# Music to cry to **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436 "2005-01-24T17:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/1 "2005-01-24T17:50:38Z")
Bridget Jones sobbed and sang along to Celine Dion, I’ve seen folks cry at Amazing Grace, what does it for you? I’ve spent the last hour frightening the cat with my warbling along to Les Miz, I was feeling just hormonal enough to want a good cry but needed some help getting there. Les Miz does it for me, it’s maudlin and overwrought and hopeful and just perfect for me. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/2 "2005-01-24T18:36:22Z")
A japanese song called [Hiru no tsuki](http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/ostar/oshnt.htm) from the anime _Outlaw Star_, [Julia Dream](http://www.lyricsdir.com/p/pink-floyd/julia-dream.php) by Pink Floyd and [Oh! You Pretty Things](http://www.lyricsdir.com/d/david-bowie/oh-you-pretty-things.php) by David Bowie all get me emotionally tearing up inside, but I’ve never openly cried to them. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/3 "2005-01-24T19:32:57Z")
Les Miz does it for me too. The last two times I saw it, I wept pitifully throughout the entire second act, worrying the people next to me. Dar Williams’ “February” made me cry last week because I was having a really bad day, mostly due to the weather and the futility of it all, and being reminded that it was only January and I still have February to get through was _not_ what I needed. ---
**Author:** ![sweetfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@sweetfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweetfreak)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/4 "2005-01-24T22:12:04Z")
Oh…please…don’t get me started. Almost any song…with heart-wrenching lyrics and a singer that makes me feel it…will make me sob like a baby. I am pathetic! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/5 "2005-01-24T22:16:56Z")
Last movement of Mahler’s _Das Lied von der Erder_, with Kathleen Ferrier. Half-an-hour of pure painful emotions. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/6 "2005-01-24T22:19:38Z")
_Erde_ ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/7 "2005-01-24T22:20:39Z")
My favorite desperately sad song is “Loneliness Is Worse”, by Veruca Salt. Granted, its period of greatest impact on my life was during my divorce (I’m _much_ better now, thanks), but it can still bring a lump to my throat, especially if I sing along. Killer song. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/8 "2005-01-24T22:26:32Z")
\*Rent, Les Miz \* - choose any song ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/9 "2005-01-24T22:27:06Z")
“In My Life” by John Lennon. I’ll have this played at my funeral, and even though nobody likes me much, they’ll still cry. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/10 "2005-01-25T00:40:52Z")
Well, I don’t really cry, but I can offer you some suggestions… Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is sad by most people’s standards, but I find it oddly uplifting. It’s about the holocaust, Anne Franke, and death in general. A Silver Mount Zion - He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms is about death and dying in general, again, only this time it isn’t really uplifting until the very end. That seems to be it for now; perhaps I will think of some in due time. Good luck regardless! ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/11 "2005-01-25T01:53:10Z")
> [@Queen Tonya](#): > > Les Miz does it for me, it’s maudlin and overwrought and hopeful and just perfect for me. I cried when I saw it on Broadway, and I had to borrow a tissue from the stranger next to me. Very embarassing for a stoutly man such as myself. Also “Cats in the Cradle” does it to me too, even though my dad and I have a close relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Dvorak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dvorak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dvorak)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/12 "2005-01-25T01:59:52Z")
Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/13 "2005-01-25T02:03:24Z")
Anything by Good Charlotte. ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/14 "2005-01-25T02:07:17Z")
“Please” from Miss Saigon And to skip the crying but just get out and out depressed you just can’t beat the Cowboy Junkies ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/15 "2005-01-25T02:35:28Z")
The first time I saw Miss Saigon was with my very hormonal eight-months pregnant sister, she sobbed for nearly the entire show. I was doing just fine being the strong supportive one until the little boy comes onstage, he was the same age as mine and shared similar looks and coloring, then I started fighting el preggo for our few remaining tissues. I remember being in high school and listening to pillowtalky radio shows with velvety voiced DJs spinning love gone wrong songs for hours upon end, I think I forever inoculated myself against that kind of cry. Perhaps someday Les Miz won’t work anymore and all I’ll have left is country! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/16 "2005-01-25T03:18:40Z")
Of course, what grabs you will depend on your background/life/situation. The one that rips me up every time is the last chorus of Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel). That’s 'cause when we adopted our youngest, the day we met she was wearing only the little outfit we had sent ahead for her. She had NOTHING of her own. When P. G. sings “You can keep my things, they’ve come to take me home.” I just lose it. Every time. Like right now there are tears leaking from my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/17 "2005-01-25T03:33:55Z")
BY MY SIDE from GODSPELL always chokes me up. Jesus is depressed knowing His death & Jerusalem’s destruction is near, the girls are vowing to stay with Him through any hardship… “and the man called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said- What will you give me if I betray him to you?..” ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/18 "2005-01-25T03:54:47Z")
Mozart’s _Requiem_ ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/19 "2005-01-25T04:06:18Z")
Red House Painters - “grace cathedral park” and especially “katy song” (best breakup song ever) ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436/20 "2005-01-25T04:44:44Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever been moved to tears by simply listening to any music (though Yo Yo Ma’s 1983 recording of the prelude to Bach’s cello suite in G major always comes close to provoking “this music makes me so happy” tears), but because I’m a singer I tend to put my heart into it when I’m singing along with the radio or CD or what have you. So in that regard, the two songs I can think of that make me cry whenever I sing them are Melissa Etheridge’s **“Scarecrow”** and Phil Vassar’s **“American Child”**. I feel like there might be one or two others, but I can’t think of anything else at the moment. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-to-cry-to/286436.md?page=2)