tracks that GENUINELY send shivers down your spine without fail

Martin your Jimmy Cliff spotting is ON

Jimmy Cliff: God yes. Waiting for a Superman: Heavens, that too. Neil Young: oooo I could stay here forever.

Some of the vocals-only versions on the Pet Sounds box set are more emotionally pungent than the full versions on the original album. Try "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times," because it absolutely does have the effect you're speaking of. I once put it on a mix tape for a prospective boyfriend and it was a major factor in the development of our relationship. :-)

Ivan Rebroff, "Die Legende von den 12 Räubern"
Claudio Monteverdi, "Ave Maria Stella" from Vespro della beata Vergine
Coleman Hawkins' entrance on "Epistrophy" by Thelonious Monk, from Monk's Music
Low, "Coattails" and "Soon" in live performance
"Day By Day" from Godspell (!!!)
"The Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie
"Our Prayer" by the Beach Boys
"Little Things" by Ida
"A Saucerful of Secrets" from Live at Pompeii, "Outside the Wall" (film version) and "The Final Cut" by Pink Floyd
Wayne Shorter's entrance on "Circle" on Miles Smiles
The entrance of the 2nd guitar after the solo on Bedhead's "A Parade"
Entrance of the synth pad a couple minutes into Spool's "Ebo"

It's funny, I have a similar feeling about "God Only Knows". The thought of the song destroys me, but listening to it has never much affected me. I think there's a different rendition hidden in there somewhere, and that's the one that I imagine. Maybe it exists somewhere on tape; it definitely wouldn't be the first time an alternate mix/take of a Beach Boys song was better than the original -- the 5-minute half-instrumental mix of "'Til I Die" and the Smile version of "Surf's Up" both surpass the versions on the Surf's Up album...

Charles Mingus- The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (as a cumulative effect of the album)

Tammy Wynette- Walk Through This World

Big Star- Holocaust

Billie Holiday- Not sure of the title (perhaps "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" or "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone") but there is a performance towards the end of her career/life where her voice is about to give out and the lyrics suggest that she is washed up and going to die soon in this really affecting ironic bitter-sweet way. Its really devastating, especially if you listen to some of her stuff from the 30s where her voice is in top form to compare.

There are more...these are some of the most consistent though.

hells yes!

Big Star's "Morpha Too"
"Fade Into You" and "Linger"
The vocal harmonies on the Only Ones' "Out there in the night"
pavement "shoot the singer" (in the morning light/you hold that ashtray tight)
the last 2 cymbals on the cure's "homesick" would do me in, wan that i was a teenager
arab strap "soaps"
the last breath that ends the last song on that dog's totally crushed out album
"it's a new age!" in the velvets' "new age"
the opening notes/chords to "100,000 fireflies" and "all the umbrellas in london"

Aphex Twin - Alberto Balsalm (when the final refrain hits, with that high-pithched mewling noise in the background)

Orbital - Chime (the moment when the bass starts, just tentatively, rather than booming in)

REM - Nightswimming (the oboe solo just lifts the whole song)

At The Drive-In - Cosmonaut (the bit when this amazing riff comes in, two thirds of the way through, and the singer just... LOSES it)

Spiritualized - The Straight and the Narrow (the way the violins hold on for just one beat longer than you expect them to)

Shack - Cornish Town (the nah-nah-nah harmonies that kick in right before the end)

Squarepusher - Iambic 5 Poetry (starts off slowly, but when the melody appears half way through you don't ever want it to end)

Underworld - Two Months Off (glorious synths fade in slowly, Karl singing "you bring light in" repeatedly... amazing)

The Beta Band - Quiet (bass riff that appears out of nowhere near the end, while the drums bang over the top of it)
mu-ziq - Slice (the way this little melody keeps popping up apparently randomly)

Lambchop - Bugs (like listening to a spring unravelling, especially the moment when Kurt sings "and you take her hand, and you gesture toward the bay")

Bjork - Joga (the opening violin chords)

and yeh, i think everyone means certain parts of the track send shivers...you wouldnt get them all the way through or from jut the opening notes/bars in most cases

Absolutely! Saw a performance of that on TV and it sent shivers down the spine. The next day I borrowed a copy of the 'Substance' compilation off the rec library.

one of his finest moments really. I feel the same abt this track.

Unt others (for all sorts of reasons) (and, please, let the BRs be there):
Stina Nordenstam - "This Time, John"
Jenny Toomey - "Needmore, PA"
This Heat - "Paper Hats"
Christina Aguilera - "What a Girl Wants"
Philistines Jr. - "The Truth About Scientists"
Neko Case - "Runnin' Out of Fools"
Talk Talk - "Ascension Day" / "After the Flood"

Ooh, Matt, good save.

Sadness: Grandaddy, "Miner At the Dial-A-View/So You'll Aim Towards the Sky" or Beck, "Nobody's Fault But My Own"
Giddiness: any random 1975-1979 Ramones song played without warning
Contented bliss: Blackalicious, "Make You Feel That Way" or Air's "La Femme D'Argent"
Swagger: Ol' Dirty Bastard, "Sussudio" or Ghostface Killah's "Nutmeg"
Ass-kickin' Time: Dead Boys, "Sonic Reducer" or Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic"
Lust (the good part): The Stooges, "Loose" or Curtis Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love"
Lust (the frustrating part): Radio Birdman, "Love Kills" or the Buzzcocks' "Why Can't I Touch It?"
That intangible all-encompassing sensation of "fuck yeah": Vitalic, "La Rock" or DJ Shadow's "The Number Song"

And, in his own category, anything and everything by James Brown.

Nate: You're absolutely correct about James Brown. Maybe some of that other stuff too, but unimpeachable on JB.

i don't get this much from music anymore, the last songs i remember being really emotional about were "laugh" by low and "into dust" by mazzy star, and these are associated with a death for me.

two have done it since I had a baby daughter. both reduce me completely to tears, and regularly, too:
zion - lauryn hill
there she goes - the las

old chestnut's arent they? but its an old chestnut attracting kind of quesyions, I guess.

PS
God Only KNows is like watching Bjorn Bjorg or Tiger Woods play. unimpeachable, best in the world, technically perfect, oddly unmoving.

"Magnificat" and "Litany" give me shivers.

Also on the classical shiver-giving tip: anything by Penderecki.

I tend to agree with this (although I'd argue that Pet Sounds has some very moving moments), but the harmony/voice leading in the chorus and coda, and the way the notes take shape as they ascend in little increments, then hit plateaus, then soar, then fall, is still pretty fuckin' cool.

And, uh, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14 (especially "The Suicide"). Although it's so chilling it's practically comical.

but i almost can't listen to Scott Walker's "The Electrician"

Others:

Bowie - "Absolute Beginners."
Eminem - "Hallie's Song." Not as much now, because I overlistened to it, foolish me.
Concrete Blonde - "Tomorrow Wendy."
Tori Amos - "Winter." (And I'm not a Tori fan, really, apart from Little Earthquakes and that EP)
Elvis Presley - "In the Ghetto."
"Suicide is Painless," specifically as sung in the movie.
Leather Strip's mix of the Cure's "Lullaby." Different kind of shivers.
INXS - "The Stairs."
The Kinks - "Celluloid Heroes."
The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony."
Radiohead - "Fake Plastic Trees."
Van Morrison - "Tupelo Honey."

Kitchens of Distinction - "Gone World Gone"

Low - "Laser Beam"

and ..

Inner Life - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (the 10 minute remix)

I'm afraid I'm going to have bad dreams knowing that "Nightswimming" sends shivers down someone's spine.

-- Emily B (emily.burnha...), April 15th, 2006.

I may hang out in the wrong circles, but this is the first time I've seen anyone share my opinion on the awesomeness of this song.

Phoenix "If I Ever Feel Better (Todd Edwards remix)"
- never listen to it if you're going through a break up.

The Avalanches "Live at Domino's"
- it's like they condensed all the joy and sadness from the album into one track. And when strings somewhere in the middle of the song start to change pitch... Pure genius, with a soul of a child.

Pet Shop Boys "It Must Be Obvious"
- unexplainable sadness kicking in at 0:04 and then despair at 0:20.
Oh, and that line, "It should be poetry, not prose". Horror of everyday commonness in just 6 words.

Kate Bush -- Pull Out The Pin

you like kate bush??

hush you

When the guitar comes in for the noodly bit in Eno's "Golden Hours."
When everything but the guitar drops out before the last verse of "Teenage Riot."

The little guitar riff in Fugazi's "Repeater" after the "1-2-3... REPEATER!" literally kicks off an adrenaline rush in me, 18 years running...

Kate Bush -- Pull Out The Pin

"I LOVE LIFE, I LOVE LIFE"

I think I need to get high to get shivers down my spine.

I think the first few times I heard Robert Wyatt's Cuckooland I had shivers. The atmosphere was so thick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7PJpFhkEds Just A Bit

A Jobriath thread got revived last week, which reminded me of the line in "Street Corner Love" that goes "love me like we never met". Maybe because it's a bit of honesty from someone who otherwise dressed like a Christmas tree bauble.

those martial drum breaks that come right after

"cameras ready prepare to flash"

I heard twin peaks theme track last night and this happened
I don't even like the song that much!

What a lovely thread.

Some great songs listed above and I'm gonna nick some and more. Fwiw a random few:-

Swallow - My Vloody Balentine
Spirit Ditch - Sparklehorse
Jumbo- Underworld
History Lesson - Minutemen
Sain- Grifters
Lorelei- Cocteau Twins
What Does your Soul Look Like _ DJ Shadow
Suspension Bridge Over Iguazu Falls- Tortoise
Don't Stop Now -Guided By Voices
Bat's Mouth - Bat For Lashes
What's Going Ahn - Big Star
Holes- Mercury Rev
Whatever or Eight Miles High - Hooooosker du
Still Be around _ Uncle Tupelo
Bad Losers on Yahoo Chess- Half Man Half Biscuit

and Nine million more - off the top of my head. Wednesday Night mood. And totally showing my age.

Wu-Tang Clan "Protect Ya Neck" (It also makes me pump my fist)
Minutemen "Little Man With a Gun in His Hand"
The Mountain Goats "Snow Owl"/"Family Happiness" (two distinct flavors of intense desperation)
Talking Heads "Crosseyed and Painless"
Al Green "La La For You"
Funkadelic "Can You Get To That" (yes, I certainly can)
Issac Hayes "Walk On By"
They Might Be Giants "She's An Angel" (mainly just the pre-chorus w/ the slide guitar)
Sambomaster "Futari Bochi No Sekai"
Can "Oh Yeah" (I intend to play this at the apocalypse)

Electric Wizard "Barbarian" ("THE WIZAARRD"--RIFF)
Boredoms "Synthesizer Guide Book On Fire" (whoa)
The theme music from Cowboy Bebop
David Bowie "Five Years" (especially the line about the girl in the ice cream parlor not knowing that she's in this song)
The part of "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celest" by Bela Bartok that Kubrick used in The Shining (eerie as all hell)
John Fahey "Desperate Man Blues"/"On The Sunny Side of the Ocean"

Man I could keep doing this forever

ESG "UFO"
Stereolab "Jenny Ondioline"
Number Girl "Omoide In My Head"
CCR "Born On The Bayou"
REM "Radio Free Europe"
Radiohead "Everything In It's Right Place"
The intro to Metroid 2

it's a wonder my spine isn't perpetually shivering

fake plastic trees does it for me. For the song itself and for the memories attached to it.

Big Star - Thirteenth
My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
Elvis - Blue moon
Peggy Lee- Is that all there is
Rick Nelson - Lonesome town
Robert Wyatt- Sea song
Scott Walker - Farmer in the city
Low - If you were born today

too many to mention

War, "There Must Be a Reason"

This song triggers some really hard realizations for me, In a lot of ways I see myself as that "Lookin' Boy".

someone else needs to pick up that meme, to take a load off your back, if nothing else

How about Ooberman's "Shorley Wall", particularly the end poem?

First thing that comes to mind is Billy Bragg's "St. Swithin's Day"

someone else needs to pick up that meme, to take a load off your back, if nothing else

Doin' it alone lookin' boy

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

Great topic. I'm sure I am only echoing a lot of these choices, but:

The Beach Boys -- God Only Knows
Iron & Wine -- Bird Stealing Bread
The Clientele -- Losing Haringey
The Clientele -- Dreams Of Leaving
Chris Bell -- You And Your Sister
Dennis Wilson -- Carry Me Home
Dennis Wilson -- It's Not Too Late
Jimmy Cliff -- Many Rivers To Cross
Grant Hart -- You Don't Have To Tell Me Now
Bruce Springsteen -- One Step Up
Low -- Silver Rider
Miles Davis -- In A Silent Way
Neil Young -- See The Sky About To Rain
Wilco -- Jesus, etc.
William Basinski -- The Disintegration Loop 1.1

. . . among others.

Off the top of my head:
Zombies - Leave Me Be
Badfinger - Baby Blue
Lefty Frizzell - Mom and Dad's Waltz
George Jones - Color of the Blues
Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain (pretty much the entire album)
Gram Parsons - Streets of Baltimore
Joe Tex - Skip a Rope

It's always higher frequency sounds that do this to me, so it's usually guitar solos or backing strings. Typically a chord change involved too.
And the effect is incredible if I haven't heard the track for a good while. I'd love to know the neuroscience behind it! If somebody could map the parts of my brain that are affected mid-shiver and then artificially/electronically recreate the stimulation, I'd probably collapse, comatose with pleasure.

Isaac Hayes - Walk on By
Think it's the first string swell with chord change.

Pearls Before Swine - Ballad to an Amber Lady

Budgie - Hot as a Docker's Arm Pit (No shit!!)
The long run of notes toward the end of the main solo.

Blue Oyster Cult - Harvester of Eyes
Again, the guitar solo

"An Ending (Ascent)" by Brian Eno. Every. Fucking. Time. I am reduced to an amoeba-like pile of amorphous goo.

anything by O.A.R., bro

the Eno one that does it for me is "Everything Merges with the Night", I feel funny just thinking about it

The live version of 'Silver Springs', when it transitions into the 'Time has cast a spell on you...' section.

The moment in the Scott Walker track on Climate Of Hunter when he sings 'And the ceiling is rising and falling' and the swarm of Evan Parker soprano saxes comes in.

The final section of George Crumb's Music For A Summer Evening

fuller list, off the top of my brain:

Parliment - The Silent Boatman (bagpipes)
Autechre - Silverside (the ending, where you finally get to hear the entire melody)
Soul Coughing - Lazybones (the entire thing is so damn heavy)
Devo - Race of Doom (don't know why. something about the way the synths intersect with the rhythm gets me)
ELP - From the Beginning (everything about it is gorgeous, but especially Emerson's solo in the end)
Faust - No Harm (the scream at the end)
Underworld - Most 'Ospitable (the whole thing)
Underworld - Jumbo ("Telephone breath between us/there are no borders between us/Only these wires")
Happy Mondays - Dennis and Lois ("Honey, how's your breathing/If it stops for good we'll believe it")
Kraftwerk - Neon Lights (the onslaught of shimmering major chords that make up the second half)
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Gradated Gray (great song with an inexplicably creepy atmosphere)
The Books - Getting the Job Done (when the vocals come in)
Can - Oh Yeah (when the rhythm section really kicks in, 2 minutes in)
Gary Numan - Complex (mostly the intro, but really everything)
Neu! - Isi (c'mon, nobody can disagree with this)
Michael Jackson - Stranger in Moscow (already mentioned, but holy cow, this is a monster)
Boredoms - 7 (from VCN - when the guitar chords finally come in, braaang brooong)
Harry Nilsson - Morning Glory Story (gosh the vocals are pretty on this one)
Todd Rundgren - When the Shit Hits the Fan ("I think I have to get my ass back to Sunset Boulevard")

#1 tune along these lines (the one that makes me feel funny the whole time) is here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph7sHvMYkIk

As we've just had the kinks poll, might as well mention the moment in Shangri-La after the horns do a rall and tando, all grandiose magificience, and Ray comes back: "put on your slippers and sit by the fire..."

kinks - shangri-la (OTM!)
sam cooke - a change is gonna come
manics - 4st 7lb (espec last 30 seconds)
fall - lay of the land (when the song proper finally kicks in)

Cecil Taylor's version of "This Nearly Was Mine."

The Dutchman by Steve Goodman
Boulder to Birmingham by Emmylou Harris
Take Pills by Panda Bear
A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
Dirty Blvd by Lou Reed
Don't Worry Baby by the Beach Boys
Hot Burrito #1 by the Flying Burrito Brothers
Walk the Way the Wind Blows by Hot Rize