In rummaging through my library of 6/8 music, I realized that many of the songs on the list are ones that have been pretty significant or moving to me at some point or other in my life. The moving part, I feel, comes from the nature of 6/8 itself--unlike many other time signatures, 6/8 feels to me like an eternal loop--never really beginning, never really ending, and always driving forwards. The pace set by the time signature often lends the music a meditative air, which is possibly why so many ballads seem to be written in 6/8.
One song in 6/8 that I've liked longer than any other is Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. There was a time in my life when the lyrics ("And I don't want the world to see me / Cause I don't think that they'd understand / when everything's made to be broken / I just want you to know who I am") really spoke to me, and I feel that the 6/8 time signature really helped that sentiment settle in and influence my thinking.
Take a listen:
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