# A song makes me burst into tears. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699 "2004-12-02T15:34:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/21 "2004-12-03T02:21:48Z")
For some reason John Denver’s song [Matthew](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Matthew-lyrics-John-Denver/39C85037912FCBF448256885000CBFE4) always makes me cry. I think I just fidn something very poignant about how the song evokes in a very simple way the loss of childhood and ‘the way things used to be’ in the last verse (other than the repetition of the chorus). ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/22 "2004-12-03T03:39:54Z")
The only two songs that have ever made me cry are _Don’t You (Forget About Me)_ and _Memories of Crono_. The former because it reminds me of the end of the very tearjerker Futurama episode “Luck of the Fryrish”; and the latter because of a plot point in Chrono Trigger that would spoil a large portion of the game for anyone who hasn’t played it. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/23 "2004-12-03T03:59:36Z")
The song [Forsaken](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=38575) by the band [VNV Nation](http://www.vnvnation.com) can get me a little teary on occasion. It’s an outburst of grief upon the loss of a loved one that truly sounds like he’s devastated. The lyrics alone don’t translate as well as when they are in context, unfortunately. The entire song is based on him trying to release all of his grief at once. Starting out the song with the line “When I have nothing left to feel / When I have nothing left to say / I will let this slip away …” it continues until he literally says he has nothing left to give. The line that gets me is when he says [quote] Have I done something wrong? Forgive my need to bleed right now Please forgive my need to breathe But I’ve so much to say It wouldn’t matter anyway You’re not here to hear These words that I must say And the song ends with a sample of a line from the movie “Jacob’s Ladder” that nicely ties the whole thing together: [quote] If you’re frightened of dying and you’re holding on, you see devils tearing your life away. If you’ve made your peace … then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/24 "2004-12-03T04:53:12Z")
Elvis Costello does it for me. Especially, _Alison_ and _The Favourite Hour_ are guaranteed to raise a tear, they are so plaintive. I’m having the latter played at my funeral - damn it, people are going to \*\*\*cry \*\*\*!. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/25 "2004-12-03T05:00:19Z")
Blues Traveler [Christmas](http://www.mainstreetmusic.com/cgi-bin/msmusic/LA0001406220.html) is one that gets me blubbering every Christmas. It’s the emoting in Josh Popper’s voice that does it to me. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/26 "2004-12-03T05:01:23Z")
Make that John Popper, and I’m going to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/27 "2004-12-03T07:06:43Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > I came home and was listening to Paul Kelly. He is kind of an Aussie Bob Dylan -writes deceptively simple songs that are just pure genius. However they are very Australian and probably aren’t much known overseas. Some are about sport and other distinctly Aussie stuff. > > I put the headphones on and was listening to _How To Make Gravy_ for the hundredth time and suddenly out of the blue I understood it all. > > The lyrics are [here](http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/how-to-make-gravy.html) and if you are lucky you may find a way to hear it too. > > Joe is singing to Dan from jail : > > Hello Dan, it’s Joe here, I hope you’re keeping well > It’s the 21st of December, and now they’re ringing the last bells > If I get good behaviour, I’ll be out of here by July > Won’t you kiss my kids on Christmas Day, please don’t let 'em cry for me > and then he sings about family stuff…until… > > Oh praise the Baby Jesus, have a Merry Christmas, > I’m really gonna miss it, all the treasure and the trash > And later in the evening, I can just imagine, > You’ll put on Junior Murray and push the tables back > And you’ll dance with Rita, I know you really like her, > Just don’t hold her too close, oh brother please don’t stab me in the back > I didn’t mean to say that, it’s just my mind it plays up, > Multiplies each matter, turns imagination into fact… > > And that’s it - the way he delivers the line about Dan dancing with Rita and then just drives the song to the end, had me blubbering. > The lyric posted says Junior Murvin but although it is [PaulKelly.com](http://PaulKelly.com) I’m sure that is wrong. Junior Murvin is exactly right. Paul Kelly is a big fan, from what I’ve read. FWIW, I live in the USA, and I’ve loved Kelly’s music since “Dumb Things,” back in '88(?) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/28 "2004-12-03T07:09:37Z")
Oh, and Imeant to say that “How to Make Gravy” is a wonderful song, as are most of the songs on that particular album (besides “Gutless Wonder,” which I think is unbelievably sub-par.) ---
**Author:** ![SteveinSpain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@SteveinSpain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveinSpain)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/29 "2004-12-03T15:37:07Z")
“Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen really gets to me as does “She’s Leaving Home” by the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/30 "2004-12-03T15:41:19Z")
I said “pogo stick” the other day and my wife got weepy. Why? Because someone in “On the Beach” wanted a pogo stick and the mere mention of that book (and apparently anything related to it) makes her weepy. And, this is from a woman who doesn’t cry at ANYTHING. I think she cried early on when I met her in 1997 (old boyfriend shit), and never again until 2002 when she read “On the Beach”. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/31 "2004-12-03T15:48:25Z")
This is really stupid, but the other day I ran across “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” on the radio. I brought it to the kids’ attention and started to explain to them that this song is the reference people are making when they use yellow ribbons to symbolize bringing soldiers home safely, but I was unable to finish speaking because I kept choking up! I had to turn the damn thing off. ---
**Author:** ![todd33rpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@todd33rpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/todd33rpm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/32 "2004-12-03T15:57:07Z")
Can’t watch any of the Christmas standards with the kids because I’ll cry my head off. You name it, if it’s “Why Am I Such A Misfit?” from _Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer_ to _Frosty The Snowman_ to anything from that show about _Santa Claus_ on ABC, I won’t be able to talk for the lump in my throat. And it’s a cumulative process…I can’t get myself back together at all once it starts. Exceptions: The _South Park_ Christmas shows and the Christmas movies from _Mystery Science Theater 3000_, but those aren’t that music intensive. Thank God. In “regular” music, a lot of Anne Murray’s stuff pre-1975 can get me going, if I’m caught in a bad moment. Almost any version of “When I Fall In Love” will do it. Joni Mitchell’s title track remake of “Both Sides Now” is a rough one for me to play on the air. ---
**Author:** ![todd33rpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@todd33rpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/todd33rpm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/33 "2004-12-03T15:58:17Z")
Oh, nearly forgot…“Skywriter” as performed by Art Garfunkel. From the piano intro to the end, I absolutely can’t handle it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/34 "2004-12-03T15:58:53Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > OK, maybe I am a little dense, but how exactly did a deaf guy learn to play the harmonica? > I know the deaf can feel vibrations and can dance quite well, but picking out melodic tones? > Sorry - don’t mean to nitpick your song, just curious. I’d imagine he learned to play and dance _before_ he lost his senses. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/35 "2004-12-03T16:10:57Z")
> [@Thinks2Much](#): > > I don’t know the name of it, but some female country singer had a song out in the last couple of years that is a prayer to God not to take her seven year old daughter that is the most tear-jerking thing I ever heard, but I don’t know the name of either the artist or the song. I can’t even remember enough of the lyrics to google it - I tried. This Sherrie Austin, “Streets of Heaven”. I also tear up at “Remember When” by Alan Jackson, and “Touch the Wind” by Donovan. Both feel so poignant. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/36 "2004-12-03T16:34:12Z")
My country song would have to be 11 year old genius Billy Gilman’s _One Voice_ from a few years ago. What happened to him - he was a male Judy Garland. I used to listen to him and found it hard to believe that an 11 year old could manage the delivery of the songs he was doing. He must be a young boy with an old soul. ---
**Author:** ![TastesLikeBurning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TastesLikeBurning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TastesLikeBurning)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/37 "2004-12-03T16:37:14Z")
Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah is always guaranteed to make me wistful. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/38 "2004-12-03T16:50:58Z")
> [@TastesLikeBurning](#): > > Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah is always guaranteed to make me wistful. Yet another example of SDMB synchronicity. I heard this version a couple of weeks ago while laying in bed. I only knew of Leonard Cohen’s original and had to look up [the playlist](http://www.abc.net.au/rage/playlist/archive/2004/20041120.htm) from _RAGE!_ to find out who it was. ---
**Author:** ![iggy\_popov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@iggy\_popov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iggy_popov)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/39 "2004-12-03T19:02:11Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Looks like Junior Murvin is a reggae artist, so maybe it’s right? Junior Murvin is a reggae artist. He did the original version of “Police and Thieves” ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699/40 "2004-12-03T19:23:18Z")
Two that never fail for me: Dan Fogelberg’s “Run for the Roses” ([lyrics](http://www.twin-music.com/azlyrics/f_file/songs/fogelberg/run.html)) …and I can’t even figure out why, because it’s a _happy_ song! C. W. McCall’s “Roses for Mama” ([lyrics](http://www.cw-mccall.com/works/roses/roses.shtml)) - pure schmaltz, but it does it to me every time. Another one that gets me going if I sit down and listen to it is Assemblage 23’s “30KFT” ([lyrics](http://s3.invisionfree.com/crying_inside/index.php?showtopic=641&view=getnewpost)) (sorry about the odd location, but the lyrics are a bit hard to find). Not a 9/11 song, but it easily could have been. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-makes-me-burst-into-tears/277699.md?page=3)