I forgot two:
Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg (which my husband played on guitar and sang at his dad’s funeral- AAACK!)
and Run for the Roses by Dan Fogelberg. Very moving…
An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.
Actually, I think “The Dance” was a metaphor for life, and the narrator is talking about suicide. I seem to recall that Garth thought about killing himself at some point, and the song was about how he was glad he didn’t. He could have missed the pain, but then he would have had to miss the dance, etc.
There is, of course, a song that I absoultely HATE!
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/ormonde/816/BeHappy2.JPG
–Kalél
Common ¢ for all ages…
Doncha just hate word problems?
“If it takes a four-month old woodpecker, with a rubber bill, 9 months and 13 days to peck a hole through a Cypress log that is big enough to make 117 shingles, and it takes 165 shingles to make a bundle worth 93¢, how long will it take a cross-eyed grasshopper, with a cork leg, to kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle?”
“With Pen in Hand” by Vikki Carr, about 1970. It’s so sad Vikki herself even cries in the last verse.
“Danny Boy/Eily Dear.” Sure it’s old–but I * am * Irish.
Here are the lyrics to “The Dance.” I’m sticking to my guns and saying it’s about a relationship that ended. Besides, who are you gonna believe, me or Garth? 
>>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 of 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 changed 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 of had to miss the dance
Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I’d of had to miss the dance<<
It sure sounds like a relationship… which is why it’s a *metaphor. And I always thought the line “Our lives are better left to chance” summed up the choice between killing oneself because of the pain and going on into an uncertain future.
BTW, if you see the video for the song it makes it a bit more clear, as it’s a montage of people who have died after making some kind of difference (JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr., The Challenger 7, etc).
The Boxer (Simon and Garfunkle)
Although it doesn’t happen often, these are the songs that bring me to tears:
“last kiss” by Pearl Jam (no idea why)
“Father of Mine” by Everclear
Someone mentioned Mike and the Mechanics, and that one song always made me cry, maybe because my dad’s name is Mike. Thankfully, I haven’t heard that song in almost a decade.
Two songe that you’ve never heard:
“See Off This Mountain” by Edwin McCain (long story)
“Ballad of Billy Jo McKay” by Shaen Mullins (another long story)
That’s enough. I’m almost to tears now.
Some of these songs didn’t make me cry when I first heard them, it was when I read the lyrics and listened to the song again that I just couldn’t stop. This is pretty strange considering I rarely cry at anything…
“Slumber” by Bad Religion
‘So you’re feeling unimportant/ cuz you’ve got nothing to say/ and your life is just a ramble/ no one understands you anyway’
I take this song as a message to someone who is suicidal, but maybe that’s just the way I interpret it. Well, anyway, there’s a special place in my heart for suicide-related songs.
“End of the Line” by the Offspring
'Now that you are dead and gone/ and I’m left to carry on/ I could never smile cause you/ won’t stay alive for me
This song definitely redeemed them for that stupid “Pretty Fly” song. Yet another song about suicide.
“A Little Soul” by Pulp
‘You look like me/ but please don’t turn out like me/ you look like me/ but you’re not like me I know/ I had 1,2,3, four shots of happiness, I may look like a big man/ but I’ve only got a little soul’
I think this song is Jarvis Cocker (the lead singer) speaking to his son and trying to make sure he doesn’t turn out like him.
I just heard “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins and got a little misty. Need to add that one to my list. “Solitude” by Edwin McCain is another one that gets to me, but they never play him around here. (which is a shame–I really got to digging him when I lived in SC)
I have never really cried during a song but i have gotten misty with a few.
The most recent one that comes to my mind is “Butterfly” by Mariah Carey. Now the song didn’t make me misty before, but when they played it at a memorial service for a girl who was kidnapped and then found murdered, it made nearly everyone misty, and a lot started crying. Listening to the song and then watching photos of this little girl on a projector screen really hit me in the heart. I was sooo on the verge of crying. No tears issued forth but i just felt the profound loss that everyone in the room felt (vibes and all).
StStella, the song Shannon gets my vote too. It’s by Henry Gross. It gets me because I had a setter named Shannon that was my constant companion through some tough times. I used to take her to the beach all the time.
My mom lost her when she was dog sitting. That song never used to fail to bring torrents of tears.
Last Kiss is good but after 30 years of it, you get kindof immune!
From * Les Miserables: * “I Dreamed a Dream.” 
I was in a Singer as Actor course at El Camino College in Torrance, CA; a few times a member of the class picked this song. Sometimes I heard it in class and almost broke down–with the others in the class present–at the end, with this line:
“Now life has killed the dream I had.” (tearing up)
I always get real choked up watching “The Last Waltz” (the movie of The Band’s last concert on Thanksgiving day 1976). The performances, the guests, and the finality of it all I guess are just too much for me. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes The Band. It’s one of the best, if not the best, live rock concerts ever staged.
I always get real choked up watching “The Last Waltz” (the movie of The Band’s last concert on Thanksgiving day 1976). The performances, the guests, and the finality of it all I guess are just too much for me. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes The Band. It’s one of the best, if not the best, live rock concerts ever staged.
“What I wonder is why people are so afraid of everybody coming up with their own reality on their own terms.” - Jerry Garcia
Barbara Allen by Merle Travis
Home by Jim Reeves
I had a girlfriend that used to cry during T. Amos’ “Winter” as well. It didn’t bother me then, but after I broke up with her it (and the whole album) would get me choked up a little.
Other songs that get me misty eyed:
“Lullaby” - Cop Shot Cop. It’s an industrial rock lullaby, but not like a little of both. It’s totally industrial rock, and totally a lullaby. Hard to describe.
“Serve the Servants” - Nirvana. Reminds me of family relationships.
can’t remember the name … “Waltzing Matilda”? - The Pogues. About an Australian soldier who loses both legs at Gallipoli.
“The Boxer” - Simon and Garfunkel. Reminds me of struggles I have faced.
and most of all …
“Victory” - NoMeansNo. Reminds me even more of struggles I’ve faced. Hearing somebody else sing how I’ve felt has a strong impact. This might mean I am self-absorbed.
Since I was a kid - “Greensleeves”
AKA the theme from the “Lassie” show.
No idea why. But it gets me every time.
This first one may date me a little bit, but Poison’s “Ride the Wind” always kills me. My best friend killed himself when we were about 16. We used to listen to that song riding around town all the time. I can’t here it without thinking of him.
“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”
Again, personal experience… I’m in an extremely long distance relationship, and it just seems to sum up a lot my feelings.
Finally another Garth song, “Unanswered Prayers” I almost got married a few years ago, and I realize that if I had I would have missed out on the girl I’m with now, who is truly the one I’ve been waiting for.
Any magician can pull a rabbit out of a hat, show me one who can pull a hat out of a rabbit and I’ll believe.
I have thought of a few more:
Cradle Song - Shriekback : a lovely little lullabye
“may the fire be your friend, and the sea rock you gently, may the moon light your way, till the wind sets you free…”
Oingo Boingo - Out of Control
“You’re out of control, and you want the world to love you, or maybe you just want the chance, to let them know, that you live and breathe and suffer, that your back is in the corner and you’ve got nowhere to go.”
Don’t let the loveless ones sell you a world wrapped in grey.