No Lies, Just Love – Bright Eyes. About a guy deciding not to commit suicide because of his brother’s soon-to-be-born baby. The end KILLS me.
Adam Raised a Cain by Springsteen.
Gotta go with “I’ll Stand By You” by The Pretenders. My wife and I used this as our first dance song at our wedding, 24 hours after she and her bridesmaids were in a major car accident. As soon as the song hit, I started crying like a little girl.
My local grocery store plays this a lot on their PA. Always gets me tearing up when I’m just trying to get some pasta sauce or chicken.
“Lady In Red” by Chris de Burgh. Doesn’t make me sad, just angry.
“The Blues” by Switchfoot. I first heard it when I was in a very dark, very lonely place and it’s stuck with me.
*Does justice ever find you?
Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any other song to sing beside these Blues?
And nothing is okay
'til the world caves in…*
Oh. “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King makes me tear up every. single. time. To think of someone who will hold your hand through every darkness so you won’t be afraid!
In a lesser way, “Pretty Ballerina” by The Left Banke is so mesmerizing in its melancholy way. ‘Somewhere a mountain is moving’. This is a song to listen to while you have a cup of tea and look out at the pouring rain. I don’t know what it is about the mode of music, I’ll leave the explanation to a music expert. But it’s both sad and crushingly beautiful.
When I played Biko(youtube to a live version) by **Peter Gabriel **for my teenage son a few weeks ago, he was so deeply affected, by both the story of Stephen Biko and the injustice of apartheid but also of how the song used its music to establish the emotions of the situation.
It was amazing to watch its effect on someone coming to it new.
Wild Horses is another.
i think it is a strong action of both music and lyrics. even close covers of the song might do that.
You get the Sunday paper on Saturday night
You read the travel section until you’re all uptight
'Cause it’s almost Monday
Jack, you know that song
You ain’t going nowhere
You just ride along
–“Ride Along,” John Hiatt
and pretty much the whole rest of Slow Turning, especially the gorgeous “Is Anybody There?” I’d quote the whole song if I could.
As a woman in this world
You must have felt like this
That a man might come along
with another hard-luck song
And betray you with a kiss
I did indeed work Saturday afternoon, sometimes with all the lights off, the only person on the whole floor, and then take the half of the Sunday paper that had already been printed and go home and read it.
Puscifer- The Humbling River The songs good, but the YouTube video is powerful, especially the picture of that kid getting a flag at the end.
3 come to mind at the moment, though I’m sure there are more. All these are about ending a relationship, and make me think of one I shouldn’t have ended:
“Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” - Leonard Cohen
“You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” - Dylan
“If You See Her Say Hello” -Dylan.
Cannot get through any of these three without tears.
Hello, It’s Me - Todd Rundgren
Telephone Line - Electric Light Orchestra
I’m sure it’s already mentioned somewhere, but “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley.
There’s more but nothing off the top of my head.
“Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul & Mary. I have a son who just became a teenager on Monday and a baby turned toddler whose rapidly turning into a little kid. I swear we just took him home from the hospital yesterday.
A dragon lives forever
But not so little boys
In My Daughter’s Eyes - Martina McBride. I have never gotten through it without crying, especially the line “In my daughter’s eyes, I am a hero” because she has told me many times how proud she is that her mom wears a uniform.
About a year ago my mum told me she heard that on the radio and it turned her into a sobbing mess!
“There Were Roses,” about religious violence in Northern Ireland.
*Now fear it filled the countryside there was fear in every home
When late at night a car came prowling round the Ryan Road
A Catholic would be killed tonight to even up the score
Oh Christ it’s young McDonald they’ve taken from the door
Isaac was my friend! he cried, he begged them with his tears
But centuries of hatred have ears that do not hear
An eye for an eye, it was all that filled their minds
And another eye for another eye till everyone is blind*
For whatever reason, the song that never fails to have me in tears whenever I listen to it is “My Hand To God” by Daniel Amos: the singer is an old man on his deathbed saying his last goodbyes to his wife.
It’s especially poignant as the last track of a concept album about the fictional couple and their life together, but even hearing the song by itself makes me break down crying.
I used to like Cat’s in the Cradle, by Harry Chapin. Maybe now it’s that I’m old enough to have guilt about my mistakes in parenting, but I hope I never hear that song again. There’s nothing cheesy or bittersweet about it, it’s just brutal.