Shivers up the spine and goose pimples

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I was on the M25 the other day on the way to picking up my significant other from Mummy in Law.

For those lucky enough not to live in, near, around or have to encounter the M25, it is the motorway that bypasses London. You can go all around it and pick your exit to bring you near to your destination without having to go through London.

That's the theory anyway. More often than not, it's the biggest car park in the UK where motorists have the time to read War and Peace whilst waiting for the traffic to move.

Anyway. I was sitting there contemplating my navel, when I decided to listen to a CD, One of those greatest hits ones that come free with a packet of cornflakes.

I slipped the CD and it was swallowed whole by my CD player without so much as a burp.

Then I heard it...Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

Immediately, I had shivers up my spine and I had an extreme case of Goose-bump-itis.

Are there any songs that give you that feeling as soon as you start to hear it?

Sue

Comments

Widmund

(Devotion) by Robert Schumann, preferably sung by Elizabeth Schwartzkopf is guaranteed to have me in tears, as is much lieder by Schumann, Schubert or Mahler.

Or, to go from the sublime to the ridiculous - 'I like to ride my bike' also by Queen. It reminds me of a long training ride we did to Llangollen with an occasional following car with all our weekend luggage who played it through external speakers as we rode through small villages. It was embarrassing but funny at the same time. Of course I was a lot younger then :)

Geoff

Hey Susan, Why Not :-)

Use this as inspiration for another story?
May Your Light Forever Shine

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" from "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd - gets me every time. I just love Dave Gilmour's guitar playing.

Pleione

Such a song ...

erin's picture

... is called an anthem.

Many works by Beethoven, Stravinsky, ELP, Meatloaf, Copland, John Williams, Paul Simon, Johnny Cash and others effect me in a similar way.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

did someone say anthem?

laika's picture

On Some Faraway Beach by Brian Eno. This is the theme song
to the (imaginary) film version of my kid's story THE FLYING BABALOOSKIS
(which I moved over to Fictioneer), it kept running through my head as I wrote it.
Someone used WWII footage for this youtube version, which works too, tho' not what I had in mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K29t_L3CO6A
I like Queen too, there's this giant, powerful sweeping song on their SHEER HEART ATTACK,
I think it's called In the Lap of the Gods.
~~~hugs, Laika

.
"You can either fly Over the Rainbow or Under the Radar but you can do both..."

Not sure of pop music

Angharad's picture

even Queen, although I have some of their CDs ( maybe Led Zep- Whole lotta love); but Beethoven's Ninth, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (adagio), Rossini William Tell Overture, Mendlesson's Violin Concerto and many others. Folk rock- some of Clannad's atmospheric stuff ( eg Theme from Harry's Game) gets my erector pilaris muscles going as well.

Angharad

Angharad

Yesterday

eom

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Songs

"Where'd you Go", Fort Minor, "Kiss Me", Six Pence, anything Abba, early work done by Charlotte Church, "We Are The Champions", Queen (?), Wagner, Handel, some Bach.

Depends on the goosebumps

What kind of reaction I get. The not-quite-horror-story goosebumps would definately be on hearing "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. Paints a vivid picture in my mind. I've seen storms like that on the North Sea when I lived in Norway.

For the really great music, Hallelujah Chorus-type goosebumps, it's a three-way tie. "Let It Be" by the Beatles (Lennon/McCartney), "Imagine", and "War Is Over - Happy Christmas", both by John Lennon. "Imagine" and "Happy Christmas" are slightly but not significantly ahead of "Let It Be".

KJT

"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

Edmund Fitzgerald

I was in my late twenties and feeling quite mature for having purchased a large life insurance policy to protect my just starting family. The company sent me a very nice magazine which featured a cover story about their latest big investment -- the Edmund Fitzgerald. When I hear that song I think of NW Mutual Life. The ship went down less than a week after that magazine arrived.

I've seen Gordon Lightfoot in small concerts (200 people) twice. He can bring me to tears with his authenticity.

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

What a coincidence

I was at the Shipwreck museium at the Whitefish Point lighthouse station TODAY and they have the ship's bell and a fel other items from the Edmund Fitsgerald that the vicim's family's permited removed.

Very sad.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

Baker Street

joannebarbarella's picture

By Gerry Rafferty floats my boat,
Joanne

I second that

(I met Rafferty once, btw.)

Also:

  • Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along The Watchtower
  • The Beatles: She's Leaving Home
  • Mott The Hoople: All The Young Dudes
  • The Who: Won't Get Fooled Again

WOW

I was going to mention Baker Street. I wonder what there is about that song?

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

there's dozens

kristina l s's picture

Songs that will affect me in different ways. Make me feel happy or sad or a combination of. Pop, Rock and variations thereof, some have been mentioned here.

One piece guaranteed to get me welling tears emotional. A movie called Immortal Beloved, where Beethoven is playing and due to his advancing deafness he has to place his head flat on the piano to feel the music, Moonlight Sonata, simple moody beauty. That combination of the music and the visual image.

Kristina

I have to agree

The Moonlight Sonata has been one of my favourites since childhood. When I was a young child classical music was just about the only thing heard in my house. There is a quiet power and precision to this piece of music, a deceptive simplicity. It can bring tears to my eyes if I'm in the right frame of mind to truly listen to its power and beauty. Kristina, I've never seen Beloved so for me Moonlight Sonata stands on its own merits without that compelling scene from the movie.

Another piece that in its own way I find even more compelling is Also sprach Zarathustra (opening fanfare). I remember this piece from 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Apollo missions news reports. Again when I was quite young so it had a profound effect on me.

I don't think I've heard any other music that quite touches me like these two pieces do.

Arwen

Shivers and tears

Talking about songs/music that moves me that way, made me think. Many of the examples everyone mentioned so far does the same thing to me. Some artists have that voice that speaks right to your soul. Gordan Lightfoot, and Johnny Cash does that for me. One that hasn't been mention is the country western singer Mary Robbins. His songs often brings tears to me.

Wonderful Tropic Sue! Thanks! I got some music to go listen to now. Thank goodness for youtube!

hugs!

grover