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Tear Jerker / Emerson, Lake & Palmer

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  • "Still, You Turn Me On" definitely qualifies.
    Every day a little sadder
    A little madder
    Someone get me a ladder
  • "Lucky Man." Starts off as a song about a man with riches who goes on to fight in a war and gets killed by a bullet.
  • In the light of the events of 2016, the last lines from their take on Pictures at an Exhibition have become something combination of this and a Heartwarming Moment.
    There's no end to my life,
    No beginning to my death
    Death is life!
  • The ballads ("From the Beginning", "Lucky Man", etc.) are the most obvious choices, but knowing the concepts and contexts behind their lengthier songs can turn some of them into these as well ("Tarkus", "Karn Evil 9"). And of course, others, such as "Trilogy" and "Take a Pebble", can qualify even if you don't pay attention to the words.
  • The song "Oh, My Father", recorded during the sessions for Tarkus but for whatever reason not released until nearly thirty years later. It's poignant and painful, especially for anyone who's lost a loved one, and features some of Lake's most heartbreaking lyrics.
    I'm crying for the things that I never said
    And all the love that I never showed...
    • Worse still when you realize he wrote it for his own father, who died around that time.
  • Regardless of your feelings towards Love Beach, it's hard to deny "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman" is a pretty sad song. It's about a captain who falls in love and goes to war... only to return home and find his loved one had died a (most likely) accidental death from being caught in crossfire. The sudden Mood Whiplash when the music shifts to a sinister, dark tone to represent the death doesn't help matters either.

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