# Song lyrics that tear your heart out, stomp on it, and leave it weeping in the dust. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2000, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306 "2000-06-03T18:54:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/1 "2000-06-03T18:54:51Z")
Well, maybe that is overstateing it a bit. But I just listened to “The River” by Bruce Springsteen, and when the lines: “But, I remember us riding in my brothers car, her body tan and wet down at the reservoir. At night on the banks I’d lie awake, and hold her close just to feel each breath she’d take.” come on, I can’t help but think: My God! Was I ever that young…I was! And damnit I miss it! YOUTH IS WASTED ON THE YOUNG! I WANT SOME BACK! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/2 "2000-06-03T19:21:48Z")
“I’ve been looking for a saviour in these dirty streets Looking for a saviour underneath these dirty sheets I’ve been raising up my hands, drive another nail in Just what God needs, one more victim Why do we crucify ourselves? Every day I crucify myself And nothing I do is good enough for you (crucify myself) Every day I crucify myself My heart is sick of being, I said my heart is sick of being in chains…” -Tori Amos, “Crucify” “Rent a flat above a shop Cut your hair and get a job Smoke some fags and play some pool Pretend you never went to school Still you’ll never get it right Cause when you’re laying in bed at night Watching roaches climb the wall If you called your dad he could stop it all, yeah You’ll never live like common people You’ll never do whatever common people do Never fail like common people Never watch your life slide out of view And then dance and drink and screw Because there’s nothing left to do…” -Pulp, “Common People” “Later that evening, turn on my TV Everybody’s talking about the news of a killing spree Fourteen young women shot dead in Montreal It’s a killing of us all And it could have been me just as easily Could have been my sister left there to bleed It could have been my father and my brother done the deed Oh, no, don’t let me lose this memory…” -Wyrd Sisters, “It Could Have Been Me” (about the Ecole Polytechnique Massacre) “For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain, The killing and dying were all done in vain, For, young Willie McBride, it all happened again, And again and again and again and again…” -Eric Bogle, “No Man’s Land” “I look from my window down to the square At workers still queuing patiently there For market forces to provide What history so far has denied For a different kind of fate Than to labour long and always wait… And will spring bring rain and summer burn? Will tears at last precede the turn From summer warmth to sudden cold As certainly as growing old? And if I decide to step aside I will try to forget all the tears I have cried…” -Pet Shop Boys, “To Step Aside” ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/3 "2000-06-03T19:23:44Z")
> [@](#): > > "And I hope you’re thinking of me > As you lay down on your side > Now the drugs don’t work > They just make you worse > But I know I’ll see your face again > > Now the drugs don’t work > They just make you worse > But I know I’ll see your face again > > But I know I’m on a losing streak > 'Cause I passed down by your street > And if you wanna show, then just let me know > And I’ll sing in your ear again > > Now the drugs don’t work > They just make you worse > But I know I’ll see your face again > > 'Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls, I’m coming, too > Just like you said, you leave my life, I’m better off dead" - _The Drugs Don’t Work_, The Verve ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/4 "2000-06-03T19:52:38Z")
From Bruce Hornsby’s “Mandolin Rain:” "Boat steaming in, Oh, watch the sidewheels spin And I think about her when I hear that whistle blow I can’t change my mind Oh, I knew all the time That she’d go But that’s a choice I made long ago (chorus:) Listen to the mandolin rain Listen to the music on the lake Listen to my heart break Every time she runs away Listen to the banjo wind Sad song, drifting road Listen to my tears flow Down my face as she turns to go As she turns to go…" The pain in the song just makes me want to go hug and curl up with my fiancé. Bruce’s heartbreak is palpable in these lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/5 "2000-06-03T19:53:57Z")
Damn smiley! ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/6 "2000-06-03T19:57:56Z")
The saddest song ever written is “Sam Stone”, by John Prine. “There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm where all the money goes And Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose Little pitchers have big ears, don’t stop to count the years, Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.” “Hello In There” is high on the list, as well. Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/7 "2000-06-03T20:12:11Z")
> [@](#): > > He’s everything you want, > He’s everything you need, > He’s everything inside of you that you wish you could be, > He says all the right things at exactly the right time, > But he means nothing to you and you don’t know why. – Vertical Horizon “Everything you want” Of course, in my mind, the “He” in that song is me, and the “you” is my ex-girlfriend. Right after we broke up, she told me she was listening to this song and thought of me. It’s good music, I just can’t stand to hear it now. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/8 "2000-06-03T21:02:33Z")
The Living Years - by Mike and the Mechanics Tell me there’s a heaven - Chris Rhea ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/9 "2000-06-03T21:18:55Z")
I have a weakness for songs about frustrated lovers: The Beatles’ "For No One: “You think she needs you” (kind of says it all). Elvis Costello’s “Possession”: “Now I see us lying back to back.” Dire Straits’ “Romeo & Juliet”: The whole song, but mostly “Juliet/When we made love, you used to cry.” “Fair and Tender Ladies” (the customary title of a very old Irish song): “You could make me believe/By the fall of your arm/That the sun rose in the west.” Of course, sometimes it’s the singer who makes the killer lyric. Roy Orbison’s howl of frustration and disappointment makes the simple “Only in dreams/In beautiful dreams” one of the most moving lines you’ll ever hear. Catrandom ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/10 "2000-06-03T21:26:18Z")
A long time ago I don’t remember when That’s when they say I lost my only friend. They said she died easy of her broken-heart disease As I listened through the cemetary trees. -The Wallflowers, “one headlight” ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/11 "2000-06-03T22:04:33Z")
\*Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water. And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower. And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him He said “All men will be sailors, then, until the seas will free them.” But he himself was broken long before the sky would open; Forsaken, almost human, and he sank beneath Your wisdom like a stone.\* Leonard Cohen, _ **Suzanne** _ ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/12 "2000-06-03T22:10:43Z")
My fave is “How Can I Miss You If You Won’t Go Away?” ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/13 "2000-06-03T22:31:45Z")
Yeah, I found nowhere It got to know me Let me sleep all day Spend the money I haven’t felt my legs Since the summer And I don’t call my friends Forgot their numbers VIP 223 I had my chances Or did they have me Now stay up nights Watch TV I’m country sad I’m a ballad man I’m on a comeback roll Yeah, I’m a blizzard And in my motor home Sweat on my pillow all night VIP 223 I’ve had my chances And they had me Now stay up nights Watch TV I’m country sad I’m a ballad man VIP 223 I’ve had my chances And they had me Now stay up nights Watch TV I’m country sad I’m a ballad man I feel no ??? Cos I’m a ballad man I talk to the girls Cos I’m a ballad man Yeah, I??? Cos I’m a ballad man Yeah, I sure??? Cos I’m a ballad man -BLUR, “country sad ballad man” just hearing damon albarn sing it gives me chills. Artist: Marilyn Manson Album: Antichrist Superstar Title: Dried Up, Tied And Dead To The World you cut off all of your fingers trade them in for dollar bills cake on some more make-up to cover up all those lines wake up and stop shaking 'cause you’re just wasting time. -Marliyln Manson,“dried up, tied, and dead to the world” ---
**Author:** ![Ayesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Ayesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ayesha)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/14 "2000-06-03T23:03:09Z")
When you were mine, by the Dixichicks always does it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/15 "2000-06-03T23:29:03Z")
It started off so well They said we made a perfect pair I clothed myself in your glory and your love How I loved you How I cried… The years of care and loyalty Were nothing but a sham it seems The years belie we lived a lie I love you till I die Save me save me save me I can’t face this life alone Save me save me save me… I’m naked and I’m far from home Queen- “Save Me” ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/16 "2000-06-04T00:05:55Z")
He Stopped Loving Her Today George Jones He said I’ll love you ‘til I die She told him you’ll forget in time As the years went slowly by She still preyed upon his mind He kept her picture on his wall Went half crazy now and then He still loved her through it all Hoping she’d come back again Kept some letters by his bed Dated 1962 He had underlined in red Every single I love you I went to see him just today Oh but I didn’t see no tears All dressed up to go away First time I’d seen him smile in years Chorus: He stopped loving her today They placed a wreath upon his door And soon they’ll carry him away He stopped loving her today You know she came to see him one last time Oh and we all wondered if she would And it kept running through my mind This time he’s over her for good Chorus:… ---
**Author:** ![katzmeow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@katzmeow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katzmeow)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/17 "2000-06-04T00:22:47Z")
Gee, I had forgotten **Suzanne** but that was one of my all time favorites in the early 70’s. Not really a big hit but oh so poignant! Leonard Cohen was such a poet…Simon and Garfunkel also had songs that were pure poetry. Some examples are: When you’re weary, feeling small When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all (all) I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough And friends just can’t be found Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down OR Hello darkness, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence OR Tonight I’ll sing my songs again, I’ll play the game and pretend. But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me. Homeward bound, I wish I was, Homeward bound, Home where my thought’s escaping, Home where my music’s playing, Home where my love lies waiting Silently for me. OR A winter’s day In a deep and dark December; I am alone, Gazing from my window to the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow. I am a rock, I am an island. Paul Simon’s lyrics really make me tear up… ---
**Author:** ![Girlbysea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Girlbysea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girlbysea)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/18 "2000-06-04T00:30:43Z")
Daddy’s Hands… By Holly Dunn… Daddy’s hands were strong and gentle, but I’ve come to understand, there was always love in Daddy’s hands… ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/19 "2000-06-04T00:50:29Z")
Okay, got a few…lemme see if I can remember the best ones. I agree with Ayesha - “You Were Mine” is one of mine. > [@](#): > > Hopelessly drift in the eyes of the ghost again > Down on my knees and my hands in the air again > Pushing my face in the memory of you again > But I never know if it’s real, never know how I wanted to feel > > Never quite said what I wanted to say to you > Never quite managed the words to explain to you > Never quite knew how to make them believable > And now that time has gone, another time undone > > Never quite said what I wanted to say to you > Never quite manged the words to explain to you > Never quite knew how to make them believable > And now that time has gone, another time undone > > Hopelessly fighting the devil futility > Feeling the monster climb deeper inside of me > Feeling him gnawing my heart away huingrily > I’ll never lose this pain, never dream of you again… – “Untitled,” The Cure > [@](#): > > Something has left my life > And I don’t know where it went to > Somebody caused me strife > And it’s not what I was seeking > > Didn’t you see me, didn’t you hear me > Didn’t you see me standing there > Why did you turn out the lights > Did you know that I was sleeping > > Say a prayer for me > Help me to feel the strength I did > My identity has it been taken > Is my heart breaking on me > > All my plans fell through my hands > They fell through my hands on me > All my dreams it suddenly seems > Empty – “Empty,” The Cranberries > [@](#): > > I am not here > I think I’ve never been here at all > Or ever will > I feel like a place where no one goes anymore > > Why can’t you see that everything’s broken? > And why can’t you see that my life’s turned gray? > I can’t believe in anything sacred > When I don’t believe that I am real > > It seems so bizarre > But none of this matters > Thoughts disappear and hopes have died > But now I am safe, nothing can hurt me here > > Why can’t you see my need for forgiveness > The truth and the lies so confused as one > I can’t believe in anything sacred > When I don’t believe in anything > > I am alone, locked in my memories > There’s nowhere left for me to hide > But I am not real > I’ve made all I am with lies > > why does it seem that everything’s different? > And why does it seems that only you are real? > I don’t believe in anything sacred > So why do I feel so damned alone? > > I need someone to break the silence > Screaming in my head > And in my soul… – “Why,” Stabbing Westward More to come later if I remember them… ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306/20 "2000-06-04T01:00:06Z")
**King Crimson - EPITAPH** The wall on which the prophets wrote Is cracking at the seams. Upon the instruments of death The sunlight brighty gleams. When every man is torn apart With nightmares and with dreams. Will no one lay the laurel wreath As silence drowns the streams. Between the iron gates of fate, The seeds of time were sown, And watered by the deeds of those Who know and who are known; Knowledge is a deadly friend When no one sets the rules The fate of all mankind I see Is in the hands of fools Confusion will be my epitaph. As I crawl a cracked and broken path If we make it we can all sit back and laugh. But I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying Yes I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying (Well, it used to break me up when I was 16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-tear-your-heart-out-stomp-on-it-and-leave-it-weeping-in-the-dust/21306.md?page=2)