The article highlights four 1970s soft-rock songs that it says still move baby boomers to tears, linking their impact to memories of heartbreak, bereavement and mortality.

– Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” is presented as a poignant response to the breakup of Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell.
– Bread’s “Everything I Own” gains added weight because David Gates reportedly wrote it in tribute to his late father.
– Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” combines abandonment, suicidal thoughts and parental loss in an international hit.
– Kansas’s “Dust in the Wind” is cited for its acoustic simplicity and reflection on human mortality.