Songs that make you cry

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

"I Still Can't Say Goodbye" by Chet Atkins.

Sometimes it's a bitch

Wild is the Wind -- both the Nina Simone and the Bowie version.

A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke

"Lead Me Home" - Jamey Johnson

Oh, R4... I didn’t know there was a Nina Simone version and I’ve just had a listen. Incredible! x

Love Tame Impala - but whenever I play it, people say it’s depressing. I love the slow groove.

I’m listening to all of these. R5 is my favourite so far. Fucking beautiful.

R8 - Tame Impala are far from depressing! That funk is irresistible. x

....

Anything Matt Good writes, but lately 'Cold Water' has been getting to me. This lyrics shatters me:

[quote] In the room that we let, I found your hairbrush broke on the ground.....And so in motion, like stone in potion, I just laid down..

Can I get the two minutes I spent listening to that trash, R11? x

Ava Maria at weddings.

I’ll MARY! myself and save you all the trouble.

Have You Ever - Brandy

You’re about the most basic bitch there is, R13. x

I remember bawling when I heard this

Bette Midler’s The Rose and Wind Beneath My Wings

"Ave Maria" ...... Sung at my wonderful Mom's funeral.

"The Christmas Song" sung by Nat "King" Cole ..... My late Dad's favorite Christmas song

R16 Bjork is up there as one of the worst artists I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing live. I can’t fathom how anyone could extract anything but abject misery from listening to her music. x

The Dance by Garth Brooks

Creep by Macy Gray

Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

GTFO R22. x

R19 To be fair, Bjork is one of those artists where you either get her or don't. For some she's magical, to others she's an alien sex dream gone wrong.

The end of Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Inessa Galante singing Ave Maria

Future Island - Seasons (Waiting On You)

Although the video is so utterly hideous, Roxy Music's "More Than This" is a beautiful pop song that makes me tear up every time. It makes me nostalgic for a very specific period of my youth, and they lyrics add several layers of sadness right on top.

" A change gonna come'

It’s a classical one, but I’ll always have a soft spot for Massenet’s Meditation (Thais) The violin is almost weeping. Just beyond beautiful.

R28, its a sexy song

At Seventeen

‘If ever I ever I would leave you’ from Camelot

My dad used to sing it to my mom

You Remember Me-by Reba

It is a little known album cut, I've met other supposed Reba fanatics that don't know it. Whenever, I start thinking about former loves or friends that are no longer in my life, I listen to the song and bawl my eyes out.

Maps from the Broadway show Fun Home. Regret and missed opportunities

This

R28 I'll see your "More Than This" and raise you an "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" Another fantastic Bryan Ferry song that puts a lump in my throat. It's not even sad, and it was in a fantasy movie starring Tom Cruise for gosh sakes. But...it's just so exquisitely crafted, moving and powerful.

This break-up song by Level 42 used to absolutely tear me up inside. (Not so much anymore cuz I'm a tough cookie now.)

I used to just bawl and bawl listening to Father Figure

Rhoda, you bitch throughout here. Quit being a mean girl and kindly fuck off.

“Weekend in New England” (Barry Manilow)

“Against All Odds” (Phil Collins)

“It Never was You” (Judy Garland)

The songs represent a man I’ve loved, since I was 18. Time and circumstance kept us apart. It was a lifetime ago. (I’m now 56.). He died three years ago and it broke my heart. He was the kindest, the warmest and the sweetest of men. I was too naive, too young and too closeted to see it. If only....

In memory of JJF; I’ll always love him.

My Immortal - I know, I know, you detest cheap sentiment.

Love Theme from Sophie’s Choice by Marvin Hamilisch

Sand and water by Beth Nielsen Chapman

No song makes me outright cry. But I find many songs deeply moving and chill-inducing. Some of my top ones:

Praying For Time - George Michael

Taken In - Mike & The Mechanics

Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O’Connor

Back To Black - Amy Winehouse

Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen

Joey - Concrete Blonde

Genius Next Door - Regina Spektor

Almost Blue - Chet Baker

The Windmills of Your Mind - Dusty Springfield

Being Boring - Pet Shop Boys

Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

I can't remember what I was going through in my life at the time but their Hopes and Fears album was in constant rotation when it came out and I shed many a tear listening to it.

EVERY TIME....

REM - Everybody Hurts

I've got a lot, OP. Ashes to Ashes / Cremation by Lou Reed, about the death of a friend.

The line "Nothing else contained you ever" always gets me.

For Martha, by the Smashing Pumpkins, written for Corgan's mother when she died.

Hurt, the Johnny Cash version. Hits so close to home I can hardly bear to listen.

Signs by Bloc Party.

The Book of Love by The Magnetic Fields. I have no idea why this one always gets me emotional. I'm not a romantic but it makes me want to have that kind of love.

Kristina Olsen - Practicing Walking Away

Heard for the first time while driving down a tollroad on a blustery Sunday around noon (1993). Was on the verge of breaking up with partner of 5 years. The lyrics just tore into me. Had to pull over because I was crying.

...

The Joke by Brandi Carlisle. It’s a great song that I needed 50 years ago.

This.

Not that many archetypically "sad" songs make me sad. There are a few I'm sure, but I can't name them off the top of my head. For some reason, the Cranberries' "Dreams" has made me cry, which is odd because it's quite pretty, but for some reason it makes sad.

I agree, R30. Méditation really is a beautiful piece. The saddest version I've heard is a piano and cello duet, with the mournful cello played by Yo-Yo Ma. He takes it to another level.

The one that gets me every time is "Vincent", Don McLean's tribute to tortured artist Van Gogh. AKA "Starry, Starry Night", the most poignant part is when McLean sings:

For they could not love you But still your love was true And when no hope was left in sight On that starry, starry night You took your life, as lovers often do But I could have told you, Vincent This world was never meant for one As beautiful as you

Crap. I formatted it wrong. 2nd try...

I agree, [R30]. Méditation really is a beautiful piece. The saddest version I've heard is a piano and cello duet, with the mournful cello played by Yo-Yo Ma. He takes it to another level.

The one that gets me every time is "Vincent", Don McLean's tribute to tortured artist Van Gogh. Also know as "Starry, Starry Night", the most poignant part is when McLean sings:

For they could not love you

But still your love was true

And when no hope was left in sight

On that starry, starry night

You took your life, as lovers often do

But I could have told you, Vincent

This world was never meant for one

As beautiful as you

*known

Medellín.

"Heroes" -- especially Nico's version. I See a Darkness -- Bonnie Prince Willy Hero of the War -- Scott Walker

R40 Suck a cunt. x

Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell gets me every time.

R35 Yes Maps can be devastating, but for me it’s Telephone Wire and how it speeds up and becomes more and more desperate. Then there are these lines that totally break me:

This is where it has to happen!

There must be some other chances.

There’s a moment I’m forgetting

Where you tell me you see me.

Just writing them even without the music gets me practically sobbing. I think many people have that reaction, but for me it’s compounded by having grown up in Pennsylvania. The song perfectly evokes a drive in the country on a weekend afternoon and the line “I go back to school tomorrow” carries so much melancholy of those times in college knowing I would need to do that long drive back to school after being at home, and planning to come out to my parents but not having the guts to do it.

Smoke and Ashes by Tracey Chapman, playing ode to every relationship that started off good, only to become a train wreck.

This is an incredibly obscure song that I only ever heard once on the radio. It's called Dead Dogs Love Us Still buy a group named Carbon Dating Service.

If you recently lost a pet, avoid. But otherwise it is a truly beautiful song.

Song

I started crying when Grown Up Christmas List came on the radio the other day, especially when it gets to the part about 'no more lives torn apart, wars would never start, time would heal all hearts'. This whole world is such a pile of shit anymore.

As heartbreaking as this song is to listen to, reading the comments of people and their stories of lose and identification with this song made me a complete mess tonight.

"The Gulf of Araby" –Katell Keineg "Life is Sweet" –Natalie Merchant "Someone Like You" –Adele "Dante's Prayer" –Loreena McKennitt

... and especially "So I Could Find My Way" –Enya My mom died last month, and now when I hear this, I lose it every time. She even looked just like Enya.

[73] I see your Chasing Cars and raise you a Run.

This one had got to make any respectable gay man bawling.

True Colors, specially when sung by gay men.

Somehow, r49, nothing by Neil Young gets to me anymore the way it does to you, particularly something AIDS-related.

But the original is great as well.

"One More Day" from Les Mis. Particularly appealing Enjolras in this flashmob version (in a red, white, and black flannel shirt instead of the usual red vest).

What Is Life? - Kathleen Ferrier

Into The Mystic - Van Morrison

Make You Feel My Love - Dylan or Adele

Fairytale Of New York - Pogues + Kirsty MacColl

Speaking of Tracy Chapman, r69, "The Promise" makes me bawl like a baby every time. My first boyfriend put it on a mixtape he made me when he thought I might be moving away to take a job. It's such a sad but sweet song and I was so moved that he felt that way about me. Later when we broke up, it took on a different meaning and hearing it was like a knife to my heart.

How Can I Help You Say Goodbye - Patty Loveless

Laura Branigan also recorded this but I knew Patty's version first. Those country artists sure know how to write tearjerkers.

R 68: I’m crying . Listened to Telephone Wire for the first time. I see and feel your pain (and mine). Sending you love, hugs, and light

Long Goodbye - T. Twins ('87)

If I recall correctly, A. Curry said the song was about the loss of her mother & a miscarriage.

It's A Heartache - B. Tyler (late 70s)

Yes it is.

The Christmas Shoes- about a kid buying his mom new shoes on Christmas Eve because she’s going to die that night and he wants her to look nice.

This is an incredibly sappy song, but I’ll be damned if I don’t tear up every time I hear it and have to change the radio station if I’m going anywhere other than home so people won’t see I’d been crying.

The Boxer - Simon & G.

The song gives me a mid life crisis at 1:42 & beyond.

Yesterday Once More - The Carpenters

Still shines...

Tears in Heaven- Eric Clapton

Just When I Needed You Most - Randy Van Warmer

Also that "Wildfire" song from the 70s.

It Must Have Been Love- Roxette

Here's a version for the "Ava Maria crier" up thread =

Adagio for Strings.

Depresses the heck out of me. And has since I first heard it in Platoon when I was a kid.

I wonder if it wouldn’t be so sad to me without the Platoon connection? Probably.

This version of "Moon River" - ?

Only Time- Enya

All Alone Am I - Brenda Lee

Hopelessly Devoted To You - Olivia Newton-John

Amazing Grace - Nana Mouskouri

One- U2

It’s funny that people used it as a wedding song because it’s really about breaking up.

It gets me misty eyed.

Another Carpenters tearjerker =

Landslide

I’ll stand by you- The Pretenders

If You Could Read My Mind...

The Sound of Silence

"You Only Live Twice" by Miss Nancy Sinatra

Mad World- Gary Jules

Song Of The Siren - Tim Buckley

This because of those aspca commercials:

This masterpiece called "Tuesday Afternoon" by the Moody Blues

No Son of Mine- Genesis

Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen

This song was her favorite & made giantess Sandy Allen misty eyed...

Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley

Are You Lonesome Tonight? - Norah Jones

You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me - Gladys Knight & The Pips

You Belong To Me - Jo Stafford

You've Got A Friend - James Taylor

R.I.P. Mary who died in Sept. 2009 =

1000 Oceans—Tori Amos Why—Annie Lennox Hallelujah—Jeff Buckley

Damn that formatting. Let me try again. 1000 Oceans by Tori Amos Why by Annie Lennox Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley

Well, that was a fail. But y’all get what I meant.

Tori Amos’s “Winter”—especially live performances. For some reason, a bunch of random people have posted videos of themselves reacting to this 1992 performance, and it’s really moving to watch their faces as they listen to her lyrics for the first time.

“Hair is gray and the fires are burning. So many dreams on the shelf. You say, ‘I wanted you to be proud of me.’ I always wanted that myself. When you gonna make up your mind? When you gonna love you as much as I do? When you gonna make up your mind ‘cause things are gonna change so fast. All the white horses have gone ahead. You tell me I’ll always want you near. Things are gonna change, my dear.”

Autumn Leaves - Matt Monro

Love Story - Nana Mouskouri

We're All Alone - Rita Coolidge

Fuck all of ya racist sexist hussies for putting me down here at 127!

climb aboard the dream weaver train...

Against All Odds-Phil Collins

Because You Loved Me-Celine Dion

Rickie Lee Jones version of "Rainbow Sleeves" is incandescent.

I've only been familiar with this artist a couple of years, butAtumn Leaves by Eva Cassidy makes me tear up every time. The beautiful meloncholy tone of her voice and understated delivery is masterful. Knowing she died later that year (live recording) herself at a tragically young age doesn't help.

Rhoda Borrocks, you're cracking me up with your comments.

Mr Bojangles

"No one sings like you anymore," from "Black Hole Sun." It was bad enough before Chris died because I always thought of Janis Joplin. Now I think so vividly of Chris that it leaves me gutted.

OP, a heart of stone? Disdain?

Hmmm. So you are a teddy bear 🧸, and afraid of rejection. I see.

Well, smooches and big hugs to you, OP. Don’t be afraid to fall again. I promise you, it can happen again, and better than before.

Oh, and I ❤️ your taste in music.

I can’t think of songs that make me cry at this very moment, and I just don’t want to, either. I’m so happy right now, & for no particular reason, I just am. And that’s rare AF for me. I’m not tuning out of that wavelength, not if I can help it.

😘

R17 Yes. Bette Midler's "The Rose" especially

You Got It - Roy Orbison. No idea why, it just makes me feel so incredibly sad.

Saltwater - Julian Lennon. We sang this for our year 6 graduation, a class if 12 year old kids. It's so melancholy.

Oh, I forgot. Sometimes, if I'm in a certain mood, John Lennon's "Imagine."

Woo-boo, we have taken several steps back from that.

Also, Radiohead's "OK Computer." It reminds me of my trip to Germany in 1998.

Unfairly unknown Broadway classic: "This Man" from Chaplin. (I'm a sucker for people coming back from the dead to tell someone how much they love them. I weep at the end of the film Ghost...the end of Field of Dreams...)

"War on Drugs" by Barenaked Ladies. I will always associate it with my friend's suicide.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - makes me think about Christmases past and people who are gone (my parents).

Cats in a Cradle - lost opportunities with my kids

This Woman's Work by Kate Bush.

What exactly is this song about? A woman that died during childbirth? A manan that lost his wife in the car accident? But then again it's Kate Bush so you know it's going to be very ambiguous and esoteric. X

I loathe myself for this but I always get choked up by “The Good Stuff” by Kenny Chesney.

I just attended a concert for the synth pop band Black Marble and I can't explain it but I started tearing up at this song..called Feels.

R141 To me, the narrative of the song always has been clearly about Kate Bush’s imagined experience of a man, who is told to be strong and to fix everything, suddenly learning that he is forced to wait helplessly as the woman he loves is charged, solely, with the work of giving birth to new life, putting her own life at risk. “It’s hard on the man/now his work is over/now starts the work of the father.” He is being transformed in that moment from the archetypal strong man to the archetypal father. He can’t do anything but wait and hope and support her impotently with his thoughts, and he is forced to confront his shortcomings—part of the process of enlightened transformation from a noncommittal man to a fully committed father:

“ All the things that you wanted for me

All the things that I should've given

But I didn't

Oh, darling, make it go away

Just make it go away now“

He wishes she could make the regrets go away. This is all being imprinted into him in the trauma of the moment, and assuming the mother and child survive the childbirth, I’ve always imagined he will be reborn as a father with a deeper appreciation of his responsibility and opportunity to be more loving.

This song for me pairs well with Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” in which she fantasizing about a man and a woman swapping bodies and lives so that they can understand one another and therefore love one another more deeply. Through the acts of writing and singing the song, she does this to some extent. And then through the acts of writing and singing a song that imagines a man’s perspective as he suddenly realizes the immense power of a woman and his own limitations, she sort of swaps places with the man.

It makes the Maxwell cover interesting because he is a man singing words written by a woman who was imagining a man in a state of trauma as he realizes he has no choice but to yield to the power and strength of a woman to give new life and to save her own life.

Where've You Been, Kathy Mattea.

Naive Melody (This Must Be the Place) - Talking Heads

....

Many people hate this song and find the vocals grating, but I can relate to it as it reminds me of a couple people I know who struggle with addiction.

This is the good kind of crying. Just such a loving, moving, and kind song and person.

OMG R149 that scene was gutting. I definitely cried!

Call yourself a gay board and it's taken this long to get to this song?

If you were a young gay man in 1980s Britain this WAS your life.

A similar sentiment to R146 I guess

Depeche Mode 'Home'

OK, OP. I remembered what song makes me cry.

I just love this.

'Stay With Me, Baby' by Bette Midler (The Rose soundtrack)

Communards 'For A Friend' written for Mark Ashton.

"Everything I Own" was written after David Gates' father died suddenly from a heart attack. Now that my grandparents and parents are gone, it's hard to listen to the song without crying.

I was going to write 'For a Friend'

'Memories' - Within Temptation

'You'll Never Walk Alone' - from Carousel

Just about everything from Phantom of the Opera

This song always makes me realize how alone I really am, even when with friends.....enjoy

I love this song. I'm not sure if it's sad but it makes me tear up.

Destiny by Zero 7

R145 That one gets me every time! My other go-to cry song is "He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones. My grandpa left my grandma with 5 kids to raise to try and become a country singer. He later got remarried and somehow my grandma never hated him. Their lives were like a reverse version of the song. When she passed he came to the funeral and cried buckets. I knew George Jones was his favorite and that song always makes me think of her funeral.

This song by Death Cab for Cutie always gets me, too. "No longer easy on the eyes but these wrinkles masterfully disguise The youthful boy below..."

‘Juice’ by Lizzo

Best I ever had..Vertical Horizon

Don’t follow..Alice in Chains

R132- yes! When the dog up and died

The National Anthem. Also, the Battle Hymn of the Republic. People died for our sins, after all.

R74 ugh just listened to that. Beautiful. And yep, tears. Lost my Mom last year so I'm sorry for your loss. Be well.

Some of you have terrible kitschy taste and some of you are not understanding this thread at all.

R166 We're fags. Kitsch is kinda our thing.

R166 is right. There are a lot of songs I like in this thread, but no more than three or five that have ever made me cry.

No, r167, camp is for the gays. Kitsch is for the straights, especially fraus. Frau taste is practically defined by kitsch.

Jesus to a child.

Heartbreaking 😢

Tammy Wynette and George Jones with Golden Ring

Not a sad song, it it still gets to me.

Bridge Over Troubled Water- Simon and Garfunkel

It's Over, Roy Orbison.

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone Again

Stand By Me by Ben E. King

Part of the reason this one gets to me is the nostalgia factor. It reminds me of seeing the film around 1988 when I was young and having a great summer hanging out with my friends and living easy.

And now I’m old. When I hear this, I get melancholy.

When In Rome - The Promise

Maria Callas - La Mamma Morta. And I'm a 70s rock, Chicago blues kinda guy.

" She Loved Me" by the great Randy Newman

Stardust by Nat King Cole

Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) - Gladys Knight

World Keeps Turning -Tom Waita

This song and video from Icelandic band Sigur Ros. You don’t need to understand the language to be moved.

And I know this wasn’t the thread topic, but this music video absolutely made me cry the first time I saw it. Very powerful and beautiful. I recommend watching it.

Song by Sigur Ros

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack.

I was too young to appreciate it when it first came out but it describes in literal terms my feelings towards my late partner.

2nd runner up: "In the Arms of the Angel" by Sarah McLachlin because it describes the suicide of her friend.

Brian McFadden - Real to Me

The only place where I can really sing is while driving my car. I'm not a good singer which is why I only sing when I know no one can hear me, and I tend to take it over the top and let my feelings flow. I've liked this song since it came out but I hadn't realized how much it meant to me until a few weeks ago when driving from work. I started singing along until at some point my voice cracked and I started sobbing. I'm a loner and the song is about having a family and kids with a very Sunday afternoon feel to it. I guess deep inside I really wouldn't mind having a family of my own after all.

Sinead O Connor's Nothing compares to you... Every time... The line "all the flowers that you planted mama"

The Sundays - Wild Horses.

One of the best covers ever.

Mazzy Star- Fade Into You

Ordinary World- Duran Duran. And to a lesser extent, Come Undone, but OW really got to me.

The Five Stairsteps- Ooh Child

What A Wonderful World

Abraham, Martin, and John

- Dion

This Used To Be My Playground- Madonna. The lyrics “don’t hold on to the past, we’ll thats too much to ask” get to me b/c I have a problem with living in the past and not enjoying the present.

From The Byrds: Turn! Turn! Turn!

Honey- Bobby Goldsboro

Makes me miss my mom even more

100 Years- Five For Fighting

Sting’s Fields of Gold

My favorite version of this song. Might as well be the title to my autobiography:

Big MARY! moment for me here, but One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men makes me cry

In the living years

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted by Jimmy Ruffin

The Living Years

Song To The Siren. Tim Buckley original is beautiful but the This Mortal Coil is beyond other-worldly with beauty and sadness. I cried rivers of tears with it.

Fiona Apple "Never Is a Promise"

Indigo Girls "Power of Two"

This one hits particularly hard. One of my first loves, who became a great friend, declared this "our song". In the end, it described our relationship to a tee. He died 3 years ago.

The topic is: Songs That Make You Cry

The DL replies, as are typical, are pitiful bullshit. Tell us WHY your song is personally meaningful and is not miserable and whiny or overly emotional dreck. Explore and share your emotional attraction to the the song.

In a subject like this, the interest stems from your personal response and not the stupid lyrics to a dumb song.

R108 and R203, Tim Buckley did a 2nd version of Song To The Siren 2 years after the original song. I think it's the best version. He sings it with more emotion and range. It features an electric guitar and has a mystical quality compared to the first one, which sounds like a standard folk song.

R189... Ours is just a little sorrowed talk ♥️

R166, not sure if you’re also OP, but I understand this thread. OP is, in my estimation, grieving a relationship with whom is most likes parent, that OP is about to lose, or has already lost, and not necessarily via the mortal route: death.

R166, I’m gonna say this in the most loving of ways, I promise you, I’m not giving you grief, but please understand that this thread is entirely subjective to the readers’ interpretations. And individuals’ tastes in music really has nothing to do with whether or not an observer corresponds to your musical preferences, or even to what you believe the intent for this thread, to be.

Please attempt to open your mind, and more so, your heart. Perhaps try to enjoy what others are sharing, because in the end, that’s what all threads are, people sharing things crafted and fine tuned to reflect them, not you. And if you see yourself in these reflections, great. The mirror isn’t broken, if you don’t. It just means that it isn’t your mirror, and that is OK, too.

When I left LA, I was very angry. I didn’t want to leave, and where I landed, is filled with people who are the penultimate antithesis of who I perceive myself to be. However, I learned an amazing lesson, it was up to ME to open up my heart and mind, and to accept others where they are, rather than to attempt to mold everyone into who I think I deserve as company.

Life on the top of a hill is interesting. You get to see everything below, but you end up lonely as fuck. That’s no way to live.

Xoxo 😘

Mother by Tori Amos.

“Mother, the car is here. Somebody leave a light on.”

Since I lost my mom two years ago, this tears me to shreds. No one is there to leave a light on anymore.

The slow version of Death Cab's Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine

Ugh, I can't listen to opera and make fun of people who do, yet when Renee Fleming sings Puccini's O MIO BABBINO CARO, I want to cry. (It's about a woman begging her father to please let her marry the man she loves).

Ugh, I hardly listen to classical either yet Mozart's Clarinet Concerto k. 622 makes me cry. ( Was Meryl Streep crying in some movie while Mozart was playing?!?)

Ally Rod Stewart singing THE KILLING OF GEORGIE (A friend of his from a small Midwest town comes out as gay)

HEY JUDE (The Beatles singing about a young English boy who's father deserts him & his mother in order to move in with a manipulative overrated artist)

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU by Dolly Parton

NO MORE DRAMA by Mary J Blige

THE RAINBOW CONNECTION by Willie Nelson

CANON by Pachelbel (I heard this when I watched ORDINARY PEOPLE).

Another vote for MORE THAN THIS because it was so appropriately used in LOST IN TRANSLATION and just reminds me of a quick summer fling or friendship that ends quickly.

UNTIL I HEAR IT FROM YOU by Gin Blossoms because my first boyfriend and I broke up and he introduced me to this band, so when I hear the GIN BLOSSOMS I think of him.

Dedicated to Matthew Shepard.

“Go to bed, the priests are dead, now no one can call you bad. Go to bed, the priests are dead, finally you’re in Peppermint Land.

He’s a merman. He doesn’t need your voice. He’s a merman.

Go to bed. Dream instead and you will find him. He’s a merman to the knee. He doesn’t need something you’re not willing to give. He’s a merman. He doesn’t need your voice to cross his land of ice.

Let it out.

Who could ever say you’re not simply wonderful?

Who could ever harm you?

Sleep now.”

Melissa Etheridge's SCARECROW is about him too.

NANCY FROM NOW ON by Father John Misty is sobering and heartbreaking. It made me cry the first time I really understood the lyrics. It's about gay guys forced to wear pink triangles, forced to get their number tattoos and interned in the Nazi concentration camps.

Some fabulous songs on this thread. I f I missed it apologies, but this song reminds me of my father thinking he was alone in the kitchen and singing the high notes badly!

Cedar Lane by First Aid Kit. I first heard this over the speakers in a store, no more than a few months after my mom had died. I quickly googled the lyrics I was hearing and got out of there. "The place we belonged is quietly gone. While we were making plans, it drifted away." I miss her every day.

r156 Your Bread reference prompted me to post my own sad song, "If....." My late husband wrote the first line of that song on the first anniversary card he gave me. It blew me away, and it became our song.

The next two songs also have a connection with my husband, I hope you won't all think me overly maudlin. He played the piano, and loved the "old time" songs from the 1910's onward. He particularly liked the song "My Buddy,"(he had it in his head that the composers were more than just two guys who happened to write songs together. True or not, I don't know) so it was always included in his musicales, whether at home or when he would play for others in their homes, and especially at the local Senior Center. With his passing, the song became even more poignant.

His childhood lullaby was "You Are My Sunshine." Not the most upbeat song ever, I realize, and his mom would sing it frequently. She was, eventually, in an Alzheimer's care facility, and had deteriorated quite badly, not speaking and failing to recognize anyone who came to visit. On one of his visits he played his lullaby for her, and she sang the entire song after hearing the intro. Everyone was awash in tears, as I am now. She died the next day. Swan song? That brief flash of lucidity and remembrance stayed with him always, and it was a true comfort for him.

The song that brought me out of a trance and made me weep after I lost the love of my life.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - Lorrie Morgan

For Bronzie:

He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones

r221 I got all misty. Thanks for going to the time and trouble of posting that song, I appreciate it very much.

I feel like this thread has been hijacked by fraus with terrible taste.

Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul, and Mary. My dad used to sing this to me at bedtime when I was really young. He did so for about two years. I loved the song- I thought I’d be so great to be friends with a dragon.

I was at an amusement park a few years ago with my nephews and this song came on in the kiddie land section, and I almost cried. It was like a kick in the gut hearing it. Especially someplace I wouldn’t expect.

R224 I was just about to post the same thing! I’ve always been lead to believe that gay men have excellent taste and, for the most part, that’s true.

I’ll be mindful not to post such fraubait in the future. Apologies homos. x

[quote]I feel like this thread has been hijacked by fraus with terrible taste.

Says the male vagina who hasn't posted a single song that makes her cry.

Hand me my tissues , please

"A Million Dreams" from "The Greatest Showman"

Elton John played this at Ryan White's funeral

I'm not sure whether it's simply because I associate the song with his death, but I find David Bowie's Lazarus very haunting. The music video in particular is disturbing, the portrayal of a body crippled by disease and rapidly running out of time but a brain still bursting with ideas and memories and thoughts. Death chases us all.

At only 44 a victim of leukemia, but she has left behind some beautiful music.

And the river keeps rollin' past the south county line. I'd love to roll with it, but I've run out of time...

After 50 years this beautiful song from my childhood.

The saddest song John Prine has ever done. I got into it years ago during a stormy relationship. I liked the idea of being willing to wait forever to reunite with your loved one; I figured if I waited long enough, my lover would eventually come back. (They always do, right?) He died this summer.

I posted a few above, but I guess I'm just a weepy bitch. This one is especially powerful this time of year since this is when I lost someone super precious to me.

Fail from above

In honor of Marie Fredriksson's death, "Never Is A Long Time" by Roxette. Such a heartbreaking vocal. I fell in love with the song during college; I guess it was too sad to be a single.

I understand how subjective this is, but I find a lot of these songs rather cheesy, even the ones that are genuine.

Great Lake Swimmers - Where in the World Are You

And we found the sociopath R238

R240 No actually, the song on R16 made me cry.

Here to Mars. Perfect love song. It's happy tears.

"The Jackson Song" - Patti Smith's lullaby written for her son, Jackson.

RIVER by Joni Mitchell.

This one tugs at the heart strings (and tear ducts)

r238, but that is the thing..a sentimental song when you are feeling down/bereaved will hit you and you remember. Significant life event songs will be different. A celebratory song thread /first kiss/shag/graduation/wedding whatever not the same as tears.

So good. Has Jesus in it, but in a metaphorical way.

Tears in Heaven?

Tears in Heaven?

Dimash, a Kazakh vocalist sings SOS in French. It's about not giving into the pessimism of the world and staying kind and strong. Plus, he sounds like both a man and a woman. Love Dimash!

Fernando Daniel's version of "When We Were Young" by Adele always gets me in the heart.

Dimash at R250 with English subtitles. The lyrics are so dark and poignant. This video has been dissected online by countless voice coaches who marvel at his flawless technique and are convinced he's a space alien.

This

And this

This always brings a tear to my eyes. When You Were Sweet Sixteen- The Fureys

In the right , maudlin mood: Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "The Power of Love"

This song used to punch me in the stomach after a particularly hard breakup

Only because I'm one of those strange people who just wants to be with my BF, even though we're a mess.

Say something.

Also, At Seventeen. I know that this song is a cliche at this point, but it instantly brings me back to the most miserable point in my life. It makes me cry.

I don't really cry easily, but because of my "Wonder Years" obsession phase there are lots of songs that make me very melancholy almost the second I hear them: "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Turn, Turn, Turn," "When A Man Loves A Woman," "We Got Tonight," "Both Sides, Now" (and any Joni Mitchell song)...

Fast Car

Tracy Chapman's voice gets me every time.

r262, funny how songs take you back. I was a student in Bristol and was invited to a party in London, that song saw played all the way in the car. When we were there a man offered me a flat in London, I chose to keep on with my degree

" When We Were Beautiful" by Matraca Berg

Eva Cassidy didn't perform much. Stage fright. Sadly, she died at only 35 from cancer. Her version of" Somewhere Over the Rainbow" has almost supplanted Judy (arrangement-wise) for many vocalists since then.

Eva also owns Fields of Gold. Sorry, Sting.

^^^

I tear up when she sings Fields of Gold

Somewhere Out There from the movie An American Tail. I bawled my eyes out when I saw this in the theatre, and the adult human version of the song makes me just as emotional as the kids’ mouse version.

‘Making Love’ by Roberta Flack. It’s sad and uplifting at the same time. ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ by various artists but made a hit by Reba McIntyre. We’ve all been there. ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’ by Sheryl Crow. Love lost and not forgotten.

[quote] ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ by various artists but made a hit by Reba McIntyre.

Oh HELL no!

I Can't Make You Love Me but only by Bonnie Raitt.

I'm not a Celine fan but her song Because You Loved Me just wrecks me.

I had to put my beloved dog to sleep. It was just tortuous. Afterward when I went to get in my car Celine's song came on. The song is written about a lost love affair but the lyrics totally fit the loss I was feeling that day..

I sat in the parking lot & sobbed like a lunatic. Now whenever I hear that song I remember that day.

Yeah. I know....MARY!

"The First Cut is the Deepest" was written by Cat Stevens, but the best version is by Rod Stewart.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald- by Gordon Lightfoot.

29 men died when this ship went down in Lake Superior in 1975

Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins

Currently it's the song Waiting playing with TCM Remembers.

MY NAME IS LUKA

THE STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA

RIVER by Joni Mitchell/ Sarah MacLachlan

R207 thank you for that version of SONG TO THE SIREN. I did not know about until now.

I think of Annie Lennox’s version of EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE when I think of my only friend who died of complications from AIDS. He loved Eurythmics and Annie Lennox.

"Me and Bobby McGee" - the Highwaymen (Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings). Never heard this before today. It always makes me cry.

I had two Bobbys, Jim and Scott. And maybe Jason.

I'll Stand By You (Joan Jett) Why (Annie Lennox)

The Circle is Small - Gordon Lightfoot

Always this one

Mr Bungle's Travolta video.

Andrea Bocelli singing Panis Angelicus