# Songs that make you cry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582 "2014-08-15T03:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Tremblay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@Tremblay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tremblay)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/81 "2014-08-20T22:51:06Z")
Leann Rimes “How do I live” Back in 97 when this song was popular, it was the last song my neighbor sang to on the radio. Moments later her dad dropped her off at school, she crossed the street, and was hit by a speeding car. She died 5 days later. ---
**Author:** ![Jungian\_Camisole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@Jungian\_Camisole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jungian_Camisole)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/82 "2014-08-21T00:45:32Z")
How Can I Help You Say Goodbye by Patti Loveless. The song is about loss from childhood through adulthood, and I always wonder how many takes Patti had to do to get through that last verse. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z4F_cXGQN9k/hqdefault.jpg "Patty Loveless - How Can I Help You Say Goodbye") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4F_cXGQN9k) ---
**Author:** ![Clarisse\_McClellan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Clarisse\_McClellan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarisse_McClellan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/83 "2014-08-21T01:57:33Z")
Ditto ‘Mad World’ and ‘The Rose’ Also [Where Have You Been](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv1nTsxNWJ4) by Kathy Matea makes me bawl like a baby. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/84 "2014-08-21T02:36:24Z")
If we’re talking about devastating Irish songs, this needs to be included - [The Town I Loved So Well by The Dubliners (Luke Kelly singing).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_3t-CHBZs) A wonderful, terrible song about the effect of the Troubles on ordinary people, among other things that went wrong in Derry. Also Emmylou Harris, Mary Black and Dolores Keane singing [Sonny’s Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_3t-CHBZs). It’s actually the piping in the middle that gets me every time, I know one of the players is Liam O’Flynn but I’m not sure who the other one is. And finally Luke Kelly again, in his final performance, singing the [Night Visiting Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMGvQ2v-ZRM). A somewhat melancholy song anyway, but as a goodbye it’s devastating. Whilst the Dubliners have a reputation (not wholly undeserved) as a drinking and partying band, their ballads, and not just Luke’s, are often extraordinarily powerful. John Sheahan’s fiddle playing helps that greatly, as does the fact that they’ve had some of Ireland’s greatest singers with them through the years. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/85 "2014-08-21T14:05:09Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > “Mad World” by anyone. Ditto, though especially Gary Jules. “Children waiting for the day they feel good Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday” ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/86 "2014-08-21T16:31:37Z")
Chevy Van - Sammy Johns. Lost youth. ---
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/87 "2014-08-21T16:43:39Z")
“You Get What You Give” by New Radicals. The song and video came out near my high school graduation, and invariably I get a little emotional, mostly when I watch the video. Those kids all look like me and people I knew. It’s about (among other things) growing up, and it’s not schlocky or schmaltzy. It’s sincere, and I value that. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/88 "2014-08-21T16:50:31Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I’m so sorry. Likewise. And you’re right, of course: having had her is a joy that is in no way compromised by having lost her; thanks for your words. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/89 "2014-08-21T23:57:50Z")
Iris DeMent singing “leaning on the everlasting arms” at the end of the Coens’ _True Grit_. I’m not religious, but it gets me every time. ’ [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZGbxrNqK4-4/hqdefault.jpg "Iris DeMent - Leaning On The Everlasting Arms ("True Grit" 2010 Soundtrack)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbxrNqK4-4) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/90 "2014-08-22T12:57:09Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Iris DeMent singing “leaning on the everlasting arms” at the end of the Coens’ _True Grit_. I’m not religious, but it gets me every time. ’ > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbxrNqK4-4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbxrNqK4-4) Oh, and “In the Garden” at the end of Places in the Heart when [spoiler]everyone is at peace together, even those who died earlier in the movie[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/91 "2014-08-22T19:14:57Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I’m so sorry. The only thing I can think of is I wouldn’t be so sad if she hadn’t been so great and I hadn’t loved her so much – and that makes it worth it. I’m glad I had her for as long as I did but truthfully, the first thing I thought when I heard she was dying was “I have to live for forty more years without my mom?!” > > She asked for **How Great Thou Art** at her funeral and that has a tearjerker verse for me: > > When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation > And take me home > What joy shall fill my heart. > Then I will bow in humble adoration > and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art! This verse always gets to me as well. I am a cancer patient, and I was in church a few months ago when this Hymn came up. I felt like such a baby…all misty-eyed in church. And on the total other end of the spectrum, I always cry when I hear “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro. Worse. Stupid. Song. Ever. Intentionally meant to be over the top sappy, yet when those angelic voices start and the orchestral part kicks in at the end, I’m a mess. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/92 "2014-08-22T20:40:12Z")
> [@OtisCampbellWasRight](#): > > This verse always gets to me as well. I am a cancer patient, and I was in church a few months ago when this Hymn came up. I felt like such a baby…all misty-eyed in church. Our organist would play through the first four or so verses of Amazing Grace and then let the music fall away so that we would be singing a capella When we’ve been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun Cue the waterworks! ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/93 "2014-08-24T05:06:01Z")
**Ordinary World** by Duran Duran. I sat in the hospital ICU with my boyfriend, now husband, while he was in a coma and waited to see if “fate would tear us apart”. Everytime I hear that song I flash bake to that awful summer… ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/94 "2014-08-24T08:50:32Z")
“Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul” from _The Dream Of Gerontius_, as the Guardian Angel dutifully delivers the Soul to Purgatory, and promises to come back for him: > [@Cardinal John Henry Newman](#): > > Farewell, but not for ever, brother dear! > Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; > Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here > And I will come and wake thee on the morrow A few years ago I was at a Remembrance Sunday service where they sang _O valiant hearts_, the first time I’d heard it since I was a youngster. I cracked like an egg by about verse three. “Bui-doi” from _Miss Saigon_ got me at the line about a camp for (illegitimate half-breed) children “whose crime was being born”. And the ending of _Les Miserables_ when Fantine and Eponine come to take Jean Valjean away… _bawls_ ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/95 "2014-08-28T13:49:41Z")
It is not a song, “per se” – It is an instrumental composition by Arvo Pärt. But it has this kind o effect on me. I present for your consideration “Spiegel im Spiegel”, by Arvo Pärt, written in 1978: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8qg_0P9L6c) Enjoy ^.^ ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/96 "2014-08-29T03:57:31Z")
Just did it to me again reading the lyrics of _The Last Song_ by Elton John. And at least once every Christmas season, the last line of _I’ll Be Home For Christmas_… ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/97 "2014-09-21T15:03:33Z")
The Open Fields Of Grace, specially written for Jackie Evancho and on her album Awakening, to be released in the next few days. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/98 "2014-09-21T17:25:10Z")
> [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](#): > > [June Tabor’s version of The Band Played waltzing Matilda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEMcLcGJ79s) You won’t find it anywhere on youtube, but I think Priscilla Herdman does the best version of that song. And her song “The Water Lily” is achingly beautiful, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/99 "2014-09-21T18:22:54Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > She asked for **How Great Thou Art** at her funeral and that has a tearjerker verse for me: > > When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation > And take me home > What joy shall fill my heart. > Then I will bow in humble adoration > and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art! This verse gets me too. Grandma wanted this song at her funeral, and by the time this verse came up I was a blubbering mess. Almost made up for the rest of the service which made me steaming mad because my uncle and his wife somehow managed to make it all about them. But that’s a rant for another day. Another song that just messes me up: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6jXrmAKBBTU/maxresdefault.jpg "Vince Gill - Go Rest High On That Mountain (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jXrmAKBBTU) Heard it in the grocery store the other day and I thought I was going to have to leave. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582/100 "2014-09-22T00:03:14Z")
Simply listening to most songs won’t make me cry, but I’m a (semi-pro) singer: most songs I love I also sing along to, in the car if nowhere else, and there are definitely a few that always get to me when I sing them. Like **“Scarecrow,”** by Melissa Etheridge. It’s a tribute to Matthew Shepherd, the young gay man who was beaten, tortured, and left to die while tied to a post in 1998. I do ok until the bridge: “I can forgive…but I will _not_ forget.” I’d love to cover this song live someday, but it’s been almost 16 years and I still can’t sing through it without starting to cry! And **“The Leader of the Band,”** by Dan Fogelberg. My father is a musician, too, and even though we had a rough relationship for a while I can’t ever get past “Papa, I don’t think I said ‘I love you’ near enough.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/695582.md?page=6)