josh groban makes me cry because when i hear "you raise me up" i feel like someone is tapping a dull flathead screwdriver with a hammer into my ribs...in slow motion. that'll make you cry.
I was playing in a stage band once and got poked in the eye with a sax reed. I did not really cry,but my eye swelled up and i could not stop it from flooding with eye water and some of my band mates thought i was really crying and looking at me like i was a big sissy and i started yelling at them that i was not really crying and how would they like the next reed in the eye? Is this what you mean?? :) (oh this was like 1972 or something) hehehhe.
I just wiped the tears from my eyes a few minutes ago. If this thread didn't exist, I would have started it.
My wife is sleeping soundly and I'm in the living room in the middle of the night spinning vinyl on my Townshend Rock 7, wearing AKG K702 headphones driven by The Raptor Tube amp. Interesting for me to note that this community is where I thought to go right after this experience.
Tonight, I'd been listening to the new pressing of one of my most loved albums, Tea for the Tillerman -- specifically, the song "Into White" stood out above all the other great ones. Aside from being a beautiful song played soulfully and magnificently, the combination of this superb pressing (finally, I'm actually impressed with a reissue) and the "aliveness" with which my system resolved it engulfed me in an experience where the meaning the song had for the artist became palpable. I was helpless, immersed in emotions that reached me more deeply than I could anticipate.
Does occasionally squeezing out a few tears while being completely involved in the enjoyment of music make me a "girlie-man," as one cretin would have it? I'm not going to dignify that with the volley of barbs it deserves -- suffice to say, I'm sorry for those of you who have not experienced this and feel the need to exercise your fragile masculinity by belittling those who have.
Whether it's Cat Stevens on headphones or Metallica at full tilt in your car, I believe that feeling the emotional meaning of the artist is the highest potential of our shared obsession. If that doesn't justify spending as much time and money on our hobby, or crying when we finally get it, what would?
I guess that it is better for you to cry while your wife is sleeping than to cry because she left home after going to bed too many times without her audiophile-husband !!!
I read a study of college football players that says that (paraphrase) 'players that cry do better on and off the field'. The one caveat was that tearing up was good- open sobbing not so good. I think the theory being that accessing your emotions is a positive thing. It's good to be passionate about life. Thought this was interesting.
I know that to be true. I played football (soccer over here) for 30 years and I know that when I was on the field with some unexpressed emotion held in my body, my skills were compromised, nothing flowed right. I also recall that when I got on the field after clearing what was previously stuffed down, sometimes by crying a bit (gasp!), my game was fluid, faster, less effort and I scored many more goals.
Men who have the courage to let themselves cry usually experience life at a higher level because they haven't armored themselves against their own feelings, as well as others'. Similarly, being truly affected by music requires dropping one's guard and trusting that actually feeling something won't hurt you. Shutting down your emotions, whether in a relationship or listening to music, is the real cowardice.
And if that wasn't enough, women seem to seek masculine men who allow themselves to feel. What more would a man need to know?
Every time I hear Mary Chapin Carpenter sing "John Doe no. 24 (as I just did on Pandora radio), I tear up. Then I read some of the other responses and I began to laugh out loud. It's all so crazy.
Great thread that had lots of potential for people to comment on equipement or music that brought out strong emotions within them! Unfortunately it didn't go that way, although some commical responses are here!
For me, last week in Vegas at a Celine Dion concert! Balled like a baby! Other than that it has been rare since selling my Joule Electra LA300ME. I steamed up regularly while listening to music through this preamp!
Coltrane's Alabama, and Simon and Garfunkel singing The Boxer will always bring out the tears- very few other songs have or will, but these two will almost every time I hear them.
I can honestly say I can never recall listening to a stereo system and openly bawling so I feel quite relieved that my testosterone level is where it should be but then again I have shed a tear or two listening to live performances, two I can think of offhand, a husband and wife team performing the solo violin/viola parts of the 2nd movement of Mozart's concertina for Violin/Viola K 364 and a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with a 150 piece choir and orchestra, that one I had to fight back the tears from streaming it was so overwhelming a performance and I was not alone.
Please TP tell me I don't qualify for girlieman, I gotta know! :)
Yeah, I should have included it's before a hockey game when the national anthem is sung. Everybody else is jacked up and I'm singing and staring at the flag and trying to keep my voice from breaking. I'm fine in the shower!
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
