Follow TV Tropes

This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

Following

Tear Jerker / The Midnight

Go To

With a strong focus on nostalgic reflection and explorations of tragic themes such as lost loves, the passage of time and even simple wistfulness for days gone by it would probably be easier to list the songs that aren't tear-jerking in some way. Of course, more than a few stand out.


  • "Endless Summer" from the self-titled album is probably one of their best examples. It captures all the feelings of a fleeting summer love in so few words but it will likely leave a strong impact on the listener long after its over.
    Disappeared in a camera flash
    Why do the bad girls never last
    Lost in gin and lemonade
    Electrospins and the mermaid parade

    Four quartets and no regrets
    Except for the polaroids I left
    You were just some spell I was under
  • "Waves" from Kids manages to nail that perfect blend between awesome and sad that really hammers in the inherent sadness of the modern age and people slowly losing the ability to bond with each other like they did in the past.
    When I dream, we're all melting together
    Synchronized in a mass embrace
    Beads of water folding together
    Like a north shore wave
    How strange
    We're parts of each other how strange
    I'll never even know your name
  • "Kids (Prelude)" and "Kids (Reprise)" are another set of heartbreaking songs from the Kids album that deal with the pain of growing up and leaving things behind as you get older.
    Kids are sad, the sky is blue
    There are monsters in the spare bedroom
    Kids grow up, and move away
    They closed the plant and the mall arcade
    Kids are sad, their parents, too
    Kids get high in the spare bedroom
    We grow up and move away
    The seasons pass, but the monsters stay
  • Despite its fairly upbeat tune the lyrics for the self titled track on Days of Thunder are some of the most sad and bitter sounding in their entire discography.
    Love was a dream to have
    Was a king-size bed
    Was an escape plan
    Was an open hand
    Now it's a dog from hell
    It's a dream you sell
    It's an epitaph
    It's a photograph
  • "WeMoveForward" (also from Days of Thunder) is a perfect blend of young love and wistful nostalgia with just the right amount of bittersweet notes to tug at the heartstrings as it progresses.
    Sun in my eyes and the gold coast shining
    And the girl with the braids in her hair
    Steady breeze and oh I was falling
    I would follow her anywhere
    The sky turned grey in a flash flood warning
    She smiled and she took my hand
    She kissed my lips and the rain came pouring
    Swore I heard a marching band

    We move forward
    'Cause we can't go back
    We move forward
    'Cause we can't go back
    We move forward
    'Cause we can't go back
    We move forward
    'Cause we can't go back
  • "Light Years" off of Nocturnal seems to be about a broken love or a painful separation of some kind. Either way it packs a punch truly unlike most of the other songs in their discography thanks to the absolutely fantastic guest vocals of Nikki Flores.
    Millions behind or light years ahead
    Our time is now, our time was then
    And I hear your voice inside of my head
    But it's just a silhouette

    Do you wander what happens
    To all of the love we lose?

Top