduced to rubble.