I almost put this one down, but then thought it maybe deserves a separate category (along with Queen’s “These Are The Days Of Our Lives”) of songs that deserve their own category of “songs that make you weep because you know the singer knew that they were on death’s door when they sang/wrote it.”
Helen Reddy “You and Me Against the World”
And when one of us is gone
And one of us is left to carry on
Then remembering will have to do
Our memories alone will get us through
Think about the days of me and you
You and me against the world
I love you, mommy
I love you too, baby
Heck, the song doesn’t even have to be that mawkish 'cause I’m a hugely oversentimental crybaby. But for true mawkishness and a flood of tears from yours truly, it would have to be Killkenny, Ireland.
All the verses get to me, but I can never even manage to sing the final:
And it’s funny the way he kept talking about you,
He called for you in the end.
Oh, why don’t you think about coming to visit,
We’d all love to see you again.
'Scuse me. I have to go find Kleenex.
These two always choke me up:
“The Punch and Judy Man”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKWTLfvhaNo&list=RDAKWTLfvhaNo&start_radio=1
“The Streets of London”
Dang! Ninjaed!
It’s a shame that this is on one of his “less popular” albums. I’ve heard him perform it live only once.
Unchained Melody (in the movie Ghost)
Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin.
When I first heard it I was in college, and starting a family was a very distant possibility that I spent no time thinking about, but I still thought that this was one of the saddest songs I’d ever heard.
Two Scottish dweebs break me up:
Little Green by Joni Mitchell. A song about her daughter that she put up for adoption.
Solitude by Black Sabbath. A really sad & depressing song. I played it over and over after my mother died. (I love the bass line, and learned how to play it on my bass.)
even more so, “sunshine on Leith”
And another one related to Richard Thompson is “who knows where the time goes” by Fairport Convention.
Oh, and “Superstar” by the Carpenters.
Oh, and “It’s gonna be lonely” by Prince.
Now I think of it I reckon I must have a playlist jam-packed with weepies.
Another one that rips me apart is Melanie’s “I Really Loved Harold”
The Heart of the Matter by Don Henley
Hey, you asked.
How much is not enough, how much is though? How long will I be getting over you?
How much grief and sin, till the heart caves in?
KD Lang
If this is about any song that makes us cry, I have a long list! I just gave you the goofy one.
This… and When You Come Back to Me Again.
Tank Park Salute by Billy Bragg
The Wreck of the Carl D. Bradley
“Nothing you can do
said the captain to the crew
The weather it was cold
And the Bradley’s getting old
and there’s nothing that you can do, Mr. Fleming”
33 sailors died that night, across the lake from where I lived then and still live now.
“Flora’s Secret”
Loving in the long grass
Close beside her
Whispering of love
And the way it leaves them
Lying in the long grass
In the sunlight
They believe it’s true love
“A Summer Song”
Trees swaying in the summer breeze
showing off their silver leaves
as we walked by.
Soft kisses on a summer’s day
laughing all our cares away
just you and I.
Sweet sleepy warmth of summer nights
gazing at the distant lights
in the starry sky.
Dedicated to Gina, Summer 1975.
A couple of songs come to mind–the don’t really make me cry, but they certainly trigger an overwhelming feeling of wistfulness: “The Boys Of Summer” and “Hackensack”
Three that always do it for me, regardless of who’s singing:
“Willy McBride” AKA “No Man’s Land” AKA “The Green Hills of France”
“The Band Played Waltzing Matilda”
“Killkelly, Ireland”