Music that moved you

[Keroin]

I don't know about everyone else, but I strongly identify moments in my past with songs I was listening to at the time. But beyond that, there has been music that has actually inspired me, or touched me, to such a degree that single songs have influenced my actions.

Have you ever had a song change your life? In big ways or small. Has music ever inspired you? If so, how and which song(s)?

(I'm on a music kick lately, if you haven't noticed).

ETA: "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush helped me through a particularly difficult patch several years ago.

 

[DVS]

I don't know about everyone else, but I strongly identify moments in my past with songs I was listening to at the time. But beyond that, there has been music that has actually inspired me, or touched me, to such a degree that single songs have influenced my actions.

Have you ever had a song change your life? In big ways or small. Has music ever inspired you? If so, how and which song(s)?

(I'm on a music kick lately, if you haven't noticed).

ETA: "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush helped me through a particularly difficult patch several years ago.

You don't even want me to go there. You think my posts are long NOW!

 

[Keroin]

You don't even want me to go there. You think my posts are long NOW!

Oh come on...just one? Pretty please?

 

[nfrrdscnnr1]

touching

Touching is too mild a word to describe the effects of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto when well done. Powerful emotions, soaring melodies and feelings, sometimes anger and peace and contentment are some of the terms that come to mind in reaction to these.
N

 

[EmpressFi]

hmm too many.. but..

Handel's Messiah, especially the Hallelujah Chorus. VIvaldi's Four Seasons, especially the adagio of Autumn. Kate Bush's This Woman's Work, most of the works of tran-siberian orchestra...too many.. a song here a song there.. music moves me.

 

[graceanne]

I don't know about everyone else, but I strongly identify moments in my past with songs I was listening to at the time. But beyond that, there has been music that has actually inspired me, or touched me, to such a degree that single songs have influenced my actions.

Have you ever had a song change your life? In big ways or small. Has music ever inspired you? If so, how and which song(s)?

(I'm on a music kick lately, if you haven't noticed).

ETA: "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush helped me through a particularly difficult patch several years ago.

Oh, lots. And lots. I'll probably post several times as I think of songs.

I don't know why, but the first time I heard pachelbel's canon in d, I was entranced. I listened to it over and over for days. Same with moonlight sonata.

Other songs move me because of the memories they bring up. Whiskey lullaby, braid paisley and Allison Kraus, cause of my sisters asshole boyfriend. I'll be missing you, by puff daddy, for my nephew who died when he was 3. Leader of the Band for my dad. I can't make you love me, for when I realized that I couldn't make my parents love me how I wanted them to.

Like I said, I'll be adding stuff as I think of it.

You don't even want me to go there. You think my posts are long NOW!

Do what I'm doing. Add it a little at a time.

 

[DVS]

Oh come on...just one? Pretty please?

I don't know...it's a Lay's potato chips kind of thing. Once you get started, you keep remembering others you missed. It's almost never ending.

 

[DVS]

Oh, lots. And lots. I'll probably post several times as I think of songs.

I don't know why, but the first time I heard pachelbel's canon in d, I was entranced. I listened to it over and over for days. Same with moonlight sonata.

Other songs move me because of the memories they bring up. Whiskey lullaby, braid paisley and Allison Kraus, cause of my sisters asshole boyfriend. I'll be missing you, by puff daddy, for my nephew who died when he was 3. Leader of the Band for my dad. I can't make you love me, for when I realized that I couldn't make my parents love me how I wanted them to.

Like I said, I'll be adding stuff as I think of it.




Do what I'm doing. Add it a little at a time.

Yeah, but you're the resident post whore, remember?

 

[ImOnIt]

Lost Prophets - Sway. Its got a whole lot of silence and the harmony/ quiet voices are just incredible.

Bic Runga - she's a New Zealand singbird.

I like a whole lot of Chicane at the moment. Morcheeba. Some Groove Armada and some Massive Attack.

I also like classical music but we all know about the old masters.

 

[graceanne]

Yeah, but you're the resident post whore, remember?

C'mon. You know you want to.

 

[DVS]

OK, bits and pieces. First, I'm going to show my age by saying I couldn't think of just one song of any of these singers, but I get chills when I hear them all sing. I loved them when I was growing up, before I knew it wasn't cool for someone in my generation to like them.

Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin among others of that time. Nat King Cole and Judy Garland were the first two singers I fell in love with. I can still hear them sing and remember enjoying a song for the first time because of how someone sang it. Every one of these people had class and they dusted my young musical tastes with a bit of it.

 

[graceanne]

OK, bits and pieces. First, I'm going to show my age by saying I couldn't think of just one song of any of these singers, but I get chills when I hear them all sing. I loved them when I was growing up, before I knew it wasn't cool for someone in my generation to like them.

Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin among others of that time. Nat King Cole and Judy Garland were the first two singers I fell in love with. I can still hear them sing and remember enjoying a song for the first time because of how someone sang it. Every one of these people had class and they dusted my young musical tastes with a bit of it.

I didn't grow up with most of them, but one of my first favorite songs was over the rainbow, cause I so badly wanted to go somewhere else. lol

 

[YourCaptor]

I don't know about everyone else, but I strongly identify moments in my past with songs I was listening to at the time. But beyond that, there has been music that has actually inspired me, or touched me, to such a degree that single songs have influenced my actions.

Have you ever had a song change your life? In big ways or small. Has music ever inspired you? If so, how and which song(s)?

(I'm on a music kick lately, if you haven't noticed).

ETA: "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush helped me through a particularly difficult patch several years ago.

K, you know I love you, but that song is sooo bad, it's got me wishing the video came with the wrong track.

 

[DVS]

K, you know I love you, but that song is sooo bad, it's got me wishing the video came with the wrong track.

Actually, I don't think the song is bad. But that one video, with them on the lazy Susan, spinning around when it's their turn to sing...stupid. There is another video for the song, the same two singers that is better, in my opinion. The lazy Susan vid is named #1 and the other is...obviously named #2.

Also, others have done this song, but I prefer the Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush version. I just like their voices, I guess.

 

[Homburg]

I... wow, the list would be long, rambling and thus this post sounds too much like DVS. I have no idea how to organise this, so I'm going to scroll through my itunes and pick songs at random.

"The Concert Reel" by Battlefield Band makes me think of being in my uni's concert hall watching many of the professors and administrators standing in their seats and dancing in the aisles because that's just what you do at a Battlefield Band show.

About twelve songs by Florence + Machine make me think of my relationships. "Girl with One Eye" and "I'm not calling you a Liar" specifically do. "My Boy Builds Coffins" has such a great handle on death as well, and thus puts me in mind of many things too obtuse to go into.

"Shine" by Rollins Band has me screaming out my rage trying to get a fuck-all heavy bar past my sticking point. That and Pantera's "Walk" both get my pulse racing because they've been on so often when I've tried to hit a new personal record lift.

Anything from The Pogues' "Peace and Love" album reminds me of high school and driving with a couple of my friends, laughing and shouting at the bad drivers while blasting Shane McGowan's tortured lyrical beauty over Jem Finer's incredible playing. The best thing is that the album still holds up all these years later. I know a lot of folks that are embarrassed by the shit they listened to as a teen. I can't say that. This album is one of the single best I've ever heard.

Steppenwolf's "The Monster" slaps me right back on a bus to DC as a kid. We were visiting DC on a school trip and were supposed to talk to our senator. For whatever reason, that meant that I was listening to Steppenwolf. It was a poignant juxtaposition of memes to play this song while traveling to the heart of the proverbial beast. It provided much needed perspective.

Anything by The Specials. The Specials are the reason why I picked up the trumpet in the 4th grade and played it through high school. I never captured that sound, no matter how I tried, but I did do a pretty solid Herb Alpert impression. I still have my horn. Maybe one of these days I'll try to regain my lip. Or, more likely, I'll just drown myself in the musical bliss of Louis Prima, Al Hirt, Fletcher Henderson, etc.

"Stronger than me" by Amy Winehouse was a useful reminder of where I should be when I wasn't being there a few years back.

ANd, lastly (because I gotta wrap this shit up), "The Promise" by Chris Murray, specifically the beautifully raw 4-track version that was on "Global Ska 3". There can be no finer way to love.

 

[Netzach]

I found the right things at right times.

Lou Reed and John Cale my junior year in high school. Sleater Kinney, Luna and Stereolab my senior year in college. The Hold Steady and The Arcade Fire in 05'. Shearwater and Ben Nichols now, lately, oh and reaching back into time for a listen to Devo as a grown up. The most prophetic band ever. I defy anyone to hate on the bridge in Freedom of Choice for the hook factor, too.


Devo really is moving me lately, still talking about bad shit in quirky ways.

 

[DVS]

I really like the young Billy Joel. Just like Elton John, Billy Joel went full blown commercial, once he saw the income potential from it. Maybe he had to pay for his alcohol habit, I don't know. But when he was still young and spirited, his lyrics were too. He wrote songs that a young outsider like myself related to.


Captain Jack - Billy Joel

Saturday night, and you're still hangin' around.
Tired of living in your one-horse town.
You'd like to find a little hole in the ground,
For awhile.
So you go to the Village in your tie-dyed jeans.
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens.
It's like some pornographic magazine,
And you smile.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight,
And take you to your special island.
Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

Your sister's gone out,she on a date.
You just sit at home and masturbate.
Your phone is gonna ring soon, but you just can't wait
For that call.
So you stand on the corner in your New English clothes.
And you look so polished, from your hair down to your toes.
Ah but still, your finger's gonna pick your nose
After all.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight,
And take you to your special island.
Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

So you decide to take a, holiday.
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet.
Ah, there ain't no place to go anyway.
What for?
So you got everything, aww, but nothing's cool.
They just found your father in the swimming pool.
And you guess you won't be going back to school
Anymore.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight,
And take you to your special island.
Ohh Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

So you play your albums, and you smoke your pot.
And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot.
Ohh, but still you're aching for the things you haven't got.
What went wrong?
And if you can't understand why your world is so dead,
Why you've got to keep in style, and feed your head.
Well you're 21 and still your mother makes your bed,
And that's too long.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight.
And take you to your special island.
Well now Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.
Ohh, Captain Jack will get you high tonight.
And take you to your special island.
Well now, Captain Jack could make you die tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

 

[sb2009]

"Crucify" by Tori Amos has a lot of meaning for me. I can't listen to it without crying buckets......

 

[Netzach]

I really like the young Billy Joel. Just like Elton John, Billy Joel went full blown commercial, once he saw the income potential from it. Maybe he had to pay for his alcohol habit, I don't know. But when he was still young and spirited, his lyrics were too. He wrote songs that a young outsider like myself related to.


Captain Jack - Billy Joel

Saturday night, and you're still hangin' around.
Tired of living in your one-horse town.
You'd like to find a little hole in the ground,
For awhile.
So you go to the Village in your tie-dyed jeans.
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens.
It's like some pornographic magazine,
And you smile.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight,
And take you to your special island.
Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

Your sister's gone out,she on a date.
You just sit at home and masturbate.
Your phone is gonna ring soon, but you just can't wait
For that call.
So you stand on the corner in your New English clothes.
And you look so polished, from your hair down to your toes.
Ah but still, your finger's gonna pick your nose
After all.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight,
And take you to your special island.
Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

So you decide to take a, holiday.
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet.
Ah, there ain't no place to go anyway.
What for?
So you got everything, aww, but nothing's cool.
They just found your father in the swimming pool.
And you guess you won't be going back to school
Anymore.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight,
And take you to your special island.
Ohh Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

So you play your albums, and you smoke your pot.
And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot.
Ohh, but still you're aching for the things you haven't got.
What went wrong?
And if you can't understand why your world is so dead,
Why you've got to keep in style, and feed your head.
Well you're 21 and still your mother makes your bed,
And that's too long.

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight.
And take you to your special island.
Well now Captain Jack will get you by tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.
Ohh, Captain Jack will get you high tonight.
And take you to your special island.
Well now, Captain Jack could make you die tonight.
Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'.

File "movin' out" under guilty pleasures for me. If you were less bruised than the people in Springsteen songs, but still blue collar, it's gratifying.

 

[VelvetSin]

I like a wide variety of music, most people that see my collection get confused.

"Dream a Little Dream of Me" by Louis Armstrong is a favorite. It makes me smile and sigh every time I hear it. Odd though it my be, my dad used to sing it when I was little and it makes me think of happy, innocent times.

I dislike most Black Eyed Peas music, but "I Got a Feeling" has always made me smile. Once I saw the video of the Oprah live concert in Chicago, though, it just makes me happy. If you haven't seen the video of that yet, you've got to check it out. I wish I had been there. (If you watch to the 1:30 mark, you'll watch the whole thing. Blocks of Chicago concert-goers coordinated in a choreographed dance.)

There are many, many more but my list would be endless if I posted everything. Those are the first two that come to mind right now.

 

[Tzara]

Have you ever had a song change your life? In big ways or small. Has music ever inspired you? If so, how and which song(s)?

Change my life? Probably not.

Inspire or, better, mark my life like a rough-cut blaze, well, that's different.

I'm assuming you don't want me to core dump the whole emotional swell that classical music has meant to me on this thread. I mean, there is probably too much Wagner in the world as it is, hey?

So just these two little gems, important to me as they were the soundtrack of my young, young, young adolescence in junior high, where I first danced (gasp!) with a girl and felt that twingeiness that morphed into, um, adult sexuality:

• Beatles
• Stones

Oh, hell. I could stack up a bunch of 60s-70s tunes for this.

But eventually that all busyness morphed into the theme song of my marriage.

Way things go.

 

[Homburg]

I really like the young Billy Joel. Just like Elton John, Billy Joel went full blown commercial, once he saw the income potential from it. Maybe he had to pay for his alcohol habit, I don't know. But when he was still young and spirited, his lyrics were too. He wrote songs that a young outsider like myself related to.

File "movin' out" under guilty pleasures for me. If you were less bruised than the people in Springsteen songs, but still blue collar, it's gratifying.

I think in each case the songs had added power because the lyrics themselves were poetry, and good poetry at that, set to the right music. An awful lot of lyrics are just plain rubbish, but some transcend that. The moments where the songwriter's art moves beyond the performing artist (see Leonard Cohen, though I am not a fan) are the ones that affect me most.

 

[BiBunny]

Every time I see this thread, it makes me think of this. I apologize in advance.

 

[midwestyankee]

Oh, lots. And lots. I'll probably post several times as I think of songs.

I don't know why, but the first time I heard pachelbel's canon in d, I was entranced. I listened to it over and over for days. Same with moonlight sonata.

Just for you, Gracie:

An album suggestion, and

An awesome bit of youtube fun.

 

[midwestyankee]

When I was in the second grade, my teacher quieted the room one afternoon and then played Beethoven's Fifth Symphony for us. I went home that day and found that my parents had the symphony on vinyl. I wore out the record within a few months.

Fast forward about fifty years and for my birthday this year I was given the full orchestral scores of all 9 Beethoven symphonies. I am slowly teaching myself the intricacies of his work by following along in the scores as I listen. It's mind-boggingly difficult but a good lesson in conducting from a pervy friend who's a gifted music teacher helped immensely.

Sometimes when I hear the fourth movement of his Choral Symphony (#9), I cry.