Ears and tears

It never fails. Right when Sarah Brightman spills into the high ending of "Time To Say Goodbye", the tears start to well up. This song might be on and I'm driving like a Nor' Easter to make it to a softball game on time, wearing cleats for crying out loud, the manliest of footwear, and the tears start to come. Hell, I could be playing poker with Clint Eastwood and John Wayne and I'd cry when she gets to the high part.
Something about music transforms the prefontal cortex (or is it the mandibular lobe?) and bathes my brain in the moment. Am I the only one? No way? Really?
I once confided in a good friend, (and an intellectual guy) that I got really emotional whenever I heard the song "Satellite" by Dave Matthews. I had been reading the album credits one night (pre-dawn technologically, of course, as I actually owned the physical CD) and happened upon the dedication of the song or album to a little girl who had passed away. I can't even remember, and the dedication isn't important, but the words hit me just as the song hit a crescendo, and consequently, so did my heart. It's all about crescendo.
Anyhow, my intellectual friend is a music fan, culturally efficient and wears pink while maintaining masculinity, so I figured he'd have some empathy for my situation and possibly even share a similar tale. The reaction I got was similar to the one you'd get from a 2nd grade classmate upon calling your teacher "Mom" when asking her a question. He still has never let me live it down. He'll call me when he's visiting from Chicago to check on me, and the line of questioning is in the order of:
-How's the family?
-Still love your job?
-When can we get a beer?
-Are you crying listening to DMB right now?
-How's your Fantasy Football team?
Etc.
But the older I get, the more frequently the emotional tags keep coming, each one pasted neatly to a song from the past or present. The latest example is a song I bought off ITunes two days ago that I would NEVER have purchased with your money had it not been for the cry tag that accompanied it. I first heard "Jai Ho" at the end of the movie Slumdog Millionaire right before Christmas with my wife. Unless a movie stars Burt Reynolds and Dom Delouise, I don't watch the credits. Well, that's not entirely true. Anyone who saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off stayed for the credits. And, I accidentally discovered the magical and side-splitting ending to Napoleon Dynamite after the 5th or 6th time I'd seen the movie.
For some reason, when Slumdog ends, you stay. I'll need to see it again to know how long it is between the closing scene and the start of Jai Ho and the (SPOILER ALERT) dance scene, but it seemed like a long time. We didn't move from our seats, thankfully, and it turned out to be another cry-tag moment. There's no reason why...it's not at all sad. In fact it's the movie's most jovial and uplifting time. In addition, the actors are no longer even in character. So basically, this song comes on, the actors (not the characters) start doing this dance to a song by this artist from Mumbai and I am crying.
Before you suggest anti-depressants, let me tell you...It was a good, cathartic little cry just like the one that got me when my boys were playing in their first piano recital three weeks ago. Another came the same day when their teacher sat and played this incredible concerto (or sonata, I can't read music). Just a little tear. That's all. Eyes well up a little and then it passes. But it feels really good.
I might be an emotional goof, but I like it. I look for a song with music and lyrics that builds up fiercely, slowly, and without pretense, and then spills it's guts on the floor. I want my music to puke when the rides over.