History TearJerker / Radiohead

--> "A pig.\\

On Antibiotics."

--> "''RAAAAAAAIN DOOOOOOOOOOOOWN... RAAAAAAAAAIIIN DOOOOOOOOWN, COME ON RAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIN DOOOOOOOOWN... ON MEEEEEEEEEE...''"

* "Fitter Happier" never fails to bring certain people to tears. The line: "Baby smiling in back seat" can be especially triggering.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3GLYgJQARI "How I Made My Millions"]] is one of the band's most emotional and vulnerable songs, considering it takes a rather minimalist approach, being led only by piano with Thom's gentle vocals on top of it to produce a raw, naked sound.

* "Give Up the Ghost" is rather tearjerky, and especially powerful since it's such a ''stripped down'' song, only consisting of layers of Thom's voice and an acoustic guitar.
** The ''From the Basement'' video album version outdoes the album version's tearjerkiness by a mile.

[[...]] "I'll see you... in the next life...''"

--> "I won't let this happen to my children\\
Meet the real world coming out of your shell"

--> "Let me back\\

Help me, call the doctor, put me inside"

** At the end, the character sings "Wake Me Up": it sounds like he is realizing that this moment of pleasure is [[AllJustADream just a dream]] and that the inevitable moment where he wakes up will be more painful the longer he takes pleasure in it.

** The ''From the Basement'' video album version is even worse, as Ed sings "Wake Me Up" over Thom's lyrics: it sounds like the character is realizing that this moment of pleasure is [[AllJustADream just a dream]] and that the inevitable moment where he wakes up will be more painful the longer he takes pleasure in it.

** The ''From the Basement'' video album version is even worse, as the band adds choirs singing "Wake Me Up": it sounds like the character is realizing that this moment of pleasure is [[AllJustADream just a dream]] and that the inevitable moment where he wakes up will be more painful the longer he takes pleasure in it.

** The ''From the Basement'' is even worse, as it adds choirs singing "Wake Me Up", as if the character was realizing that this moment of pleasure was just a dream, and resolutes to wake up to come back to a depressing and blank reality.

** The version ''From the Basement'' video album outdoes the album version's tearjerkiness by a mile.

** The version from the ''In the Basement'' video album outdoes the album version's tearjerkiness by a mile.

Radiohead is [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible weird,]] [[NightmareFuel/{{Radiohead}} disturbing]]... yet has a large assortment of [[TearJerker these type of songs.]] Most of their albums have at least a few examples.

-->''"Wake me up..wake me uuuuuuup..."''

--> "''She looks like the real thing''\\

--> "''And if I could be who you wanted\\

--> "''Immerse your soul in love!\\
[[DespairEventHorizon Immerse your soul in love...]]''"

---> "''Beautiful angel''"
---> "''Pulled apart at birth''"
---> "''Limbless and helpless''"
---> "''I can't even recognize you''"

--> "This is just a nightmare\\

Someone's gonna bring me round..."

* The fact that [[http://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/news/dr-rachel-owen-1968-2016 Thom's now-former wife has passed away]] makes certain aspects of the album ("Daydreaming", "True Love Waits") [[HarsherInHindsight a whole lot sadder]] to listen to.
* The liner notes for the album include dedications to Scott Johnson - the band's drum tech who was killed in a stage accident in 2011 - and Vic Godrich - the father of the band's producer Nigel Godrich and a sound editor for ''Series/DoctorWho'', who died while the album was being recorded.

* Rachel Owen, Thom's ex-wife, [[http://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/news/dr-rachel-owen-1968-2016 has passed away]].

--> "''[[TogetherInDeath Now we are one in everlasting peace]]''"

I felt me slipping in and out of consciousness

!!! ''OK Computer''

!!! ''OK NOTOK''

!!! ''Amnesiac''

!!! Original album

!!! Disk 2

*** To elaborate: A song lamenting the artificiality of modern life ends with the narrator proclaiming he would be just as fake as everything else to be with his "fake plastic love" if it was possible.

* The climax of "Bones."

[[folder:''OK Computer'']]

* "Exit Music (for a Film)." It was written for [[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet an adaptation]] of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' and was directly inspired by the original story itself, so the TearJerker quality is imported from a much older source. The broken-sounding, raw vocals at the end are especially gut-wrenching.

* "Let Down." As if the subject matter isn't melancholy enough, the "You know where you are..." bit is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful moments in music history.

* Some people can feel melancholy from listening to "Karma Police."

[[folder:''Kid A'']]

* "Motion Picture Soundtrack," the final track, has an air of desperation to it. It's a sad and almost pathetic reconciliation with the rest of the world after the most alien and emotionally tangled album Radiohead has ever put out. Oh, and the angelic harps are killer.
--> "''It's not like the movies / They fed us on little... white lies."
--> "I'll see you... in the next life...''"

[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Amnesiac'']]

* "'''There There.'''" Thom just sounds pained at times, and was allegedly [[TearJerker brought to tears]] after hearing the final mastered version of the song.

* "I Will." It's essentially a song about [[WarIsHell how war affects children]] and is very simplistically depressing in a stripped-down sense, relying on only an isolated guitar and Thom. It was reportedly influenced by news footage of a bomb shelter containing kids and families being destroyed in the first Gulf War. Considering how [[PapaWolf the birth of Thom's son]] affected the album as a whole, it's easy to see how heavy the song is in that context.

* "A Wolf at the Door." While it's not as slow and melancholy as most of the songs on this list, it is sung with incredible bitterness and desperation. You can't help but feel the pain in Thom Yorke's voice.

* "Videotape." It's been interpreted as a suicide note in the form of a song, though Thom says it's supposed to be a deathbed message. The final lines, especially, can give some listeners the sniffles:
--> "I can't do it face to face / I'm talking to from miles away / No matter what happens now / I won't be afraid / Because I know / Today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen."

* "Four Minute Warning," which seems to be about the narrator's home being bombed. The desperate, self-deceiving lyrics add to the effect.

* "True Love Waits." Oh god. There's a reason why people consider it one of Thom's finest moments as a songwriter.
-->"I'm not living / I'm just killing time..."

--->This [The original version] version is like an optimistic look into the future

--->The Moon Shaped Pool version is like a regretful look into the past

* The [[RearrangeTheSong live version]] of "Fog." "Where did you go bad...? Did you go bad...?"
* "Harrowdown Hill," Thom Yorke's solo song about the suicide of weapons expert [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly Dr. David Kelly]].
-->It was a slippery, slippery, slippery slope / I felt me slipping in and out of consciousness / I felt me slipping in and out of consciousness.
-->[[KilledMidSentence I feel me--]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3GLYgJQARI "How I Made My Millions"]] is one of the band's most emotional and vulnerable songs, considering it takes a rather minimalist approach, being led only by piano with Thom's gentle vocals on top of it to produce a raw, naked sound.

-->Wait, they don't love me like I love you, wait, they don't love me like I love you...

** "[[DespairEventHorizon Whatever makes you happy]] / Whatever you want / You're so [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] special / I wish I was special..."

* "Lewis (Mistreated)" has a very catchy and upbeat riff, [[LyricalDissonance but the depressing lyrics convey a different message]]. One of the lyrics is "don't do it, don't, jump." Thom Yorke even sounds like he's crying (or at least very distressed) when he sings this.

Immerse your soul in love...''"

** There's a certain emotional heft to the climax, with the way Thom sings and especially the line "Now we are one in everlasting peace". Think of the source material for this song and just [[FridgeHorror consider]] [[TogetherInDeath what that means]].

** The lines "One day I'm going to grow wings / A chemical reaction / Hysterical and useless" also deserve special mention.

** The little moment of peace at the end ("Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden") just increases the tearjerkiness.

* "The Tourist." "Hey man, slow down... slow down..."

* "Motion Picture Soundtrack," the final track, has an air of desperation to it. It's a sad and almost pathetic reconciliation with the rest of the world after the most alien and emotionally tangled album Radiohead has ever put out. Oh, and the angelic harps are killer. "''It's not like the movies / They fed us on little... white lies.''"
--> "I'll see you... in the next life..."

---> "Beautiful angel."
---> "Pulled apart at birth."
---> "Limbless and helpless."
---> "I can't even recognize you."

* The beginning of "Cuttooth." It's not so much the words but the longing way Thom sings it.
* Oh sweet God, "Pyramid Song." "...and we all went to heaven in a little rowboat / there was nothing to fear, nothing to doubt..."
** In the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fH40DYHzHs#t=20 Live in Praha Concert]]", Thom dedicates it to Creator/FranzKafka before they play it. The live version featuring Jonny's bowing of his electric guitar makes it all the more haunting.
** The computer-animated video just about matches the depressing lyrics. We're introduced to a man standing on the roof of a skyscraper in the middle of an ocean, revealing he's the last survivor of a [[WorldWreckingWave flood]] that destroyed his city, [[AfterTheEnd and possibly the rest of the world]]. Suiting up, he dives into the water and observes the city's sunken ruins. In the end, he swims into what is apparently his family's house, takes a seat, and [[DrivenToSuicide unplugs his oxygen cord so he can rejoin his loved ones]]. Quite possibly the most amount of emotion you'll ever feel for a CGI stick figure.

-->"We are accidents, waiting, waiting to happen."

-->"I won't let this happen to my children\\

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWG9xPWsg_g Gagging Order]]... just listen for yourself.

-->"Let me back / Let me back / I promise to be good / Don't look in the mirror at the face you don't recognize / Help me, call the doctor, put me inside."

* "Go Slowly" and "Last Flowers to the Hospital," off of the extra ''In Rainbows'' disc, are both incredibly melancholy and beautiful.
** The latter was originally written during the ''OK Computer'' sessions, during the height of Thom's JerkAss reputation and depression.
-->I cannot keep up
-->trodding on people's toes
-->'snot nosed little punk'
-->and I can't face the evening straight
-->you can offer me escape.
* "Four Minute Warning," which seems to be about the narrator's home being bombed. The desperate, self-deceiving lyrics add to the effect. "This is just a nightmare / soon I'm gonna wake up / someone's gonna bring me round..."

* "Nude" is so emotional that it can be seriously tolling on the heart, especially with its having one of Radiohead's most beautiful soundscapes led by an excellently beauteous vocal display from Thom.

* "Codex." It's a slow, brooding song that starts as a LonelyPianoPiece before it gets backed by brass arrangements that sound a few smidgens more upbeat than as if they were playing for a funeral. Then there's the lyrics:
-->"Sleight of hand / Jump off the end / Into a clear lake / No one around / Just dragonflies / Flying to the side / No one gets hurt / You've done nothing wrong / Slide your hand / Jump off the end / The water's clear / And innocent / The water's clear / And innocent."
* "Separator", even though it's arguably the most upbeat and "happiest" song on the album. It's like a lucid dream that you just don't want to wake up from.
-->''"Wake me up..wake me uuuuuuup..."''

''She tastes like the real thing''\\
''My fake plastic love''\\
[...] ''And it wears me out''\\
''It wears me out''."

If you think you belong enough.''"

* "Black Star." There's something nostalgic-sounding about that central riff that tugs at your heartstrings.

-->"If you think that you're strong enough. / If you think you belong enough."

* The climax of "Bones."
* There's a lot of great lines in "Fake Plastic Trees" but especially heartrending is the final verse: "she looks like the real thing / she tastes like the real thing / my fake plastic love / [...] and it wears me out/ it wears me out."
** And not to mention: "''And I can't help the feeeeeeling / I could blow through the ceeeee-eeeeiling / if I just turn... and run.''"
** And just the lament that he'd be phony if he could for her but he just can't keep up the act. "''And if I could be who you wanted / if I could be who you wanted / all the time/ all the time''"
*** To elaborate: A song lamenting the artificiality of modern life ends with the narrator proclaiming he would be just as fake as everything else to be with his "fake plastic love" if it was possible.
** Even more of a TearJerker in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, where it was the soundtrack for a [[PublicServiceAnnouncement PSA]] on Down syndrome.
* "Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was" can usually tug on one's heartstrings. Don't listen to that song in a depressive mood.

* "High and Dry" may sound more nostalgic and longing than outright sad, but it certainly qualifies. "Kill yourself for recognition, kill yourself to never ever stop..."
* This brings us to the album closer "Street Spirit (Fade Out)". While the rest of the album is far from happy, this one takes a straight veer into sheer nihilism. What can be gleamed from the disturbing and surreal lyrics suggests an utterly painful message of the meaningless and futility of existence, and how everything that we work towards will "fade out" upon our death. The song ends with the conclusion to "Immerse your soul in love", but in context, it sounds more like a desperate plea to achieve some type of purpose. [[/folder]]

* RAAAAAAAIN DOOOOOOOOOOOOWN... RAAAAAAAAAIIIN DOOOOOOOOWN, COME ON RAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIN DOOOOOOOOWN... ON MEEEEEEEEEE...

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjqHQ4Bh5Ls The [=OKNOTOK=] cassette version]] (while sounding like an outtake of ''OK Computer'') takes a step further where it's just Thom and his piano and the track's missing (and gut-wrenching) third verse is included:

*** Special mention should go towards [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeI0PXj7LIw&ab_channel=AnthonyPackwood this]] hauntingly beautiful brass cover of Motion Picture Soundtrack by The Calgary Stampede Showband in November 2015. This particular cover was recorded at the funeral of member Mackenzie May who sadly took their own life in 2015. The song is usually played by the showband to welcome new members into their troupe, to thank those for their dedication to the troupe or to honor their fallen members. Although admittedly a hard watch, the cover is absolutely beautiful to hear in a brass arrangement, especially the final crescendo of the piece is gut wrenching and heartbreaking yet absolutely stunning, a beautiful tribute to one of their fallen.

--> "Beautiful angel."
--> "Pulled apart at birth."
--> "Limbless and helpless."
--> "I can't even recognize you."

-->This [The original version] version is like an optimistic look into the future

-->The Moon Shaped Pool version is like a regretful look into the past

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjqHQ4Bh5Ls The [=OKNOTOK=] cassette version]] (while sounding like an outtake of ''OK Computer'') [[UpToEleven takes a step further]] where it's just Thom and his piano and the track's missing (and gut-wrenching) third verse is included:

* "I Will." It's essentially a song about [[WarIsHell how war affects children]] and is very simplistically depressing in a stripped-down sense, relying on only an isolated guitar and Thom. It was reportedly influenced by news footage of [[AdultFear a bomb shelter containing kids and families being destroyed in the first Gulf War]]. Considering how [[PapaWolf the birth of Thom's son]] affected the album as a whole, it's easy to see how heavy the song is in that context.

** And then there’s Vixen in ''Fanfic/Awakened''. Sweet jumping juniper, Vixen. Before falling victim to [[TheVirus Agent Smith]], the lyrics abovd are the FamousLastWords in her diary before being infected.

[[folder: Pablo Honey]]

[[folder:The Bends]]

[[folder:OK Computer]]

[[folder:Kid A]]

[[folder:Amnesiac]]

[[folder:Hail to the Thief]]

[[folder:In Rainbows]]

[[folder:The King of Limbs]]

[[folder:A Moon Shaped Pool]]

*** To elaborate: A song lamenting the artificiality of modern life ends with the narrator proclaiming he would just as fake as everything else to be with his "fake plastic love" if it was possible.

* This brings us to the album closer "Street Spirit (Fade Out)". While the rest of the album is far from happy, this one takes a straight veer into sheer nihilism. Thom Yorke notes that he didn't really understand the root message of the song, which is why it consists mostly of montages of unpleasant imagery, but what can be gleamed suggests an utterly painful message of the meaningless and futility of existence, and how everything that we work towards will "fade out" upon our death. The song ends with the conclusion to "Immerse your soul in love", but in context, it sounds more like a desperate plea to achieve some type of purpose. [[/folder]]

* This brings us to the album closer "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", communicating in a final message the album-wide notions of mundane hopelessness, bodily discomfort, and helplessness, with a truly mournfully chilling central guitar riff and surreal, mournful lyrics.
[[/folder]]