History TearJerker / JonathanCoulton

-->"It's a shame\\

-->Now I’m floating free
-->And the moon’s with me
-->And it’s bright enough
-->To light the dark
-->And it’s so high up here
-->And the stars so clear
-->Are they close enough
-->Will they hear me bark...
-->From here?

** The verses sung from ''Laika's'' point of view, alone and dying in space. "I don't think I want to be a good dog anymore." *sniffle*

* From his 2011 album Artificial Heart we have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlGDnvWQpII Nobody Loves You Like Me]]. It's a haunting acapella tune with rather ambiguous lyrics about a man DrowningHisSorrows, and the most popular interpretation is that the singer is going through a divorce, but ends up DrivenToSuicide at the end.

* From his 2011 album Artificial Heart we have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlGDnvWQpII Nobody Loves You Like Me]].

* "Mandelbrot set", especially since said professor who devised the set[[note]]and the Chaos Theory[[/note]] and the song celebrates, Benoit Mandelbrot, passed away in 2010 from pancreatic cancer[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoit_Mandelbrot]].

* "Mandelbrot set", especially since said professor who devisedthe set[[note]]and the Chaos Theory[[/note]] and the song celebrates, Benoit Mandelbrot, passed away in 2010 from pancreatic cancer[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoit_Mandelbrot]].

* "Mandelbrot set", especially since said professor who discovered the set[[note]]and the Chaos Theory[[/note]] and the song celebrates, Benoit Mandelbrot, passed away in 2010 from pancreatic cancer.

* "Mandelbrot set", especially since said professor who discovered the set[[note]]and the Chaos Theory[[/note]] and the song celebrates, Benoit Mandelbrot, passed away in 2010.

Hooray, pizza day\\

* "Mandelbrot set", especially since said professor who discovered the set and the song celebrates, Benoit Mandelbrot, passed away in 2010.

* "I'm Your Moon," described elsewhere on this very Wiki as [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative "the most touching song about astronomical taxonomy ever written."]] Yes, it's quite literally about Charon trying to cheer Pluto up after being demoted to dwarf planet. But really, it's hard NOT to tear up at the gentle sweetness of it. "From out here, it's the rest of the world that looks so small..."
** In his series of blog posts about the fifth-year anniversary of his Thing a Week project, he noted how a song he'd only given a little bit of thought to had exploded beyond its boundaries. Although he ''wrote'' the song about Pluto and Charon, the ways in which people had been using it--as a song at their weddings, as a lullaby for their children--had made it into so much ''more.'' And he thinks that's awesome. So he's acknowledged its power himself, and just knowing how much the song has struck a chord with people is tear jerker in itself!

** "When You Go" can really affect those who have either lost loved ones, or have loved ones that are on the brink of death.

** Even more so when you know that Jonathan Coulton wrote this as a love song to his daughter, and when he plays it at concerts, it's always preceded by an introduction about becoming a first-time parent.
* "Space Doggity." Ignore the funny title (it's a homage to Music/DavidBowie's "Space Oddity", obviously) this song is so depressing it's unbelievable. It's about [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika Laika]], the dog the Russians put in space and her last moments - and it's hard not to break down in tears. It hurts because it loves. What makes it worse is the third to last verse, where the scientists back home discuss the failure of the mission.

** Although, it may be more heartbreaking in the verses sung from ''Laika's'' point of view, alone and dying in space. "I don't think I want to be a good dog anymore." *sniffle*

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-BM_ig-FRY&feature=related Today With Your Wife]] is a very melancholy song about a man spending the day with his ([[WildMassGuessing presumably]]) dead friend's wife.
** Not necessarily friend; the song can equally easily be interpreted as being sung by the man she's now seeing... which just makes it even sadder.

** An equally likely (and still depressing) interpretation is one of someone at the end of their life, remembering deceased friends and hoping to join them as they pass away.

* "I'm Your Moon," described elsewhere on this very Wiki as [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative "the most touching song about astronomical taxonomy ever written."]] Yes, it's quite literally about Charon trying to cheer Pluto up after being demoted to dwarf planet. But really, it's hard NOT tear up at the gentle sweetness of it. "From out here, it's the rest of the world that looks so small..."

* "Space Doggity." Ignore the funny title (It's a homage to Music/DavidBowie's "Space Oddity", obviously) this song is so depressing it's unbelievable. It's about [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika Laika]], the dog the Russians put in space and her last moments - and it's hard not to break down in tears. It hurts because it loves. What makes it worse is the third to last verse, where the scientists back home discuss the failure of the mission.

* From his newest album Artificial Heart we have [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlGDnvWQpII Nobody Loves You Like Me]].

* His cover of LeonardCohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat." Helped by the fact that that's already the most depressing song in the world.

* Then there is [[http://www.jonathancoulton.com/mp3/Big%20Bad%20World%20One.mp3 Big Bad World One]]. What's this one about? Simply about giving up entirely under the weight of every bad thing the world can do to you.