25 Songs, 25 Days - Day 16: A Song That Has Made You Cry

I'm a fan of the golden oldies and am convinced this is why I tend to be able to connect with that generation better in my professional career. I grew up listening to bubblegum pop, classic rock, and rockabilly music. I've always enjoyed this era of music, especially the 70's, but really discovered a love of soul music before I even knew what it was. I later learned what it was during my internship for music therapy and it opened up a world of great music for me.

For this post I've chosen the soul song "Stand By Me," which I first heard in the movie of the same name, adapted from the Stephen King novella, The Body. I first saw this movie when I was probably no more than eleven, and it was on broadcast tv, so of course all the swearing was cut out, making it seem like a poorly edited movie to me at the time. When I actually saw the real version about ten years later, so much more made sense.

This song has always made me cry and I'm really not sure why. I could name many other songs that make me cry for different reasons, such as reminding me of lost loved ones or of a hard time in my life, but this one is one of the few songs that is just so beautiful that the melody itself makes me tear up every time. This makes it hard to use this song in my music therapy sessions as I have to be very cautious not to get too emotional and remain professional. I think it also speaks volumes that this is literally the only song (as of 2018) that has charted in the top 10 almost twenty-five years apart, with no modifications made to the recording whatsoever. What people heard on their radios in 1961 is the same as what we heard in 1986. Absolutely timeless.