Song lyrics that tear your heart out, stomp on it, and leave it weeping in the dust.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

In the Good Old World by Tom Waits:

When I was a boy, the moon was a pearl
The sun a yellow gold.
But when I was a man, the wind blew cold
The hills were upside down.
But now that I have gone from here
There’s no place I’d rather be
Than to float my chances on the tide
Back in the good old world.
On October’s last, I’ll fly back home
Rolling down winding way
And all I’ve got’s a pocket full
Of flowers from my grave
But now summer is gone
I remember it best
Back in the good old world

I remember when, she held my hand
We walked home alone in the rain
How pretty her mouth,
How soft her hair
Nothing can be the same
And there’s a rose upon her breast
Where I long to lay my head
And her hair was so yellow
And the wine was so red
Back in the good old world.

A Rose and a Baby Ruth by George Hamilton IV – a sappy sweet song that still gets me sometimes:

We had a quarrel, a teenage quarrel
Now I’m as blue as I know how to be
I can’t call you on the phone
I can’t even see you at your home
So I’m sending you this present
Just to prove that I’m telling the truth
Dear, I believe you won’t laugh when you receive
This rose and a Baby Ruth

42

Yeah, I have to agree with weirddave and Coldfire on The River by Springsteen, although I would have included the previous line:

Here’s some more Springsteen:

And yes, Coldfire, Knopfler writes some beautiful lyrics. Here’s another sample of his work:

43

Some of you listed some great songs! Some of the old Simon and Garfunkel get to me too, but this one always puts time on pause for me. Thirty years later, I can still hear what was a best friend’s laugh and see his smile. He took his life just months after our graduation. In my heart, I had dedicated this song in his memory.

“Fire And Rain”
James Taylor

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to

I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way

Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Been walking my mind to an easy time
my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows
it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line
to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I’d see you one more time again
There’s just a few things
coming my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you …

44

Mine’s Cake’s “Never There.” Specifically the part of the first verse that goes:

On the phone long, long distance
Always through such strong resistance
First you say you’re too busy
I wonder if you even miss me
Never there, you’re never there
You’re never, ever, ever there

The words exactly paralleled a situation happening in my life at the time I first heard the song. Now each time I hear it on the radio, I think back to that time. The casual offhandedness of the tune just makes it worse. For a long time I was embarassed to be so moved by such a lightweight tune. Now I know better.

45

There’s a country song called Wish You Were Here by Mark Wills. That song makes me cry everytime.

They kissed goodbye at the terminal gate
She said you’re gonna be late if you don’t go
He held her tight, said “I’ll be alright
I’ll call you tonight to let you know.”

He bought a postcard, on the front it just said heaven
with a picture of the ocean and beach
and the simple words he wrote her
said he loved her and they told her
How he’d hold her if his arms would reach

Wish you were here. Wish you could see this place.
Wish you were near, I wish I could touch your face.
The weather’s nice. It’s paradise.
It’s summertime all year and there’s some folks we know
They say “Hello, I miss you so, wish you were here.”

She got a call that night but it wasn’t from him
It didn’t sink in right away. “Ma’am the plane went down
Our crews have searched the ground
No survivors found” she heard him say

But somehow she got a postcard in the mail
That just said Heaven with a picture of the ocean and the beach
And the simple words he wrote her
Said he loves her and they told her
How he’d love her if his arms would reach

Wish you were here. Wish you could see this place.
Wish you were near, I wish I could touch your face
The weather’s nice. It’s paradise
It’s summertime all year and there’s some folks we know
They say “Hello, I miss you so, wish you were here.”

The weather’s nice, in paradise
It’s summertime all year and all the folks we know
They say, “Hello, I miss you so, wish you were here.”
Wish you were here.

46

Hi Grace-

Yeah, that one gets me every time, too.

Also Dan Seals “All That Glitters is not Gold” about a woman who abandons her husband and daughter in order to become a rodeo star.

Chokes me up just thinking about it.

Nice to meet you!

Scotti

47

Nice to meet you too Scotticher. All that Glitters…is a good one too.

Lately a song by Leanne Womack has been getting my teary eyed. Not because it’s sad really but I think because of the message. Have you heard I hope you dance?

48

No, I haven’t. She is good, though. There are so many country songs that touch my heart-funny how Whitney Houston singing “I Will Always Love You” is one of my nominees for WORST song ever, but by Dolly Parton it makes me cry!

Scotti

49

Scotti, you are so right! The song was totally transformed (read: “ruined”) by Whitney Houston. Makes me cry just to think about it. And which one gets airplay now? Of course, the sucky one.

“Coat of Many Colors” is another classic Dolly Parton weeper. It is sad that she has become such a caricature. Great songwriter and fabulous singer, but all anybody can think of is her boobs.

Depressing in a different way is this one by Eric Bogle. It speaks of the insanity of war and starts out with a rather lengthy spoken part that explains its background. I’m not even Australian, but I choke up whenever I hear it:

And The Band Played “Waltzing Matilda”
by Eric Bogle

"This… in Australia, every year, we have… we celebrate… we remember “ANZAC DAY” – an’ it’s a very important day in Australia… the whole day is given over to remembering the soldiers who died in… all the wars and… the whole day – in Britain, in England, they have two minutes of silence once a year.

It’s important in Australia, because at Gallipoli, in 1915, for the first time, the Australian soldiers had Australian officers – before then, the Australian army had British officers.

And… by this time, it was an all-Australian army, and they did quite well… and Australia was very proud of 'em. And they engendered a great sense of national pride, back home in Australia.

The saying arose that Australia became a nation founded on the blood of our soldiers who died at Gallipoli. So… it was very important to Australia.

We have… in Britain just now… and THEN it was “our brave boys at Gallipoli”… in Britain, just before John [Munro] and I left three days ago, it was “our brave boys in the Falkland Islands.” The jingoism always remains the same… it’s just the wars that are different… but they seem stupid, hackneyed phrases… which demeans the soldiers…

Right… I’ll get off my pulpit… stop preaching and sing a song…
I get quite heated about this subject…"

Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray’s green basin to the dusty outback,
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said, “Son,
It’s time you stop ramblin’, there’s work to be done.”
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played “Waltzing Matilda,”
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin’, he primed himself well;
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell –
And in five minutes flat, he’d blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played “Waltzing Matilda,”
When we stopped to bury our slain,
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead –
Never knew there was worse things than dying.

For I’ll go no more “Waltzing Matilda,”
All around the green bush far and free –
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more “Waltzing Matilda” for me.

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

But the band played “Waltzing Matilda,”
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask “What are they marching for?”
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays “Waltzing Matilda,”
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
Who’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

50

Devil, you probably know this, but “Nothing Compares 2 U” was written by none other than the artist formerly known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

Toni Braxton’s ** “Unbreak my Heart” ** makes me instantly melancholy. Ditto for Gordon Lightfoot’s ** Edmund Fitzgerald ** - Hey! No snickers from the peanut gallery!

Bonnie Raitt’s ** “I Can’t Make You Love Me” ** about unrequited love is a crusher, too. Of course, it was written by former Bengal, Mike Reid, who knew all too well about unrequited dreams. :slight_smile:

51

This changes depending upon my mood of course but this one has gotten me recent:

New Orleans, by Cowboy Mouth

The Texas sun beats down upon me like the devil’s smile
I’d rather be anywhere else, than here
Was it a blinding lack of subtlety or just a lack of style
Responding to the ways and means of fear

Chorus: Take me back to New Orleans
And drop me at my door
Cause I might love you, yeah, but I love me more

My fingernails are bitten til there’s nothing left but skin
I’d rather be anyone else, right now
the light that shone within my eyes is slowing growing dim
She told me where, told me when, but never said how

Chorus

She Said, How can I make this unhappen
I said, you cannot make this unhappen
Choose before your choices fade away
She Said, I could be home by tomorrow
She Said, If I could beg, steal or borrow
I said you’re there, you might as well stay

The morning mist arises through another crack in the glass
The lack of sleep has made me numb
But sometimes when she sleeps, she’ll turn
And she’ll whisper his name
That cake must taste great but I’ll pass if you offer me some

Chorus

52

The Dance

Looking back
On the memory of
The dance we shared
'Neath the stars above,
For a moment
All the world was right,
How could I have known
That you’d ever say goodbye,

And now
I’m glad I didn’t know,
The way it all would end
The way it all would go,
Our lives
Are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain,
But I’d have had to miss
The dance.

Holding you
I held everything
For a moment
Wasn’t I a king?
But if I’d only known
How the King would fall,
Hey who’s to say?
You know I might have chanced it all.

And now
I’m glad I didn’t know,
The way it all would end
The way it all would go,
Our lives
Are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain,
But I’d have had to miss
The dance.

Yes my life
Is better left to chance.
I could have missed the pain
But I’d have had to miss
the
dance.

-Garth Brooks

In a Week or Two

In a week or two
I would have been ready.
I would have known what to say.
But I missed my chance.
And the words I love you
Came just a little too late.

In a week or two
I was gonna bring you diamonds
In a week or two
A long long string of pearls
And we would have
Run down to thr river at night
Sailed away, just me and you
In a week or two

A little more time
Was all I needed
But somehow Fall became Spring
If you put off today
What you can do tomorrow
Sometimes you don’t do a thing

In a week or two
I was gonna bring you diamonds
In a week or two
A long long string of pearls
And we would have
Run down to thr river at night
Sailed away, just me and you
In a week or two

These words in my heart
Never had a chance to be heard
I’m telling you know
For all that it’s worth

In a week or two
I was gonna bring you diamonds
In a week or two
A long long string of pearls
And we would have
Run down to thr river at night
Sailed away, just me and you
In a week or two

-Diamond Rio

Seperate Lives

You called me from the room in your hotel
All full of romance for someone that you met
And telling me how sorry you were, leaving so soon
And that you miss me sometimes when you’re alone in your room
Do I feel lonely too?

You have no right to ask me how I feel.
You have no right to speak to me so kind.
We can’t go on just holding on to time.
Now that we’re living separate lives.

Well I held on to let you go.
And if you lost your love for me, well you never let it show.
There was no way to compromise,
So now we’re living (living)Separate lives.

Ooh, it’s so typical, love leads to isolation.
So you build that wall (build that wall)
Yes, you build that wall (build that wall)
And you make it stronger

Well you have no right to ask me how I feel.
You have no right to speak to me so kind.
Some day I might (I might)…
Find myself looking in your eyes.
But for now, we’ll go on living separate lives.
Yes for now, we’ll go on living separate lives…
Separate lives

-Phil Collins duet
Just When I Needed You Most

You packed in the morning I stared out the window
and I struggled for something to say
you left in the rain without closing the door
I didn’t stand in your way.

But I miss you more than I missed you before
and now where I’ll find comfort, god knows
'cause you left me just when I needed you most
left me just when I needed you most.

Now most every morning I stare out the window
and I think about where you might be
I’ve written you letters that I’d like to send
if you would just send one to me. (SOB!)

'Cause I need you more than I needed before
and now where I’ll find comfort, god knows
'cause you left me just when I needed you most
left me just when I needed you most.

You packed in the morning I stared out the window
and I struggled for something to say
you left in the rain without closing the door
I didn’t stand in your way.

Now I love you more than I loved you before
and now where I’ll find comfort, god knows
'cause you left me just when I needed you most
oh yeah you left me just when I needed you most
you left me just when I needed you most.

  • Randy VanWarmer
53

Great Gig in the Sky, by Pink floyd.

This song gets me absolutely every time.

54

Puff the Magic Dragon completely lays me out -

His head was bent in sorrow,
Green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play
Along the Cherry lane.
Without his life long friend,
Puff could not be brave,
So Puff that mighty dragon
Sadly slipped into his cave.

55

I have become maudlin and depressed reading this thread, so I’m going to do my part to pass that along to other unsuspecting readers. Some not yet mentioned:

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
(Nat King Cole I think)

They asked me how I knew
My true love was true?
I of course replied
“Something here inside
Cannot be denied”

They said someday you’ll find
All who love are blind
When your heart’s on fire
You must realize
Smoke gets in your eyes

So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today, my love has flown away
I am without my love

Now laughing friends deride
Tears I can not hide
So I just smile and say
“When a lovely flame dies
Smoke gets in your eyes”
Smoke gets in your eyes

So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today, my love has flown away
I am without my love
Without my love
Who’s That Man?
(Toby Keith)

Turn left at the old Hotel
I know this boulevard much too well
It hasn’t changed since I been gone
Oh, this used to be my way home

They paved the road through the neighborhood
I guess the county finally fixed good
It was gettin rough
Someone finally complained enough

Fight the tears back with a smile
Stop and look for a little while
Oh it’s plain to see
The only thing missing is me

That’s my house & that’s my car
That’s my dog in my back yard
There’s the window to the room
Where she lays her pretty head
I planted that tree out by the fence
Not long after we moved in
That’s my kids and that’s my wife
Who’s that man, running my life?

If I pulled in would it cause a scene
There not really expecting me
Those kid’s have been through hell
I hear they adjusted well

Turn around in the neighbors’ drive
I’d be hard to recognize
In this pickup truck
It’s just an old fixer up

Drive away one more time
Lot of things going through my mind
I guess the less things change
The more they never seem the same

That’s my house & that’s my car
That’s my dog in my back yard
There’s the window to the room
Where she lays her pretty head
I planted that tree out by the fence
Not long after we moved in
That’s my kids and that’s my wife
Who’s that man, running my life?

56

I second “Amazing Grace” and “I Will Always Love You,” although I prefer the Whitney Houston version meself.

Here’s another,
"Feel Like Home" by Bonnie Raitt

This song is from the movie Michael (John Travolta as an angel and Andie McDowell). The opening is really beautiful and is starts just as th brokenhearted Andie falls for the other reporter and they go to her room. Makes me cry every time I hear it.

Also, “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak, “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen, “Just Like A Woman” by Bob Dylan, and:

“Pianoman”
“She’s Got A Way”
“She’s Always A Woman”
“Vienna”
“Leningrad”
“Innocent Man”

and the song that goes, “In every heart there is a home, a sanctuary safe and strong” by Billy Joel tear me up.

57

Coldfire, I concur about your lines from “Telegraph Road”. I’ve heard that album and that particular song more times than I could even guess at, and it still makes me sit up and say in an awed mumble, “Damn, that Knopfler sure can write.” I try to avoid "best"s since it is so difficult to make arbitrary ratings of albums (or whatever) when each is so individual, but if I were forced to choose a favorite Straits album, “Love Over Gold” would have to be elected. The lyrics, the music, the production work, it all still impresses me every time I listen. [hijack] Am I the only one who hears the breaking glass (sounds like a light bulb to me) and footstep sounds during the soft musical passage in “Private Investigations”? I’ve tried to point it out to a couple of people and they just shrug, even though I go, “Here, right here, listen closely!” [end hijack]

The list of powerful lyrics would be a long one indeed. How about Alana Davis’ “Love and Pride”, which happens to be on the cd that’s on my desk right now? It blew me away and brought me totally to tears the first time I heard it, and it still affects me deeply hundreds of listens later.

“Mother Nature’s Son” from the Beatles’ White Album still moves me with its gentle, haunting sound and lyric.

And Suzanne Vega’s “Calypso”:

My name is Calypso, and I have lived alone
I live on an island, and I waken to the dawn
A long time ago, I watched him struggle with the sea
I knew that he was drowning, and I brought him in to me
Now today, come morning light
He sails away after one last night
I let him go

My name is Calypso, my garden overflows
Thick and wild and hidden is the sweetness there that grows
My hair it blows long as I sing into the wind
I tell of nights when I could taste the salt on his skin
The salt of the waves, and of tears
And though he pulled away, I kept him here for years
Now I let him go

My name is Calypso, I have let him go
In the dawn, he sails away, to be gone forever more
And the waves will take him in again
But he’ll know their ways now
I will stand upon the shore
With a clean heart and my song in the wind
The sand will sting my feet and the sky will burn
It’s a lonely time ahead, I do not ask him to return
I let him go, I let him go
P.S. I agree that it’s too bad Dolly is made into such a parody. She’s not exactly my style, but she is not the clown people make her out to be. [confession] “Coat of Many Colors” made me cry in an auto parts store parking lot once. [even worse confession] “Fancy” (Reba, I believe) made me cry in the Dollar Store once. :rolleyes: Please forget immediately that I confessed to that.

58

Just a couple for now: (most are because they remind me of someone specific…)
Spider crawling, on the wall
I see him and he, sees it all…
And he sees it all

I fell down in that lazy place,
Where the English language can’t penetrate
and I saw your mouth moving
just forget it and lie here with me
Maybe we should just, climb in under the sheets
Where the words they don’t get in the way

We were wondering, if you recall
Is this the end of it - end of everything

Spider crawling in my left ear
Has a message I want you to hear
Hope you’re happy found what you’re looking for
Do you miss me, miss me at all?

Spider tells me, saw you yesterday
With somebody new what can I say?
Spider crawling, I crawl with him -
We go everywhere, we see everything
We are falling, we are falling, falling to nowhere
Hope you’re happy found what you’re looking for
Do you miss me, miss me at all?
Spider crawling, spider crawling, spider crawling…

Spider - Oingo Boingo

She fed me strawberries and
freezer-burned ice cream
I said “Goodbye, I guess”
She lifted up her dress
and so I must confess,
we made out one more time
before I left for good
She thought I’d come back but I
wouldn’t want to seem like other guys

A book-and-record love,
we sat and read our books,
between those longing looks,
compounded by our fear,
My tongue inside her ear,
my tongue inside her
in the basement of her mother’s
house where she once taped the
first three sides of Sandanista for my car.

We were looking for ourselves
and found each other
In the Car
it was rare to do much more
than simply mess around
In the Car
It was mostly mutual masturbation
And though we spoke of penetration
I’d have to wait for someone else to try it out

Once I had this dream
where I slept with her mom
A secret all along, unless I’ve got this wrong
Unless she hears this song
unless she hears it
on a tape inside her car
with her new husband and she
turns to him and says “I think that’s me”

In the Car
We were looking for ourselves
but found each other
In the Car
We groped for excuses
not to be alone anymore
In the Car
We were waiting for our lives
to start their endings
In the Car
We were never making love
We were never making love
We were never making love

In The Car - Bare Naked Ladies

I see your eyes drifting, drifting
I’m really not that naive
You wear a smile but it’s drifting, drifting
While I wear my heart on my sleeve
I feel your coldness against my skin
I know what follows the autumn wind
And though you say your heart isn’t drifting, drifting
The words simply don’t ring true
You’re drifting and I’m losing you

Drifting - Harry Connick Jr

I said what you wanted to hear
And what I wanted to say
So I will take it back
And all of the dishes intact?
Let them be broken, broken
It’s easy to be
Easy and free
When it doesn’t mean anything
You remain selfless, cold and composed
You’ve done me no favor
To call and be nice
Telling me I
Can take anything I like
You don’t owe me to be so polite
You’ve done no wrong
You’ve done no wrong
Get out of my sight
It’s easy to be
Easy and free
When it doesn’t mean anything
To be selfless, cold and composed
Come on baby, now throw me a right to the chin
Don’t just stare like you never cared
I know you did
You just smiled like a bank teller
Blankly telling me
Have a nice life
Come on baby now throw me a right to the chin
Just one sign that could show me that you give a shit
But you just smile politely
And I grow weaker and I
Said what you wanted to hear
And what I wanted to say
So I will take it back
It’s easy to be
Easy and free
When it doesn’t mean anything
It doesn’t mean anything
You can take anything
You can take anything
You’re so selfless, cold,
So selfless, cold,
So selfless, cold,
And composed

Selfless, cold and composed - ben folds five

59

You say that we’re moving
like a hot knife through molasses
You say things are going
way too fast for you.
You say that we’re moving like a
locomotive on a dead-end track
Well do I look like a dead-end track to you?
Is that what you think?

Ch
Is that what you think of me?
Is that what you make of me?
Is that what you really think of me?

I sit down to talk with you and
you say you don’t want to talk no more
You tell me that you need
some time and space to think
You say that you’re feeling pushed
and crowded by the space that we’re both in
Well if I’ve been pushing why don’t
you push me back?

I am what you think
I am what you feel
I am the literal to your surreal
I am what you love
And I am what you hate
I am everything that you think is real
I call it “Codependent Rhapsody”.

60

I thought of a couple of others …

By the way DropZone … agreements about Eric Bogle, another good aussie war one is “I was only 19” by Redgum about the Vietnam war. That’s very sad too.

Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits
Full of Grace by Sarah McLachlan (I still can’t hear that song without seeing Buffy kill Angel)
Part of That World - Little Mermaid soundtrack (don’t mock!)
Living Years - Mike and the Mechanics
This used to be my playground (I always feel old after that song and I don’t think I’m classed as old yet unless you’re 8)

I guess the list goes on, there are lots I can throw in …