Songs that make you cry

[pedro]

Wether it be because they are beautiful or because you have strong emotional attachment to them, I'm curious as to what songs make people shed tears. Especially the guys.

For me Dock of the Bay is on the top of the list. So powerful by itself, the circumstances around its release makes it even more cry inducing. I once had to pull over whole I was driving and it came on the radio... Magnificient bassline too.

+1 on 'Dock of the Bay'. My guitarist actually had parts of Otis plane in his home for years and years and ultimately donated them to the RRHOF.

 

[dsitvarin]

Soon - Yes
Time is Time - Yes
The combination of Jon Anderson's voice and Steve Howe's guitar work really does it for me.

 

[mellowgerman]

i just found a live jefferson airplane recording from october 1966 on wolfgang's vault not too long ago. it was signe's very last performance with the airplane. the entire night is very emotional, but then signe says her goodbyes and they do high flying bird at the end and they're just giving it everything they've got. i shed a few and i'm not ashamed.

 

[Thankful birds]

Georgia Lee - Tom Waits "Mule Variations"

For those of you who haven't heard it, he compares playing "hide and seek" with his daughter when she was a small child to searching for her one night as a rebellious teen and finding her body in a grove of trees. The refrain is "Why wasn't God watching for Georgia Lee?" I almost can't listen to it.

 

[ishouldbeking]

I can remember about a year or two ago I had just downloaded an obscure Neil Young bootleg... it was taken from an early 70's performance for the BBC where he played completely solo. It was a few months prior to the release of Harvest, and he more or less debuted some of those classic tracks.

So I'm driving in my car, listening to the record thinking "man, this is really, really good". He had some funny interactions with the british audience, and there was something so pure and perfect about the stripped down performance as he switched from piano to acoustic guitar, and incorporated the harmonica. Eventually he starts to talk about the ranch he just bought back in California, and how as a part of purchasing the ranch, it "came with" an old ranch-hand who takes care of the place. He says something to the effect of "I wrote this song for him." And he launches into the single most amazing performance of "Old Man" I have ever heard in my life. And I'm driving, and this song comes on and it's just SOOOOOO damn good, I had to pull the car over because I couldn't even pay attention to anything visual, the only thing that matters is how damn good this song is, and how incredibly emotional his voice is. And before I know it, I'm sitting there just listening so intently, I barely even notice as tears start to well up and trickle down my cheeks. I've listened to that particular version a good amount of times and i think I've got tears in my eyes another couple of times too, but no matter what, if it happens to come on in my Ipod, I always end up pulling the car over... because it's just THAT good.

Apparently you can buy a bootleg DVD on Ebay of the whole performance, but it only pops up occasionally... but I encourage anyone and everyone to find it, because it's amazing.

 

[mellowgerman]

I can remember about a year or two ago I had just downloaded an obscure Neil Young bootleg... it was taken from an early 70's performance for the BBC where he played completely solo. It was a few months prior to the release of Harvest, and he more or less debuted some of those classic tracks.

So I'm driving in my car, listening to the record thinking "man, this is really, really good". He had some funny interactions with the british audience, and there was something so pure and perfect about the stripped down performance as he switched from piano to acoustic guitar, and incorporated the harmonica. Eventually he starts to talk about the ranch he just bought back in California, and how as a part of purchasing the ranch, it "came with" an old ranch-hand who takes care of the place. He says something to the effect of "I wrote this song for him." And he launches into the single most amazing performance of "Old Man" I have ever heard in my life. And I'm driving, and this song comes on and it's just SOOOOOO damn good, I had to pull the car over because I couldn't even pay attention to anything visual, the only thing that matters is how damn good this song is, and how incredibly emotional his voice is. And before I know it, I'm sitting there just listening so intently, I barely even notice as tears start to well up and trickle down my cheeks. I've listened to that particular version a good amount of times and i think I've got tears in my eyes another couple of times too, but no matter what, if it happens to come on in my Ipod, I always end up pulling the car over... because it's just THAT good.

Apparently you can buy a bootleg DVD on Ebay of the whole performance, but it only pops up occasionally... but I encourage anyone and everyone to find it, because it's amazing.

funny you say that because i just dug up an old neil young vhs out of my dad's collection. it's kinda like a documentary with a bunch of live stuff(which is the exact performance you're talking about). it's absolutely excellent. i had no idea it was around on dvd. i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it as the vhs is starting to fail in a lot of places. thanks for enlightening me!

 

[amper]

"On My Own" and "A Little Fall of Rain" from the musical "Les Miserables". If you don't cry when Eponine dies on the last note of "A Little Fall of Rain", you're heartless, and the line "The world is full of happiness that I have never known", in "On My Own" when Eponine hits that high C, is heartbreaking.

"Somewhere In New Mexico" by Jill Sobule.
"All Mixed Up" by Red House Painters.


The song that's making me cry when I hear it lately is "You Are My Sunshine", because I grew up with my grandfather and my mother singing that to me. I taught it to my daughter, and it's become her favorite song, but my wife is divorcing me, and has taken my little girl away.

 

[thehangingmist]

there are a couple of songs which have done this to me in the past but i think it depends on what am going through at that time. although i dont listen to these sort of bands much but recently creep by radiohead and a few songs by james blunt and coldplay made me all teary eyed

 

[bassermaniac]

simon and garfunkel - the boxer

 

[Uggae]

Yeha Noha by Sacred Spirit, it always reminds me of what we as humans are willing to do to one another.

I'll follow you by Death Cab for Cutie, as a child i saw an animated movie about rabbits that i believe (might be wrong here) was written by that lady that did those books with rabbits, anycase this song reminds me of when one of the rabbits died-i couldn't imagine someone i love dieing, i've been lucky to never have to go funeral. That movie made me appreciate what i had since then.

I won't tell them your name by Goo goo dolls, reminds me of a girl i loved but couldn't bring myself to be selfish enough to break her dreams, so she got away.

Those are the ones that mean alot to me and always get at my heart.

 

[Human Bass]

Pearl Jam - Long Road

And I cried like a girl when they played Pretense Tense in the show I was.

 

[jsingles]

soon, and turn of the century, both by yes

 

[P. Lacey]

well, i suffer from severe depression, so any song with a deep meaning behind it has the potential to have me bawling like a 5 year old... but there is one song that I truly relate to, and i think everyone with depression should check it out... and even if you dont have depression, its still a powerful song

Poetic Tragedy - The Used

The cup is not half empty as pessimists say,
as far as he sees, nothing's left in the cup,
a whole cup full of nothing for him to indulge,
since the voice of ambition has long since been shut up,

A singer, a writer, his not dreaming now of going nowhere,
He gave heed to nothing, and all that he was...
Is a tragedy,

So he voyages in circles, succeeds in getting nowhere,
and submits to the substance that first got him there,
then in violent frustration, he cries out to god or no one,
is there a point to this madness,
and all that he is...
is just a tragedy

He feels alone,
His heart in his hand,
His alone,
He feels alone,
I feel...

And then on that last day he breaks,
and he stood tall, and he yells,
Why world, why, I hate you world, Bye world,
and then he kills himself



guys, have a listen, because i truly relate to that song

Mud

 

[hbarcat]

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

I tear up, everytime.

"...he said, fellas it's been good to know ya"

In the 90's I worked in a factory in Ashland, Wisconsin and my supervisor was an older lady whose husband was a cook on the Edmund Fitzgerald (not the cook). She had been aboard the boat many times and she told stories about some of the men she and her husband were friends with who lost their lives.

I always thought the song was trite (and maybe it is) but now every time I hear it I think about how the people who died each had a family and friends and had their own unique histories.

 

[hbarcat]

lots of stuff by Tool... however it's a little harder to hear some of Maynard's vocals because of the nature of the band.

Wings for Marie gets to me. I know it's long, but I want to post the lyrics in entirety because I think they're that good.

Wings for Marie (part 1) •

You...
You believed ...
You believed in movements none could see.
You believed in me

A passionate spirit
Uncompromised
Boundless and open
A light in your eyes
Then immobilized.

Broken
Fell at the hands of those movements that I wouldn't see
Yet it was you who prayed for me.
So what have I done
To be a son to an angel?
What have I done
To be worthy?

Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescents
Difficult to see you in this light
Please forgive this selfish question, but
What am I to say to all these ghouls tonight?
"She never told a lie,
... well might have told a lie,
But never lived one.
Didn't have a life,
Didn't have a life,
But surely saved one."
See? I'm alright
Now it's time for us to let you go.

10,000 days (Wings pt. 2) •

Listen to the tales and romanticize,
How we'd follow the path of the hero.
Boast about the day when the rivers overrun.
How we rise to the height of our halo.

Listen to the tales as we all rationalize
Our way into the arms of the savior,
Feigning all the trials and the tribulations;
None of us have actually been there.
Not like you.

Ignorant siblings in the congregation
Gather around spewing sympathy,
Spare me.
None of them can even hold a candle up to you.
Blinded by choice, these hypocrites won't see.

But, enough about the collective Judas.
Who could deny you were the one who
Illuminated your little piece of the divine?

And this little light of mine, a gift you passed on to me;
I'm gonna let it shine to guide you safely on your way,
Your way home ...

Oh, what are they going to do when the lights go down
Without you to guide them all to Zion?
What are they going to do when the rivers overrun
Other than tremble incessantly?

High is the way, but all eyes are upon the ground.
You were the light and the way they'll only read about.
I only pray, Heaven knows when to lift you out.
Ten thousand days in the fire is long enough;
You're going home.

You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fists at the gates saying:
"I've come home now!
Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father.
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.
It's time now!
My time now!
Give me my, give me my wings!"

You are the light and way that they will only read about.

Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance,
(With the) burden of proof tossed upon the believers.
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence,
Judith Marie, unconditional one.

Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescents.
Difficult to see you in this light.
Please forgive this bold suggestion, but
Should you see your Maker's face tonight,
Look Him in the eye, look Him in the eye, and tell Him:
"I never lived a lie, never took a life, but surely saved one.
Hallelujah, it's time for you to bring me home."

 

[The Owl]

"Never The Same" - Echolyn

"Rainy Night In Georgia" - Brook Benton

 

[xlows]

After the Gold Rush by Neil Young is about the only one that really does it for me (it's the "all in a dream" part every time), though a couple others can make me misty.

 

[jbo]

There are plenty that make me tear up when I here them, some of the ones that come to mind are:

Danny Boy (esp. when played by Gary Karr on double bass)
"If" by Bread (the Jane Monheit version is very nice)
Amazing Grace
Adagio for Strings

 

[bassbully]

I got to see Robert Jr Lockwood at a bar in Cleveland one night. Between sets with his jazzy band (drummer, electric bass, and horn section), he played and sang some songs by himself. Robert Jr was Robert Johnson's stepson and the only one who Johnson ever taught to play guitar. Sitting there, listening to the songs that are literally The Fountainhead of American Roots Music, I must admit I got a little misty.

Too cool .You know i kick my A## everytime i hear his name. I live south of C-town and for several years wanted to go up and see an Icon of american blues but kept putting it off. Now he's gone. Thanks for the story.

Theres a few that make me sad. One that comes to mind quickly is by the Statler Borthers. More than a name on a wall.

 

[shirojiro]

Time after time. Cyndi Lauper. Great tune. Can't even sing it.

By your Side. Sade. Girlfriend used to sing it to me. Then she left me. Can't hear it without thinking of her.