I've been impatiently counting down the days until I get to see the Swell Season, given that the movie in which the band is featured, Once, came out in 2006 (though, in all fairness, it didn't hit theaters until 2007 and only won notoriety and an Oscar in 2008).
After years of listening to music on the job, there's not a lot of music that still hits me immediately like it did when I was in high school and I would spend hours in my bedroom listening to CDs. The music from Once was emotional and beautiful and had me in tears by the end of the film, which is a bittersweet love story punctuated by musical performances.
I just purchased the band's new album, Strict Joy, last night and haven't listened all the way through, but what I heard was just as lovely, with Marketa Irglova's voice maturing and more confident than before.
Here's a nice video from last.fm:
We have a pair of tickets to give away to the show Friday night. Tell me in the comments about music that has made you tear up upon first listen and you'll be entered to win. That's right, this contest is for sad people who cry a lot. Trust me: you're the kind of person who will dig the Swell Season. I'll choose a winner 11 a.m. Friday, so leave your comment before then.
The Swell Season with Rachel Yamagata. 8 p.m. Friday. Warehouse Live. $30.
HONESTLY- (seriously, honestly and for true) Swell Season's "Falling Slowly" and Damien Rice's "Blowers Daughter" make me tear up EVERY time I listen!!!!!!!! WITHOUT fail!
I would say Elliott Smith, but I didn't really appreciate him as much when I first listened to him. Iron & Wine's album Our Endless Numbered Days on the other hand - such delicate, happy music, but ridiculously morbid lyrics. Yeah, I'll admit it. I got teary.
Manchester Orchestra's "The River" always makes me tear up (especially when i'm driving with the windows down, and its cold). And "What Happens When the Heart Just Stops" by The Frames, Glen Hansard's first band. The first time I heard that song, I bawled like a baby and I just knew there was something special about Glen :)
The Cincinnati Pops do an amazing rendition of Shenandoah that makes me tear up every time. There are also a few country songs that get to me like "Skin" by Rascal Flatts or "Oklahoma" by Billy Gilman. Just to emphasize that I am a 'sad person who like to cry a lot' I will throw in the story of the first time I saw Once (and cried, of course). I was teaching English in Thailand and took a bus to Bangkok to catch a movie in English and abate my homesickness. The beautiful music and sweet story of Once warmed my heart. I would love to have an opportunity to see Marketa and Glen in person!
Sarah Mclaughlin can definitely make me cry. She expresses a lot of emotions through words. A lot of her older music is pretty disconsolate. When I feel like a good cry, I listen to songs from Surfacing. Crying calluses the soul.
I second Damien Rice's "Blowers Daughter" and also "Strange & Beautiful" by Aqualung. Both make me tear up every time!
This is just between friends right? We're all friends here. So no "holy crap is he serious" posts? Nice, thanks.
It is a tie..."Faithfully" by Journey & "Song To The Siren" Tim Buckley (but really the This Mortal Coil version). Wowzers. Sad stuff.
Good evening.
Oh and just to clarify, "What Happens..." off of Set List, the live album. Seriously, I believe that is an album everyone should own.
When I first heard "Center Aisle" by Caedmon's Call (Derek Webb), it was a day or two after I had found one of my best friends after he had overdosed on antihistamines.
"What crimes have you committed / demanding such penance / that couldn't wait for five more minutes / and a cry for help?"
I think I started bawling at my desk in my dorm room. My freshman year roommate probably thought I was nuts. I didn't care.
[My friend survived the suicide attempt, which was his second and, hopefully, his last. Now, six years later, he is healthy and well.]
Awesome song. I used to play that on guitar. Sorry to hear about your friend.
The Deathcab song "I'll follow you into the Dark" makes me bawl every time. Lately though, and this is terrible, the Taylor Swift song "Best Day," which is about her dad, makes silent tears roll down my face. I'm a wimpy daddy's girl I guess!
Peter Gabriel has a song called "Father And Son". It's not especially heavy. It's not life changing. The lyrics are quite simple and direct. It's a simple song from a son to a father but it just hits me in a very deep level. One day I would love to sing it for my dad but I can't because when I try to sing it I can never finish it because I start to cry. If I ever did try to actually sing it to him in person... I don't know if I could. I'm getting teary-eyed typing this damnit!
The Avett Brothers, "Murder in the City," and actually, most of their set at ACL. That was my first time to give them a listen, and I was moved to the edge of tears repeatedly.
Good choice, Neciedee. ACL was also my first time to see them and it really hit a soft spot for me too... I even went home and played it for my parents at dinner...
The song that I immediately thought of was "Burn" by Ray LaMontagne. Last year, at Verizon here. I had been listening to his stuff off and on for awhile and very much dug it, but hadn't been especially affected emotionally. I went to this show by myself and had never done that before.. I had randomly found a last second ticket on Ebay, front row, center no less. It was cold out, my girlfriend and I had a nasty fight on the phone right before the show started! Anyway, after several great songs to begin the show, when he came out alone and played this song, "Burn", man...I think you know what happened! It could have been just my mindstate, but you know it's a really sad song though when it's got the lyrics :
"Oh so don't pay no mind
To my watering eyes
Must be something in the air"
Ha!! I didn't just tear up again when I looked those up!
The winner, courtesy of a random number from random.org, is BeckyT. Tickets are still available for tonight's show, so if you didn't win, you know what to do.
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