# Songs that make you cry **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 1999, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870 "1999-08-31T02:44:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/141 "2001-02-28T03:22:05Z")
Yes, StStella, I do remember “Shannon.” Shannon is gone, I heard she’s drifting out to sea she always loved to swim and play. Maybe she’s found another cool and shady tree just like the one in our backyard. Devastating. Somehow, the hokey falsetto only made it worse. I don’t remember the name of the singer, but the song was based on a true event. I believe the dog in question belonged to one of the Beach Boys, although it was most definitely NOT the Beach Boys who did the song, as far as I know. Oh, great. Now I’M crying! Other lethal favorites: ``` "Desperado" - The Eagles "Why" - The Eurythmics "I Will Be Right Here Waiting for You" - by I don't know who. "Follow You, Follow Me" - Genesis (or Phil Collins?) "Hey, Jude" - The Beatles "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" - Karen Carpenter "Honey" - Bobby Goldsboro (When I was little, anyway!) "Tears in Heaven" - Eric Clapton (Looks like Eric is pulling ahead!) ``` And many more. There are associations for almost all of these songs. “Shannon” is particularly deadly for me right now as I just put my little cat to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/142 "2001-02-28T03:30:37Z")
Oh, yeah, I forgot. How about “Wildfire”? It was also from the 70’s, about a little girl who got sick and died after running off into the snow looking for a lost horse. When I was a kid, I used to cry at “Alone Again, Naturally.” God, there are so many! I cry at the theme from A League of Their Own (“This Used to Be My Playground” - Madonna) because I went to see the movie early in my relationship with my beautiful wife, and it was playing on cable tv in the hospital when she died. Hijack – How about songs that just give you the creeps? Like “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald”? (Sorry – I have gotten really bad with the names of singers in my dotage.) ---
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/143 "2001-02-28T05:35:27Z")
Tracy Chapman’s [“At this point in my life”](http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/9541/5d.html) is a good one to get the waterworks going, as is the _orchestral_ version of [“Both Hands”](http://www.anidifranco.org/lyrics/songs.asp?display=song&title=CD2+%2D+both+hands) by Ani Difranco. “Tears in Heaven” and most of Tori Amos’s “Little Earthquakes” album are good nominees, too. Plus, I have a _\_ weakness for the previously mentioned Collin Raye song (“Love, Me”). 😕 Oh, oh…and…if there _was_ a [soundtrack for the movie “Fall,”](http://us.imdb.com/Soundtracks?0119098) that would probably make me cry, too. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/144 "2001-02-28T13:58:41Z")
May I take this opportunity to point out that this thread is from August of 1999? It may possibly be the longest running active thread on the board. I’m so proud! Zette 🙂 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/145 "2001-02-28T15:41:23Z")
Mainly songs I remember from early childhood - Sometimes When We Touch would make me cry when I was four years old! Was spurred by this topic to go looking for some half-remembered songs of my childhood - who here remembers Rocky by Austin Roberts? Any idea how hard it is to find a song that obscure when you can’t remember what it’s called, who it’s by or how the chorus goes? 🙂 Back on topic, other songs that make me cry include The Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby The Last Farewell - Roger Whittaker Most Barry Manilow songs The Promise (the Dolphin Song) - Oliva Newton John Take This Bottle - Faith No More Patience - Guns N’ Roses (memories of a friend’s mother’s funeral) In The Ghetto - Elvis Off topic a bit - my mother had Don’t Cry Daddy on LP when I was very young, but it wasn’t by Elvis. Does anyone know if someone with the surname Boone covered that song? That was another one that made me cry. ---
**Author:** ![YoungGotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c2a13f/32.png) [@YoungGotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungGotti)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/146 "2001-02-28T17:27:04Z")
“Look Away” by Chicago. I CANNOT listen to this song. [aside] My old roommate used to play it in the morning (while I was still asleep) at a volume loud enough that I could hear it. I would inevitably have to jump out of bed to make him turn it off. Nice guy, huh? [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![L714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dec6dc/32.png) [@L714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/L714)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/147 "2001-02-28T17:52:12Z")
I don’t know if it’s the words or just the sound of his voice but the song is Just Like Heaven by The Cure [http://www.ping.be/cure/lyrics/justlikeheaven.htm](http://www.ping.be/cure/lyrics/justlikeheaven.htm) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/148 "2001-03-01T00:46:12Z")
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot. It’s not creepy, it’s mournful. _Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours?_ And one of the loneliest guitar riffs in the world. The “Take a Look at Me Now” that **capacitor** mentioned is actually Phil Collins’ _Against All Odds_ theme song. When you love and she leaves, this one is the one to play. “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from _Le Miserables_. Marius mourning his lost friends. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/149 "2001-03-01T02:03:45Z")
Oh, I have another (I hope I didn’t already post this one). My very closest friend on earth moved away last February, and I miss her terribly (she was like my mom). We saw both Toy Story movies together, and loved them SO much- very memorable days. So I’m at work, and over the Musak they play “You’ve Got a Friend In Me”. Suddenly, I’m very glad I don’t wear eye makeup to work. SOB CITY! “You’ve got a friend in me You’ve got a friend in me You’ve got troubles, and I got 'em too There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you We stick together and see it through 'Cause you’ve got a friend in me You’ve got a friend in me” [http://www.heavenlywebs.net/midis/kidsmidis/youvegotfrndinme.htm](http://www.heavenlywebs.net/midis/kidsmidis/youvegotfrndinme.htm) Ack! Here it comes again. Zette ---
**Author:** ![K3v1n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@K3v1n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K3v1n)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/150 "2001-03-02T02:39:03Z")
Ben Folds Five - Brick A well-written song about abortion. Then again, alot of Ben Folds Five songs are that way… BFF is a really good band, but they recently broke up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![BigStar303](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@BigStar303](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigStar303)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/151 "2001-03-02T05:10:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tenar \* > > \*\*Yes, StStella, I do remember “Shannon.” > > Shannon is gone, I heard she’s drifting out to sea > she always loved to swim and play. > Maybe she’s found another cool and shady tree > just like the one in our backyard. > > Devastating. Somehow, the hokey falsetto only made it worse. I don’t remember the name of the singer, but the song was based on a true event. I believe the dog in question belonged to one of the Beach Boys, although it was most definitely NOT the Beach Boys who did the song, as far as I know. Oh, great. Now I’M crying! \*\* The singer and songwriter of “Shannon” was Henry Gross. It was a hit in 1976. Gross had toured with The Beach Boys, and the song was indeed written about Beach Boy Carl Wilson’s Irish Setter named Shannon. But there’s quite a twist on this story. For the full version, go here: [http://www.henrygross.com/bio.htm](http://www.henrygross.com/bio.htm) and scroll to the bottom of the page. ---
**Author:** ![BigStar303](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@BigStar303](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigStar303)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/152 "2001-03-02T05:29:59Z")
So many of the songs listed in this thread seem to be of the type that are calculated or at least expected to elicit a tearful response. That doesn’t work for me. Nor do tear-inducing lyrics alone. They have to be mated with music and/or vocals that push some emotional buttons. The last poster I responded to mentioned a “corny falsetto” in connection with Henry Gross’s “Shannon,” which is of course modeled on the sound of The Beach Boys. But I find nothing corny about Brian Wilson’s voice. It’s achingly pure and beautiful, with an underlying sadness that, it turns out, was grounded in reality. There’s a song on the album “Beach Boys Today!” called “She Knows Me Too Well” that has moved me to tears more than once. There’s nothing terribly sad about the lyrics, it’s mostly the melody, the way Brian sings it, and the rich backing vocals of the other Beach Boys. Mention has been made earlier in the thread of “Where’ve You Been” by Kathy Mattea. A good example of a song that could easily have been overdone, but is saved by a subtle arrangement that’s almost still in its quietude. And the chorus really points up the importance of the melody to its emotional impact. That upward arc on “Where’ve you” that comes back down on “been” is what makes it. I’ll mention two other country songs that move me deeply. Neither one of them is an obvious weeper like “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” which is OK but tremendously overrated in my book. A year or so before Mattea’s song, a singer named Judy Rodman had a minor hit with a song co-written by Janis Ian, “I Want a Love Like That.” If you’ve stayed with me this long, I might as well drag this post out a bit longer by quoting the first verse and the chorus: When that old man was married They fought like dogs and cats Everybody wondered How long would it last Fifty years of living Neither one of them packed their bags Lately he’s been missing The way she used to nag I want a love like that I want a love like that I want a love like that A love like that I can get choked up just hearing the chorus in my head. The second one is “Just Like Real People” by The Kendalls. Premise is she’s pledging her life to this guy, but she wants to be sure he understands that “I ain’t no angel in white satin/Been around some, if you know what I mean.” What makes it work is the complete humbleness and honesty Jeannie Kendall projects, the willingness to leave herself open in a way she’s never done before. The chorus of this ballad, sung with devastating three-part bluegrass harmonies, is: Just like real people We can settle down and have us a home Just like real people Together we can make it I know I know, writing about music is stupid, in that it can hardly convey the impact of hearing it. But I felt compelled to do so. Seek out these songs, and see if they do for you what they do for me. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/153 "2001-03-02T23:34:05Z")
Another vote for “Puff the Magic Dragon” “Danny Boy” and a bunch of stuff from Les Miz… I’ll add: “Where have all the flowers gone?” “Nearer my God to thee” (as featured in Titanic) The finale from Porgy and Bess (it’s made all the more tragic by how happy the music sounds and how optimistic Porgy is) “Slow Train” by Flanders and Swann ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/154 "2002-03-13T09:28:05Z")
jet plain… ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/155 "2002-03-13T09:29:12Z")
plane ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/156 "2002-03-13T15:40:27Z")
The hymn “It Is Well With My Soul”, especially played on the guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/157 "2002-03-14T08:25:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Persephone \* > \*\*“Vincent,” by Don McLean, is another one that just sets me off. \*\* This song has been messing with my head as of late. And my biggie: **Amazing Grace** ---
**Author:** ![Magickly\_Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magickly\_Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magickly_Delicious)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/158 "2002-03-15T06:21:02Z")
Oh, my. Anybody see “The Civil War” on PBS a while back? We have the soundtrack. It ends with a beautiful (modern) fiddle and guitar duet song, entitled “Ashokan Farewell.” Beautiful instrumental. On this last track, though, they overlay a mane reading out loud a letter sent by a soldier to his wife the day before the Battle of Bull Run. It is the most beautiful love letter I have ever heard. It will make you cry within the first few sentences, I guarantee it. The soldier knew he was probably not going to make it through the next battle, so he writes to her to not mourn for him. It is a real letter, so it just rips your heart out. The soldier died a few days after he sent the letter, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Heloise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@Heloise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heloise)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/159 "2002-03-15T14:12:37Z")
Earlier on in the thread, someone mentioned Mike and the Mechanics, “In the living years” and the line, “I wasn’t there that morning, when my father passed away.” I hate that song. I can’t even listen to it on the radio. When my dad died, we missed getting to the hospital to say goodbye by just a few minutes. I had visited him early that evening, but didn’t stay as long as he wanted me to. I didn’t realize how bad the situation was, or was in denial or whatever. But I told him I’d visit him the next day and the next day never happened. All I remember about the situation was that he wanted me to stay, I stayed a little while longer, but not long enough. I should have been there, and now I hate that damn song. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-cry/7870/160 "2002-03-15T14:23:54Z")
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