Tear Jerker / Moby

Strangely, Moby's songs where he sings less tend to put more people to tears than the ones where he sings throughout.

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• Everything Is Wrong:
  • "When It's Cold I'd Like To Die" is as ethereal and melancholy as the title suggests, helped in no small part by former Hugo Largo frontwoman Mimi Goese's Dying Dream-like vocals.
    • The echo effect as her vocals Fade In and out at the end, implying that the narrator has died...
    • The song was used in both The Sopranos and Stranger Things to great effect for particularly devastating scenes.
• Play + B-sides:
  • "Porcelain" is notorious for this. "This is goodbye..."
  • "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" It's safe to say that the vocals are not helping anything. The music video only makes things more depressing.
  • "Natural Blues" could have this effect, especially the lyrics mentioning about the singer's brother being deceased in an old house.
    • The live-action music video for the song (referred to as Version 1) can double this, depicting Moby as an old man in a retirement home, looking over photos of his youth in a photo album while footage of it plays on a TV. It ends with him dying, being carried by an angel and being reborn as a new infant.
  • Read the lyrics to "If Things Were Perfect" and you'll probably feel a little saddened.
  • "Guitar Flute and String" practically sounds like a funeral tune you hear in the movies.
  • The slightly gloomy "The Sky Is Broken". The title is one thing, but wait 'till you read the lyrics.
  • The album ends with "My Weakness," which is one of the saddest finales to an album of all time. Its use in the The X-Files makes it even sadder.
  • "Flower" is already based on a rather upbeat song about depressing subject matter ("Green Sally Up"). "Old Ms. Lucy's dead and gone. Left me here to weep and moan."
  • "Memory Gospel". Its usage in Critters like 18's Title Track could worsen the tearjerking.
  • "Spirit" is most certainly this in the first half, but it gets more upbeat as time passes. Then it might be more like Tears of Joy.
• 18 + B-sides:
  • "In This World" is sad enough in its studio incarnation. But when he has one of his numerous backup singers do the slower concert version? You're killing us, man!
    • The music video for it. Three cute little aliens make their way to Earth and try to establish First Contact, but they're so small relative to humans that they go unnoticed except for one man (played by Moby himself) who waves at them...and then leaves shortly afterwards.
  • "In My Heart" is very melancholy. The singer (from an actual choir) will break your heart, weirdly enough.
  • What about "Great Escape"? Those vocals and instrumentals are GOING to haunt you.
  • "One Of These Mornings" will have you in tears by the time it's over thanks to the superb sampling and depressing piano.
  • "Fireworks" could probably be one of the gloomiest instrumental tracks ever recorded. All you need is a piano and some strings; in other words, be simple.
  • This orchestral version of The Bourne Legacy's version of "Extreme Ways" sounds more of a mournful, Dark Reprise of the classic Bourne song.
  • "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)", which sounds melancholy enough but gets exponentially sadder once you learn the story behind it. Moby turned 36 years old on September 11th, 2001, and spent his birthday watching the Twin Towers collapse from his apartment. Gives the song's lyrics ("Sunday was a bright day yesterday / Dark cloud has come into the way") a whole lot more meaning...
    • His online journals that day were as devastating to read as you may expect.
    Update 1: i just woke up to the sound of an explosion and people screaming. so i ran to my roof to see both buildings of the world trade center on fire and now i can’t stop shaking and my apartment smells like smoke. what has happened. i don’t know what to say. what has happened? oh god.
    Update 2: oh god. when i wrote the earlier update the world trade towers were still standing and now they’re not. oh god. everyone i know in new york is sobbing. who has done this? how can anyone ever justify taking a single life? the world is going to be different now. i’m sorry, but i don’t know what to write.
    Update 3: for those of you who are wondering if i’m ok. yes, physically i’m ok. emotionally i don’t know. they were there this morning and now they’re gone. i really just don’t know. i don’t think that anyone living outside of new york can really understand what it’s like here. 40,000 people worked in those buildings. 40,000 people with family and friends. 40,000 people. and all the rescue workers. i think i need to sleep. i don’t want to wake up to more screaming.
  • The Title Track, which gets sadder in its usage in the wildlife film Critters.
  • "At Least We Tried". Think of what happens if the sad Moby tracks crossed over with Boyz II Men.
  • On the subject of "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?", the same song used for that song's vocals would be used again in the arguably gloomier final track of 18, called "I'm Not Worried At All". The vocals, once again, are no help to ease your emotions.
  • Listen to Moby's vocals on the B-side "Stay". You're welcome...
• Wait for Me:
  • The instrumental "Shot in the Back of the Head" just bleeds sadness.
  • "Study War," an anti-war speech mixed with weepy strings. Sounds cheesy, but it's really effective.
  • "Mistake". Its music video is even sadder.
  • The video for the Title Track is soul-crushing. A nameless video game protagonist goes about his boring, routine day, saying goodbye to his disinterested wife and heading to his dead-end job. Along the way, he continues to lose each of his five lives whenever he suffers misfortune; after getting fired by his boss and getting mugged in the street, the man only has one life left. As one final blow, when the man finally returns home, his wife declares that she is leaving him. The man then wordlessly goes upstairs to his room, looks out in front of him, and jumps to his death, ending the video with one last image:
    GAME OVER
    PLAY AGAIN
    >QUIT

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