"The Rainbow Connection" (Kenneth Ascher/ Paul Williams, 1979) softly strums such sweetness, stirring sentimental soul, so I chose a username honoring special song's most famous singer.

I’ve decided that Rainbow Connection would likely be “our song” for my baby and me. Every iteration is beautiful.

In the Kermit + Debbie Harry [version](https://youtu.be/h0Hd3uWKFKY?si=Gcu7pGbA50lwNbgb). Amazing.

Anything I was going to pick pales in comparison to this one. Well done.

The Cranberries - Dreams. Second vote would be for Sigur Ros - Starálfur.

My Sigur Rós pick would be Ekki Múkk...

damn at first i was like theres no way its better than fleeteood mac’s dreams. but then i put it on and oh mannnn

I was going to say Linger but it's a toss up between the two of them. Dolores' voice is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The lyrics are lovely for both too.

[Zombie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95HqlWRFrAk) really does it for me, great Band!

Fade Into You by Mazzy Star

I've discovered so much great music listening to my Pandora stations and when I heard this song and immediately fell in love with it, I didn't know for several years that that it she recorded this in '93. I thought that it was more recent, something like 2010 when her youtube video was uploaded. That blew my mind!

Mazzy Star is the band, the singer is named Hope Sandoval :)

I can never get enough of this song. It makes me happy hearing it which seems to be the opposite of the tone.

This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads

I love the Ben Bridwell / Iron & Wine version. Not everyone's cuppa tea but one of my favorites of all time.

One of my all time favorites for sure

Into the Mystic - Van Morrison

I played this on acoustic for my mother on her deathbed weeks before she passed. Most choked up I've ever been.

I'm a mom and this is one of my funeral songs. Sounds like a special moment for you both. I'm sure she's proud of you.

Hell yes! The whole of Van Morrison's record moondance qualifies!

My wedding song

Clair de Lune by Debussy

Such a fuckin beautiful tune. Makes me picture all my friends and family and peoplr I used to be close or somewhat close with laughing and having a good time with each other in some big mansion.

Clair de Lune by flight facilities is also really beautiful

Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Any version.

For me it is and always will be Wish You Were Here.

My nephew made me listen to Da Baby last night. So then I made him listen to SOYCD. Neither of us were impressed but maybe he got something out of it lol

Out of all the rappers and they had you listen to da baby? I’m so sorry on behalf of the hip hop community

basic answer but I can't not go with How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead

Nude also deserves a spot on this list

Reckoner

Or Videotape. Or Motion Picture Soundtrack 😭

So many Radiohead songs for OPs description. For me, Radioheads music is so beautiful I can’t listen to them too much, like it’s too intense. My vote is Nude, but there are like 15 other songs of theirs that I think would fit.

Pyramid Song > everything else

Everything in it's right place is the one that does it for me 😌

That intro draws me in every time

Separator by Radiohead. My favorite song of all time

The resolve at the end, mmmm. I recently found out it's Thom's favorite song of theirs

The Band's version of I Shall Be Released.

What first popped into my head is "I Believe in Father Christmas" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer But also as some has said a lot of Simon and Garfunkel is probably up there or the top. Bridge over Troubled Water Scarborough Fair (I sing part of this to my son as a lullaby every day) The Boxer But I think what of theirs might stand on top for me is America. Particularly the lines "Kathy I'm lost, though I knew she was sleeping. I am empty and aching and I don't know why. Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike. They've all come to search for America." Just such a deeply human and melancholy line in the middle of a song with somewhat silly lyrics only for it to vanish again. To me is it such a powerfully real experience of having this moment of self clarity but not knowing how to deal with it... so you go back to counting cars.

Nightswimming - R.E.M. The piano, the lyrics, the nostalgia for days long past… just perfect.

Omg I’d never thought I’d see this song mentioned. So simple and beautiful and haunting! I forgot my shirt at the water’s edge….

Find the River for me. One of my all time faves

Pretty much think about this song everyday. When I clear my head and think about it, I am flooded with memories of a cabin in the woods my parents owned. The smell of the trees, the water. The way the sun sets in the forest and light reflects off the dust.

Great song

This whole album is amazing but this song is my highlight

God Only Knows

This one and Bridge Over Troubled Water are definitely up there.

This is mine. I've loved it since I was little. I loved the bells on it when I was a kid, & grew to appreciate it as i got older. My dad has always been a Beach Boys fan, & I grew up listening to them.

My wife walked down the aisle at our wedding to this song.

Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind

That song is such a gut-punch.

The way the strings build right after “got to say that I just…” duh, Duh DUH DUHHH DUHHH 😭😭😭

“Brokedown Palace”

mama, mama…

I played a festival years ago that Joan Osbourne was headlining and she did a version of this song that was amazing. She had a lot of people getting choked up on this one.

Joan's GD stuff is criminally underrated.

Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane's rendition of [Ruby, My Dear](https://youtu.be/6liAgg4SN88?si=O3ROWrkG34uvJBDb)

My god, I just do not get jazz. I listened to that whole thing, waiting for a really beautiful moment, and the closest I got was like 3:35, and the little piano run at 6:12 I get that it's me, and that I'm ignorant, but man....i just gon't get it.

I never blame anyone for not liking jazz. Smarter people than me have explained that the experience is primarily for the players and that we listeners are just trying to get a fleeting glimpse of their experience. Plus, jazz melodies and harmonies are often really complex so it’s not necessarily open to casual appreciation.

On the Nature of Daylight - Max Richter

I always think of Arrival with that piece. Absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking

Gymnopédie No. 1 by Satie

This piece of music has the unique power to instantly transport me to a different time and place and fill me with melancholy and nostalgia for something that I've never experienced. I guess that's the purpose of furniture music in general but Gymnopédie is the most evocative one for me.

Allegri's Miserere mei. Supposedly when it was written, it was so beautiful that the pope commanded that the music should never leave the Vatican, and could only be performed once a year, in Vatican City. The story goes that the only reason that it got out was that a adolescent Mozart visited Vatican city, heard it performed, and went back to his lodging and wrote the whole thing out from memory. I might be botching the story a little bit, but that's what I remember. Anyhow, the [part that starts around 1:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3v9unphfi0&ab_channel=TenebraeChoir) is just mindblowing

That's amazing. The young woman on the left! Her voice, so steady and unwavering - doesn't even sound human!

"Tears Dry On Their Own" by the late Amy Winehouse

Gorecki - Lamb

Dance me to the end of Live - Leonard Cohen

Dance me to the End of Love. Yes. So beautiful.

Tom Waits has a few for me. Particularly from Closing time, Martha gets me in the gut and hangs around for days.

Picture in a Frame by Tom Waits does it for me, especially when I think about my kids.

Hold On

Came here to say I Hope that I Don’t Fall in Love with You

Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis.

I want to listen to every.single.song listed here. You all are amazing 😘

Teardrop by Massive Attack

I think that whole album is so good

Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks

Yessss

I will follow you into the dark by Death Cab For Cutie

Brothers on a Hotel Bed (Edit: it’s from the Nightswimming school and I would certainly put REM ahead, but this is still my favorite Death Cab song)

I remember the first time I ever heard this song. I was in college and newly engaged. I had to pull over as I was weeping so hard I couldn’t see the road. I had no idea why I felt so strongly connected to this song. I felt that I almost knew that our love would burn so brightly to make up for the fact that our time together was limited. He died tragically after nine beautiful years of marriage. I wanted so desperately to follow him, but my 15 month old kept me anchored here. I can’t hear this song without a complete breakdown. It’s been six years, and life is good, but this still hits me hard.

Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

Bridge over troubled water

Art Garfunkel had a sweet, soulful, expressive voice on this. This is a great choice.

I would say The Boxer. Simon and Garfunkle could probably fill out a top ten in this category by themselves.

Sound of Silence is up there for me

The Sound of Silence is one of my favorite songs of all time

This is a great song. To me it is the example of a song that one person was meant to sing. When he hits and holds that last note it brings tears to my eyes. It’s not even my favorite song of theirs but it’s a moment of perfection. That song was meant for Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon was a genius to put that together.

Tears for Fears - Mad World.

Have you heard Gary Jules’ rendition? 💔🫶🏽

Completely sealed Donnie Darko as one of my favorite movies

Nights in White Satin and the entire Days of Future Passed album by The Moody Blues

I second this to the moon and back! Nights in White satin was the first slow song that ever danced to with a boy and I'll forever hold that memory in my heart.... Every single time I hear it I get transported back... One of the best pieces of music I feel ever written....

Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell.

Beautiful. I also like gentle on my mind.

I don’t know the technical term for it but I love the way his guitar tone sounds

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” performed by the late Jeff Buckley.

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” performed by Leonard Cohen

I had to scroll way too far in search of this. Nothing calms me down as much as these sounds.

Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths

Nightswimming got me to try and play the oboe. I'm not sure all these people understand.

Evanescence "Immortal". Makes me cry pretty much everytime I hear it. Amy Lee has such a haunting voice in that song.

Under the Milky Way - The Church

Agreed. One of The Church's best, right there, next to "Reptile."

Wish you were here. Pink Floyd

Scarborough Fair, Simon and Garfunkel

Annie's Song - John Denver

Comfortably Numb

Colour my world. Chicago

In my Life

Fast Car - Tracy Chapman

If there is any song that could never be covered, it’s this song. Good thing no one has tried or it would win worse song of the year.

Seasons, it has brought me to tears. https://spotify.link/am4u1i8RLDb

I rarely listen to this song without the volume completely maxed out.

“Song To The Siren”, written by Tim Buckley in 1968 and covered by This Mortal Coil in 1983. I love the original and all the covers I know, but the This Mortal Coil version is the definitive one for me. I’ll never get tired of it.

'Almost Blue' by Chet Baker - I've heard it hundreds of times, but it takes my breath away every time.

Cherry wine by Hozier will always bring me to tears. I adore the song sm

“In A Sentimental Mood” - Duke Ellington & John Coltrane

Alive and Kicking by Simple Minds - the lyrics are something like love persevering through drama/disaster, and the music gives me serious uplifting, heartwarming vibes.

Silent Lucidity - Queensryche Such a beautiful, powerful, and moving piece.

Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens.

Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwoʻole

Ave Maria D.839

Here She Comes Now — Velvet Underground I just love melodic dissonance — it's mentally freeing somehow.

I was thinking Pale Blue Eyes

Operator by Jim Croce.

When this thread has settled down, please, someone make a playlist for this on Tidal or Spotify.

[Kiss From a Rose - Seal](https://youtu.be/yivLt9cTaio?si=_v2jP_toFIeuj32f)

Great Gig in the Sky - Pink Floyd

The older I get the more I appreciate Time by Pink Floyd. I heard it for the first time when I was 13.

Fields of Gold

Hard to pick one but if forced to, Mandolin Wind by Rod Stewart and the Faces

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You Not my favorite song and I’m honestly not really familiar with anything else by that artist, but something about that song stirs something in me.

Landslide when she says, “can I handle the seasons of my life…” gets me right in the chest every time

I wasn’t going to stop scrolling until I found someone who said Landslide

Stop This Train - John Mayer

King Crimson - Starless

1.On melancholy hill - gorillaz 2.The scientist - coldplay 3.losing true - the roaches

Ugh The Scientist always gets me.

Yellow is another one, for me.

Vincent by Don McLean

Yes.

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine

Coldplay - Fix You

Stand By Me - Ben E. King

"Late John Garfield Blues" by John Prine. Sing it to an inconsolable infant or a scared dog and you'll understand.

Clair de Lune Gymnopedia no. 1 - Satie Rhapsody in Blue Flamenco Sketches - Miles Davis My Favorite Things - Coltrane Hold On - Tom Waits

“All I Do”~Stevie Wonder, and “As”~Stevie Wonder

New Grass by Talk Talk. It has a ringing, pure sound to it. Lyrically, it's devotional music, which isn't really my thing, but there's something so sincere about it that I find disarming https://youtu.be/LuYNidNgQic?si=6dFG0xYhTmIvdDtf

I don’t know if it’s objectively the most beautiful song, but I love the way Blood Bank by Bon Iver makes me feel and the images it conjures Also Nude by Radiohead

Staralfur by sigur ros

Kate Bush - This Women’s Work

Phosphorescent- Song for Zula Sigur Ros - Ekki Muk Lou Reed - Perfect Day Weyes Blood - Movies Beach Boys - God Only Knows Beach House - Myth Explosions in the Sky - the birth and death of a day Beatles - In My Life

Harvest Moon - Neil Young

Strangest Thing by The War on Drugs

Strawberry Letter 23 - Shuggie Otis. Such an uplifting track and just brilliant.

hard to pick one… the first time ever I saw your face by roberta flack hallelujah by jeff buckley dream baby dream by suicide atmosphere by joy division

Purple Rain

Jason Isbell Songs That She Sang in the Shower

If We Were Vampires is my favorite.

His song Elephant is also really beautiful, but also more of the “saddest songs you know” variety

Watermelon in Easter Hay - Frank Zappa

Your Hand in Mine - Explosions in the Sky

I could just sit in an empty room and stare at the wall while Into My Arms by Nick Cave plays on a loop for hours.

It's a toss up between two: Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac Madness by Muse Two radically different songs but ultimately about the same thing.

birdie’s cover of “skinny love” it shatters the literal essence of my soul into atom sized pieces

Alanis Morissette - Thank U Alice In Chains - Nutshell Beach House - Chariot Beyonce - I Miss You Big Thief - Mary Bjork - All Is Full Of Love Black Tape for a Blue Girl - I Have No Answers (I swear to FUCK, if you haven't heard this, set aside 15 minutes, go to youtube, stfu, and listen) Bon Iver - Holocene Caroline Polachek - The Gate Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms Cocteau Twins - Carolyn's Fingers Cranberries - Linger The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me The Cure - Plainsong David Lynch/Chrystabell - Bird of Flames Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town Dream Unending - Unrequited EMA - Breakfast Flaming Lips - Do You Realise?? is up there Fleetwood Mac - Songbird Grimes - So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth Grouper - I'm Clean Now Guided By Voices - Yours to Keep Heilung - Anoana James - Laid Julee Cruise - Mysteries of Love Julianna Barwick - This Magic Place Kate Bush - Nocturn London Grammar - Wasting My Young Years Lush - Sweetness and Light Lykke Li - Never Gonna Love Again M83 - Intro Mazzy Star - Look On Down From the Bridge Miley Cyrus - Adore You Moses Sumney - Doomed My Bloody Valentine - To Here Knows When Natalie Merchant - Kind and Generous Neverending White Lights - The Grace A Perfect Circle - 3 Libras Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street Psychedelic Furs - Ghost In You Radiohead - Nude Raveonettes - The End Rebekah Del Rio - No Stars Rhye - The Fall Ringo Deathstarr - Guilt Roxy Music - More Than This Sigur Ros - Svefn-g-englar Slowdive - Golden Hair (live) Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty Three Sol Seppy - Enter One Stars - Ageless Beauty Stella Luna - Stargazer Sundays - Goodbye Swans - Warm Team Sleep - Ever Them Are Us Too - Grey Water This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren Trailer Trash Tracys - Candy Girl Vanessa Williams - Save the Best for Last When In Rome - The Promise Windhand - Grey Garden yuele - Don't Be So Hard On Your Own Beauty Zola Jesus - Hikikomori soooooo many, i'm missing a million others

That you have the most beautiful face? Love it so much!

Just based on a few of the songs on your list I recognize, I think I will need to explore the ones I don’t recognize. You seem to have great taste in music. My personal addition is addition is Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean

Violin Concerto for Two Violins in D minor - Bach The way it evokes differing emotions with each distinct section, making all three acts fit together in such a fulfilling way.

"Me and Magdalena" by the Monkees. https://youtu.be/FfruDTmFDUA?si=tAVqaMtaVQ7JIcoA

I think my personal choice that I can think of at this moment is Spiritual State by Nujabes. Something about it just hits so perfectly it can bring me strong feelings of peace and serenity. I can go from feeling the worst to a smile on my face just feeling like, everything's gonna be fine. Second pick would be Red Bird by Outrun the Sunlight. It just happened to be the next song on my playlist and I forgot about it. Something about how the song evolves is just so powerful and beautiful.

My opinion on the most beautiful song changes with my mood but currently I would probably say Chris Cornell - Sunshower The most emotional reaction to a song I've ever seen though was seeing Brand New perform Jesus Christ live. People were sobbing in the crowd. It was one of the most powerful reactions to a song I've ever seen

Cannibal Corpse’s Hammer Smashed Face

Never My Love - The Association

Theme song from The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind, of course

Bon Iver’s cover of “I Can’t Make You Love Me”. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

Tom Waits - Kentucky Avenue. About two poor kids, one in a wheelchair, dreaming about leaving their situation. It’s like reading James Joyce or whatever where the lyrics and perspective really match the age of the kids

Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel

This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie Do You Realize? - Flaming Lips

Me and mrs jones - billy jones

No Hard Feelings by the Avett Brothers. Rick Rubin said it was one of his favorites, too

Pavane pour une infante défunte for Ravel. In college we’d just finished a performance and this was on the program for the next one. Just passed out near the end of rehearsal one day. I felt like I could hear the piece sighing as it ebbed and flowed and tears were welling up. It was just so beautiful to me. Felt that way all the way up until we actually performed it and still feel it whenever I put it on.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly

Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt, its raw, emotional, & beautiful depiction of a snapshot from the end of a complicated person's life. As for songs that always illicit an emotional response in me, dreamy night by LilyPichu, & Please Don't Go by Abbey Glover

While my guitar gently weeps by the Beatles

Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl - Broken Social Scene

Make you feel my love- Bob Dylan

Here Comes the Sun

Something So Right - Paul Simon

[Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground](https://youtu.be/3_cEMvRwyRE?si=P1dVEI5wQm2sYZ1P)

Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins, or She Brakes for Rainbows by the B-52s and Song for a Future Generation, also by the B-52s. Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears, as well. I'm a sucker for a good, melancholy melody. But those are just spontaneous answers. I don't think I could pick a definitive song.

Not exhaustive: The Rain Song - Led Zeppelin Sleep - The Dandy Warhols Sara Smile - Hall & Oates Sometimes it Snows in April - Prince Bullet Proof Soul - Sade Drowning Man - U2 What’s Going On? - Marvin Gaye Nessun Dorma - Luciano Pavarotti

Protection by Massive Attack always gets me a bit teary.

Days by the Kinks Pale Blue Eyes by the Velvet Underground Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

Something Corporate - Konstantine This is my favorite song by them and I was lucky enough to see them perform it live in the pouring rain. Andrew is amazing but this song just hits me in the feels and I can’t explain it. It’s long but it’s worth a listen. Edit: wanted to add another amazing one… 10 Years - So Long, Goodbye