When a man loves a woman. And pretty much every artist who's sang it, or played it on a Saxophone.
Having two sons and now two grandsons, this one gets me. Life passes all too quickly while we're busy making a living instead of actually LIVING!
+1 on Cat's in the Cradle. Harry Chapin's music was a huge part of the soundtrack of my college years, and many of his songs explore the sadder side of life, so I'd like to nominate two more Chapin songs.
Tangled-Up Puppet (the live version from Legends of the Lost and Found) never fails to move me.
Mr. Tanner (the live version from Greatest Stories Live) is another tear-jerking favorite. As a weekend warrior musician who chose a livelihood other than music, I identify with the Martin Tanner character.
Most of my music collection is classical, and there are more than a few classical selections that fit the theme of this thread. A few examples:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Movement 4. Total, soul-crushing despair set to music.
Barber: Adagio for Strings. This work often appears on lists of the saddest classical selections ever written. I think this is partly due to the music and partly due to its association with occasions of public mourning. It was broadcast after the announcement that FDR had died and was also played at JFK's funeral.
Grieg: Varen (Last Spring), in either the vocal version from the Op. 33 Twelve Songs or the string orchestra version from the Op. 34 Two Elegiac Melodies. It reminds me of my mother, who took immense pride in her Norwegian heritage and the fact that her family tree included the Norwegian poet Aasmund Olavsson Vinje. The Grieg Op. 33 song cycle consists of settings of A.O. Vinje poems.
Handel: "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" from Messiah. My mother requested that this music be performed at her memorial service. Since then I have been unable to listen to it without breaking down.
Another vote for Cats in the Cradle.
Having two sons and now two grandsons, this one gets me. Life passes all too quickly while we're busy making a living instead of actually LIVING!
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Movement 4. Total, soul-crushing despair set to music.
Yup. This one.Silver Bells. My Mom’s favorite Christmas song. She’s been gone 10 years now.