# Songs that always make you cry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419 "2006-01-31T22:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/21 "2006-02-01T03:48:11Z")
Every single time, and sometimes even merely the first bar: Amazing Grace (any version) Freebird (Skynard, of course) Two out of three ain’t bad (meatloaf) Jet plane (PP&M only, John Denver just makes me snicker) That stupid Country song about his grandma leaving grandpa a note under the stupid tree. Yep. I’m a weepy dork. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/22 "2006-02-01T03:55:28Z")
Another vote for _30K ft_, by Assemblage. The first time I heard it, I’d borrowed the cd from friend, and was listening to it straight through. I was on the computer, and halfway through I just started helplessly sobbing. It came on my mp3 player when I was dowtown today, and I had to skip it. _Forever_, by Bruderschaft (sp?) sometimes does it, too. My husband has started tearing up when _The Ballad of Serenity Valley_ plays. Yeah, the [_Firefly_ theme. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/23 "2006-02-01T04:00:32Z")
Repeats of other posters: Annie Lennox - “Into the West” Johnny Cash’s cover of NIN’s “Hurt” My contribution: Rufus Wainwright, “Hallelujah” “Maybe I’ve been here before I know this room, I’ve walked this floor I used to live alone before I knew you I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch love is not a victory march It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah” ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/24 "2006-02-01T04:02:21Z")
Love songs don’t make me tear up, and ‘sad’ songs rarely do, either. Only exception:_Travel_ by The Gathering. It’s a song about Mozart, and to get the full effect you really need to see them perform it live, as Anneke van Giersbergen kind of goes into her own world as she sings and really just emotes…there’s a point in the song toward the end where she sings: \*I wish you knew your music was to stay forever And I hope… I have no clue if you know how much it matters And I hope… \* It’s just a very touching tribute to a musical genius, and how his music has truly endured and inspired her. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/25 "2006-02-01T04:04:31Z")
Grr, forgot one. It’s sappy, but Robbie Williams’ “Nan’s Song” (about his deceased grandmother looking after him from beyond) brings tears to my eyes too. ---
**Author:** ![piggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@piggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piggy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/26 "2006-02-01T04:15:16Z")
Steve Goodman’s rendition of **The Dutchman**. \* The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes. His cap and coat are patched with the love that Margaret sewed there. Sometimes he thinks he’s still in Rotterdam. He watches the tug-boats down canals And calls out to them when he thinks he knows the captain Till Margaret comes to take him home again Through unforgiving streets that trip him, though she holds his arm. Sometimes he thinks he’s alone and he calls her name. Let us go to the banks of the ocean Where the walls rise above the Zuider Zee. Long ago, I used to be a young man And dear Margaret remembers that for me.\* ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/27 "2006-02-01T04:15:55Z")
I am a caretaker for my mother here. She has Parkinson’s and some dementia. “When She Loved Me” by Sarah McLachlan, from “Toy Story 2” gets to me every time. \*So the years went by, I stayed the same And she began to drift away, I was left alone Still i waited for the day, when she’d say “I will always love you.” Lonely and forgotten, never thought she’d look my way, She smiled at me and held me, just like she used to do, Like she loved me, when she loved me\* ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/28 "2006-02-01T04:25:12Z")
Starting Over Again by Natalie Cole. Reminds me of a particularly fragile point in my life. America the Beautiful by Lee Greenwood. When I hear the last verse, I think of the towers and how I felt that day. ---
**Author:** ![piggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@piggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piggy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/29 "2006-02-01T04:35:39Z")
\*\*Hail to the Chief \*\* (Since 2000, anyway) ---
**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:** [February 1, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/30 "2006-02-01T04:36:30Z")
The soundtrack from Les Miz, every damn time. Good for hormonal days when a cathartic sobfest is in order just to clear the pipes. Rent and Miss Saigon are acceptable substitutes. Allentown by Billy Joel Silent Legacy by Melissa Etheridge El Paso by Marty Robbins And just about any patriotic song, but that’s all twisted up with being a little girl who’s Daddy was a Marine and stuff, not just the songs. ---
**Author:** ![Analogue\_Skywalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Analogue\_Skywalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Analogue_Skywalker)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/31 "2006-02-01T04:40:38Z")
victory of love - **Alphaville** glasgarten- \*\*Goethes Erban and Peter Heppner \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/32 "2006-02-01T04:41:43Z")
_What a Wonderful World_ by Louis Armstrong - obviously not an inherently sad song but I’ve always seen it as such since it was used to great ironic effect in the movie _12 Monkeys_. ---
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/33 "2006-02-01T04:56:03Z")
> [@MadPansy64](#): > > That stupid Country song about his grandma leaving grandpa a note under the stupid tree. _Love, Me_ by Collin Raye. Agreed, it’s very sad. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/34 "2006-02-01T05:10:11Z")
The Star Spangled Banner does it for me esp. at the start of a hockey game. (so, I’m wierd). ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/35 "2006-02-01T05:13:10Z")
“Wicked Little Town” by Ben Kweller, Ben Folds and Ben Lee. It’s a song from _Hedwig and the Angry Inch_, but this version is on the cover album, _Wig in a Box_. It really touches me every time. For a while I couldn’t stop playing it, just out of sheer fascination at how I could possibly be so moved. It gets me in some place that not many songs can touch. Its kind of scary, but wonderful too. ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/36 "2006-02-01T05:16:02Z")
The one song that _always_ makes me cry is Will Smith’s version of _The Two of Us_. Cat Stevens’ _Seasons in the Sun_ also rips me up, but it doesn’t get much airplay anymore. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/37 "2006-02-01T05:17:00Z")
I don’t have a particular song as such, but I do find that I get quite overwhelmed with live music performed by an orchestra - it’s something about the sheer richness and beauty of it and the volume it hits you with. So whenever we go to the theatre or to a concert, I spend the first ten minutes discretely wiping my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/38 "2006-02-01T05:19:02Z")
Country song - Holes in the Floors of Heaven I am a wuss… ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/39 "2006-02-01T05:24:20Z")
> [@Feydeau](#): > > _Love, Me_ by Collin Raye. > > Agreed, it’s very sad. Yep, that’s the one. \ I hate that stupid song. \ Sheesh, that’s just pathetic \ ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419/40 "2006-02-01T05:26:49Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#): > > Repeats of other posters: > Annie Lennox - “Into the West” > Johnny Cash’s cover of NIN’s “Hurt” > > My contribution: Rufus Wainwright, “Hallelujah” > > “Maybe I’ve been here before > I know this room, I’ve walked this floor > I used to live alone before I knew you > I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch > love is not a victory march > It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah” Total agreement on all three. About that last one: I have not heard Wainwright’s version, but Jeff Buckley’s did me in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-always-make-you-cry/342419.md?page=3)