Heartwarming / The Decemberists

• From "Foregone," a track on the new EP "And we had agreed on Henry/ Long before a flutter felt," about the birth of Meloy's son, just gives you a warm feeling
• "The Bandit Queen" from the Picaresqueties EP.
• Essentially any song Meloy writes about his family qualifies. "Rise To Me," from The King Is Dead, in addition to the aforementioned "Foregone."
  • Though technically not a Decemberists song, Colin Meloy's "Wonder" is guaranteed to make you weepy in the best sort of way.
• "On the Bus Mall" from Picaresque is a love song between two drifting teenage male prostitutes. Far from the happiest premise, and it has a persistent sense of weariness and bittersweetness befitting of that, but the overall sound and focus conveys resoluteness, solace, and tenderness, constantly juxtaposing the roughness of the two's situation with how much happiness they take in each other's company. Fittingly, it's a long and fairly constant, open-sounding song that doesn't consciously feel that long or run out of energy partway through - like a bus ride or bike ride at the end of a very long day through a familiar town that never stops looking so pretty in the evening that you let it sink in no matter how tired you are.
• Although most of the Mariner's Revenge Song is about sad despair leading into bloody violent vengeance, the part where the mother's spirit will always look out for her son is pretty touching.