[[Music/BarenakedLadies This Canadian alternative rock band]] [[TearJerker has a lot of tear-triggering songs]].
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* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1oM2T27cIM Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel]]", which plays a tune that sounds like it belongs on a [[MoodDissonance cheerful carnival calliope]], but whose lyrics tell the story of a car crash and the futile attempts to save the titular driver whose love is the "last thing on my mind". The narrator? Ed Robertson's brother, who died in a motorcycle accident.
** In the same vein, "Am I The Only One" and "Leave". The former was originally going to be about Ed's (at the time) fiancée, but changed.
* "War On Drugs" is an absolutely devastating depiction of losing someone to clinical depression, which Steven Page himself lives with.
-->"She likes to sleep with the radio on\\
So she can dream of her favourite song\\
The one that no one has ever sung\\
Since she was small"
** And the third verse. You can just hear the bitterness is Steven's voice when he sings that last lyric.
-->Near where I live there's a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Viaduct viaduct]]\\
Where people jump when they're out of luck\\
Raining down on the cars and trucks below\\
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Viaduct#Luminous_Veil They've put a net there to catch their fall]]\\
Like it'll stop anyone at all\\
What they don't know is when nature calls... you go.\\
They say that Jesus and mental health\\
Are just for those who can help themselves\\
But what good is that when you live in hell on Earth?\\
When the very fear that makes you want to die\\
Is just the same as what keeps you alive\\
It's way more trouble than some suicide is worth...
** The final verse drops AnAesop that is gut-wrenching about how the stigma towards mental illness is literally killing those who live with it.
-->Hard to admit I fought the war on drugs\\
My hands were tied and the phone was bugged\\
Another died and [[YouBastard the world just shrugged it off]]
* "Celebrity" is somewhat of a downer, too. The narrator talks about his goal in life, and then (presumably) achieves it and realizes how horribly hollow being a celebrity is.
* Then there is "What A Good Boy".
* For a song about a window washer who's afraid of heights, "When I Fall" does a great job at cueing the waterworks.
-->I look straight in the mirror\\
Watch it come clearer\\
I look like a painter\\
Behind all the grease\\
But painting's creating\\
And I'm just erasing\\
A crystal clear canvas\\
Is my masterpiece.
* Common consensus on singing along to "Break Your Heart" is impossible because of two things.
** The IncrediblyLongNote
** The inevitable tears.
* "Off The Hook" is heartbreaking for anyone who's ever had trust issues.
** The lyric "And so it seems your saving grace was [[StepfordSmiler only saving face]]," is particularly devastating since it can be interpreted [[DoubleMeaning one of three ways]]: either a). the victim knows deep down that their relationship is dead and is only continuing because they enjoy the image of it, b). one or both of them believes that sweeping the whole thing under the rug will save their relationship, but all it does it keep up appearances or c). both.
** The way that the lyrics are all in the second person make it sound as if the victim is fully aware of the {{gaslighting}} going on and are shaming themselves for putting up with it.
** Thankfully, the last chorus turns triumphant when the person being cheated on has finally had enough.
* "Pinch Me" does a great job capturing the sombre mood of feeling unfulfilled even when everything is perfectly fine (or, alternatively, going listlessly through your day in the wake of a tragedy that hasn't entirely sunk in yet).
-->Pinch me, pinch me, 'cause I'm still asleep\\
Please, God, tell me that I'm still asleep.
* "Jane" is a pretty straightforward song about about someone missing his ex-girlfriend, but still has some pretty effective lines.
-->I wrote a letter.\\
She should have got it yesterday.\\
That life could be better by being together\\
Is what I cannot explain to Jane.
* "Call And Answer." At the end of an otherwise [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] song about healing a rift with your {{true companion|s}}, the last verse reminds them that [[ForgivenButNotForgotten forgiveness isn't always promised]], and he has no choice but to cut this person out of his life [[TheLastStraw if they can't prove that they've learned from their mistake]]. Steven's delivery is appropriately bitter. Anyone who's had a longterm partner continually return to hurtful behavior after promising they won't knows exactly what Steve is singing about:
-->But I'm warning you, don't ever do\\
Those crazy, messed-up things that you do\\
If you ever do\\
I promise you I'll be the first to crucify you\\
Now it's time to prove that you've come back here to rebuild
** [[HarsherInHindsight The band closed their last show with Steven Page on vocals with this song]]. That Page's last song as a member of the band is one about [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor blowing your last chance after years of working through a rocky relationship]] adds a crushing level of poignancy.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS8XLMxeWLk Watching the performance in question]], you can tell that Steven knows exactly what he's singing about. The humility in his face is so real.
* Most of "I Live With It Every Day" has strong LyricalDissonance to limit its emotional effect, but when the bridge hits...
-->The love I put away\\
Like games that children play\\
The hearts you choose to break\\
Like cars dumped in the lake\\
The laugh lines on your face\\
The life I won't embrace\\
The cold house I won't leave\\
The guests I won't receive.
* "God Forbid" talks about confronting your darkest fears and the difficulties in doing so, in what is probably the saddest song from the four-man era.
-->God forbid you and I\\
Ever find better words to describe\\
How we can't run and hide\\
From the fears in the back of our minds\\
And I know that it's not how we live\\
But we still say "God forbid"
** And at the end, Ed makes the song hit even harder.
-->Though I do not believe he exists\\
I still say "God forbid"
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