# Crying songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957 "2007-05-06T04:54:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/21 "2007-05-07T07:25:33Z")
Putting The Damage On, by Tori Amos Joan Baez singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot in the dark at Woodstock(?) Baby Can I Hold You, by Tracy Chapman Fistful Of Love, by Antony & The Johnsons I can’t even listen to the beginning of Unravel, by Björk without my eyes watering up. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/22 "2007-05-07T14:44:30Z")
Country music can really jerk the tears, and none better than Kathy Mattea’s “Where’ve You Been?” Except maybe Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take The Girl.” Or Colin Raye’s “Love, Me.” Or… Yeah, I have to go now. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/23 "2007-05-08T09:19:31Z")
[QUOTE=Surok] [Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nickcavethebadseeds/wheredowegonowbutnowhere.html) by Nick Cave. [/QUOTE] I was going to say [Foi Na Cruz](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/foi-na-cruz.html) by Nick Cave - absolutely devastating, I find it. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/24 "2007-05-08T09:48:12Z")
[QUOTE=katie1341] Warren Zevon’s _Keep Me in your Heart for Awhile_ . ☹ [/QUOTE] Exactly what I was going to say, along with his _Please Stay_. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/25 "2007-05-08T10:24:36Z")
[QUOTE=Girl From Mars] Totally kitchy, but I have to say Puff the Magic Dragon… [/QUOTE] Ow. I know what you mean. It’s such a beautiful song, and one that really tugs, on so many levels. Mostly because that song is completely wrapped around so many of my long-ago memories, I absolutely cannot listen to it without breaking down in tears. ☹ Now that I look back on it, I think that hearing it as a young child, I never did understand the last part of the song. It just didn’t affect me then because it didn’t feel real. Now that I’m older and wiser (well, older at least) it just hits me like a ton of bricks. _Sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/26 "2007-05-08T12:22:35Z")
“I hope that I don’t Fall in Love with You” both Tom Waite’s and the gorgeous cover by Natalie Merchant ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/27 "2007-05-08T12:34:57Z")
[QUOTE=Stealth Potato] Ow. I know what you mean. It’s such a beautiful song, and one that really tugs, on so many levels. Mostly because that song is completely wrapped around so many of my long-ago memories, I absolutely cannot listen to it without breaking down in tears. ☹ Now that I look back on it, I think that hearing it as a young child, I never did understand the last part of the song. It just didn’t affect me then because it didn’t feel real. Now that I’m older and wiser (well, older at least) it just hits me like a ton of bricks. _Sigh_ [/QUOTE] Yeah, I look at my three-year-old living in his world of perpetual novelty, and I think “A dragon lives for ever, but not so little boys…” ☹_sniffle_. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/28 "2007-05-08T16:33:35Z")
Anything emotional by Stan Rogers gets me. “Straight and True”, “Down the Road”, “Lies”, “Last Watch”,… For their sentiment and for everything he didn’t get to create. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/29 "2007-05-08T16:38:56Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] _In the Arms of the Angels_ It was popular when my son died 7 years ago. I still can’t listen to it. [/QUOTE] I think you mean the song [Angel](http://www.sarahmclachlan.com/discography/lyrics.jsp?song_id=40) by Sarah McLachlan. It’s a beautiful song, and one of the ones on my list, though [Hold On](http://www.sarahmclachlan.com/discography/lyrics.jsp?song_id=98) from her third album hits me a bit harder. ---
**Author:** ![guppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@guppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guppy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/30 "2007-05-08T16:48:10Z")
_Soldier’s Things_ by Tom Waits is one of the saddest songs I can think of. Someone selling off a dead soldier’s belongings: \*oh and this one is for bravery and this one is for me and everything’s a dollar in this box \* I also agree with the _Band Played Waltzing Matilda_. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/31 "2007-05-08T17:19:28Z")
[_Killkelly_](http://ameba.lpt.fi/~zaphod/lyrics/kilkelly) I’ve heard many versions but my favorite is from the _Green Fields of America_ album. The first time I heard it was at an Irish fest. When the singer finished there wasn’t a dry eye in the audience. A couple weeks ago my 14 year old son heard it for the first time. The song ended, he was bawling his eyes out. He told me that if he played it for some of the emo kids at his school that there would be a rash of suicides. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/32 "2007-05-08T20:07:38Z")
[QUOTE=Paintcharge] “I hope that I don’t Fall in Love with You” both Tom Waite’s and the gorgeous cover by Natalie Merchant [/QUOTE] There’s a version by Marc Cohn during The Prince & Me. Hmm, I liked that one but I bet the two you mention are even better. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/33 "2007-05-08T20:20:50Z")
Harry Chapin’s **Cats in the Cradle** _… And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man in the moon. “When you coming home, son?” "I don’t know when, But we’ll get together then, dad. You know we’ll have a good time then._ Marianne Faithfull’s **Ballad of Lucy Jordan** _At the age of thirty-seven, she realized she’d never Ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair. So she let the phone keep ringing, and she sat there softly singing Little nursery rhymes she’d memorized in her daddy’s easy chair … ._ Sarah McLachlan’s **When She Loved Me** _So the years went by I stayed the same But she began to drift away I was left alone Still I waited for the day When she’d say I will always love you … ._ Eric Clapton’s **Tears in Heaven** _Would you know my name If I saw you in heaven Will it be the same If I saw you in heaven I must be strong, and carry on Cause I know I don’t belong Here in heaven … ._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/34 "2007-05-08T20:22:51Z")
[QUOTE=Girl From Mars] Totally kitchy, but I have to say Puff the Magic Dragon… [/QUOTE] Absolutely. I can’t bear to listen to it as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/35 "2007-05-08T20:46:45Z")
[QUOTE=LifeOnWry] Country music can really jerk the tears, and none better than Kathy Mattea’s “Where’ve You Been?” Except maybe Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take The Girl.” Or Colin Raye’s “Love, Me.” Or… [/QUOTE] …Patty Loveless’ _How Can I Help You To Say Goodbye_, or Sherrie Austin’s \*The Streets of Heaven. \* Yep, time to get the Kleenex! _sniffle_ ---
**Author:** ![AHoosierMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@AHoosierMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHoosierMama)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/36 "2007-05-08T20:56:49Z")
Not sure why but Michelle Shocked’s \*Anchorage, Alaska \* always gets me. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/37 "2007-05-08T22:58:14Z")
The Bonnie Prince can draw the tears. The whole ‘I see a darkness’ album is black - ‘today was another day full of dread’, ‘death to everyone’ and the title track really get me emotional. I’ve seen him play ‘I see a darkness’ live and folk have been crying. At the other end of the cheese spectrum, there was a track popular in the US when I was there a few years back from a soft rock outfit, had a refrain like ‘Angel closes her eyes’. Bit of a tear-jerker to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Words\_on\_the\_Interweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Words\_on\_the\_Interweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Words_on_the_Interweb)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/38 "2007-05-08T23:31:36Z")
[QUOTE=Myler Keogh] At the other end of the cheese spectrum, there was a track popular in the US when I was there a few years back from a soft rock outfit, had a refrain like ‘Angel closes her eyes’. Bit of a tear-jerker to be honest. [/QUOTE] Do you mean “Lightning Crashes” by Live? ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQbAz-cgDR8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQbAz-cgDR8)) Not really a soft rock outfit if so; they’re fairly hard rock alternative usually. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/39 "2007-05-09T01:33:53Z")
Oh, and I forgot _Alyssa Lies_, by Jason Michael Carroll. A gut-wrencher, that one. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957/40 "2007-05-09T01:52:49Z")
In addition to the Country Songs already mentioned, _Concrete Angel_ by Martina McBride and _The Little Girl_ by John Michael Montgomery get me every time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-songs/402957.md?page=3)