Tear Jerker / Porcupine Tree

This progressive rock band can write some very moving songs.

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• First off, to quote Steven Wilso himself,
  "This is a very sad song, but, if you're like me, I always find the saddest music is also the most beautiful. And this is one of my favorite songs that I've ever written, and it's called Stop Swimming." —Warszawa Live Album
• "Blackest Eyes" is nothing short of overwhelming... but when you look at the lyrics: Oh, Crap!.
  • It's remarkable how such a gorgeous song can have such cutthroat lyrics: [1]
• "Heartattack in a Lay By"? Steven Wilson's mournful voice, the final verse of the song, and the keyboard make this the saddest song ever. The guy in the song had a fight with his wife and goes to cool off in a rest stop, but dies of a heart attack before he goes back. Steven has said that the song is essentially about regret, and the fear of being unable to make things right before it's too late.
  "I guess I should go now
  She's waiting to make up
  To tell me she's sorry
  And how much she missed me
  I guess I'm just burnt out
  I really should slow down
  I'm perfectly fine but
  I just need to lie down
  We'll grow old together..."
  • The beauty of the album that song is from is that all the songs are pretty ambiguous and can be interpreted any way you want, but the song takes on a darker tone when you think about the fact that it's on a concept album about psychopaths and serial killers. Especially when you learn about Fred West, suddenly the last four tracks on the album — including this one — seemed to fit in with the story of how West was caught and brought to justice.
• While the music from Heartattack in a Layby is incredibly depressing — the ending verse of "Collapse the Light into Earth", the last song on the album, can be more heartbreaking.
  "I won't heal given time
  I won't try to change your mind
  I won't feel better in the cold light of day
  But I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to stay..."
  • Throughout the whole song, Steven says "Will" in a way that it's interchangeable with "Won't", so it can be taken as optimistically bittersweet or just a straight downer.
• Shesmovedon.
  "She changes every time you look
  By summer it was all gone - now she's moved on
  She called you every other day
  So savour it it's all gone - now she's moved on"
• The video for "Way out of Here", which is dedicated to the founder of the PT myspace group, who was killed by a train.
  • And then there's the song itself.
    "I'll try to forget you
    And I know that I will
    In a thousand years
    Or maybe a week
    I'll burn all your pictures
    Cut out your face
    
    And the shutters are down and the curtains are closed
    And I've covered my tracks
    Disposed of the car
    And I'll try to forget even your name
    And the way that you look
    When you're sleeping
    Dreaming of this..."
• Most of the songs on Fear of a Blank Planet, but particularly Sentimental. There's something heartbreaking in the way Wilson sings:
  "I've wasted my life
  And I'm hurting inside
  I don't really know
  And I'm not really sure
  
  Sullen and bored the kids stay
  And in this way they wish away each day"
  • Nobody ever mentions "My Ashes", erf.
  "And my ashes find a way beyond the fog
  And return to save the child that I forgot
  
  And my ashes fade among the things unseen
  And a dream plays in reverse on piano keys
  
  And my ashes drop upon a park in Wales
  Never-ending clouds of rain, and distant sails
  
• Not to mention "Buying New Soul" or "Where We Would Be". Just saying. Oof.
  • Especially the solo in "Where We Would Be," so full of hopeless longing that it aches just to hear it.
  • The very reminder that we'll all die is beautiful, heartbreaking, and horrifying all at the same time.
• "Normal", "Stop Swimming", "Shesmovedon", "Feel So Low", "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here", the ending of "Anesthetize", some others depending on context... probably the majority of their music. Then again, Steven Wilson, the main songwriter/leader of the band, feels that the most beautiful songs are the saddest, so this makes sense.
• "I Drive the Hearse".
• "Black Dahlia".
  There's nothing here for you under the sun
  There's nothing new to do, it's all been done
  So put your faith in another place
  
  Never seem to get away from this
  It's all falling into an abyss
  So put your foot on the pedal, boy
  
• As early as their first Delerium album we have "Radioactive Toy", which Steven wrote after seeing Threads. He sings the macabre lyrics about the aftermath of a nuclear attack as if the narrator in question is so traumatised as to be unable to express emotions, with the effect being completed by the slow, funeral-march tempo of the song, the Pink Floyd-ian guitar solo and the ominously creepy bridge and "malfunctioning synth" conclusion.
• "Lazarus" off of Deadwing, especially when you take into consideration that it's part of a scrapped-screenplay-turned-concept-album about a boy's relationship with his mother, who happens to be a ghost.
  "My David, don't you worry.
  This cold world is not for you.
  So rest your head upon me.
  I have strength to carry you."
• The chorus of "Every Home is Wired" from Signify. It's only Steven Wilson singing the title of the song repeatedly, but the arrangement of the vocals (all 37 layers of them) and melody is enough to anyone cry.
  • "Waiting (Phase One)". The vocal melodies are among some of Wilson's most haunting yet.
• "Don't Hate Me".
  "Don't hate me
  I'm not special like you
  I'm tired and I'm so alone
  
  Don't fight me
  I know you'll never care
  Can I call you on the telephone
  Now and then?"
• "This Is No Rehearsal", which was inspired by a famous case in which a young child was murdered.
  "And still I remember how I dressed him this morning
  And then he was gone - stolen, my only one"
• "Time Flies" is a pretty saddening song, being about Steven Wilson's childhood. While Steven's childhood wasn't tragic or depressing, it seems more like if Wilson's having a nostalgic flashback about his childhood and past. It's actually pretty heartbreaking but nice to see him look back at who he became later on.
• The title track off Lightbulb Sun. Nuff said.
  • Even more with the song "How Is Your Life Today?"
• The Start Of Something Beautiful is another tear jerker - both musically and lyrically. It's a very lovely song, though.
  • Three words: Glass. Arm. Shattering.

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