Songs that give you chills

THERE are times when a song is so fucking good that you lose your cool.

Those of us with refined tastes are supposed to know better than this, of course. We're supposed to acknowledge, with a cool shrug, that there is no such thing as perfect in music - there hasn't been anything worthwhile to happen in music since the 70s. And even then, music fucking sucked.

Sure, when we were kids songs on the radio would absolutely tear us into the stratosphere; they would captivate us, leaving us bug-eyed with dazzled wonderment at how incredible that whole music thing can be. But we're adults now, for Pete's sake, and adults are belabored and crusty with extreme amounts of cynicism. Those days of glowing ebullience are (supposed to be) forever extinguished.

And anyway, in adult world the cooler you are the less that you actually like music, right? After all, what distinguishes pitchfork or cokemachineglow from Rolling Stone, if not higher levels of disdain for mediocrity? Make no mistake, we are never to enjoy music, under any circumstances.

And yet, it happens nonetheless. A certain cadence, or melody, or vocal delivery just grabs you and forces you back to a child-like state. At that moment, you forget to be objective. You forget all of the words to criticize, or how to examine a song's flaws - all of those cognitive processes are thrown offline. For a brief instant, anything other than the beautiful music that swirls around you is immediately forgotten - and when it's really intense, a feeling of incredible, euphoric awe goes creeping warmly across your entire being.

Once you find songs like these, they become your special treasure. You keep them locked up for the tenderest of moments, in some untouched playlist or folder (or shoebox, if you're old fashioned). You hide them from friends, coworkers, siblings, parents - even girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands and wives - and if the song is played, at a party or by someone in your proximity by accident, you ignore its effects, hoping the person next to you won't notice the glaze that has suddenly rolled across your eye. These songs feel like little parts of you, broken off and sealed up in some sublime moment you (and only you) get to relieve again and again, exactly as you remember.

Here are a few songs that have such an effect on yours truly:

Talk Show Host (Radiohead)
Rebellion(Lies) (Arcade Fire)
Unravel (Bjork)
Life on Mars? (David Bowie)
Walking Wounded (Everything but the Girl)