This is going to sound dumb but Corona by the Minutemen has been getting to me lately.
The first 30 seconds of that song drums up memories of Jackass and the world (for me personally at least) that existed in such a specific and small window of time. Right after the turn of the century and right before descending into a post 9/11 nightmare. That sliver of optimism because it was "the future" and I wasn't old/aware enough to have witnessed any other hellworld events.
Then the rest of the song is about the poverty of the global south (specifically Mexico in the 80's) and their struggle... and just.. contrasting that with the first bit?
I dunno, it stirs up something really fundamentally sad inside my chest.
Also I can't sing "Everything Stays" from adventure time without breaking down crying.
Do joyous tears count?
The finale of Mahler's Second brings me to tears almost every time I hear it.
The symphony as a whole was written as an exploration of death. The finale is "the resurrection."
Bernstein may not be the best technical conductor, but he loved Mahler and you can tell in his emotion.
Planning for Burial gets the job done, especially this masterpiece
Maedasalt too, if i'm drunk which is weird.
The entirety of A Crow Looked at Me by Mount Eerie, but "Ravens" in particular is so fucking raw and open. I cry every time I listen to this album without fail.
other2bar slowed down
slowing down a song is kind of cheating, but it's the first thing that came to mind
Tom Smith - A Boy and His Frog
Maybe it's cheating to use a song about something sad, but it fucking destroys me every time.
Icnocuicatl (Song of Nostalgia) - Lila Downs . Beautiful Nahuatl song about a loved one assuaging a woman's sadness about his death in the future bc he'll have turned into a hummingbird sending her rays of sunshine when she looks up at the sky. I fear other ppl's deaths more than mine so this is a comforting song.
Imogen Heap, especially her songs about her childhood.
Just For Now is a song about Christmas dinner, and how it's supposed to be nice, but dysfunctional family relationships still taint it, even if you're actively trying to be happy. Despite being disowned by my family for being queer I still love them. And it still hurts. Even though I do my own thing on Christmas, with my friends who love me as I am it still hurts.
https://youtu.be/5yBBaK1vGh4
We're gonna lighten things up with some cathartic yelling about being sad.
The Kids Will Be Alright, Eventually is a song about
being a failure, andhaving anxiety and depression, and feeling bad about it.Or maybeI wasn't a failuremaybeI just had an extremely rough childhood, and I coped as well as I could.https://youtu.be/CaxImCe9ZyA
Here comes the big one. Hide and Seek again by Imogen Heap, it's unfortunate that this song became a meme because of how real it is. It's about having parents who hate each other and how that fucks you up. How they use you, a child who just wants to be loved, as a weapon against each other. It's something a lot of people really don't get.
https://youtu.be/Ok9zfly-KmM
On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter, It's a key motif in the movie Arrival, where I first heard it. It just destroys me with how heavy it is.
