I have to admit it… whenever I hear ‘Just the two of us’ by Will Smith I can’t help tearing up.
It’s a very sweet love song from a father to his little boy, and I find it unbearably touching. There are so many cloying love songs, but so few that celebrate the parent/child bond, and even fewer that are about a father just loving his son.
I choke back the tears every time.
“Walk Away Renee” by the Left Banke used to do that to me before I heard it a million times.
I cannot let “Kilkelly, Ireland” play on my iPod because I’ll start crying before the end of it. I’ve gotten more used to “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”, but it used to make me cry too (and it still does on Veterans Day.)
I’ve said it before, but Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” jerks my emotions around in a way that I can’t even explain. Pretty cathartic.
There was a time when Wilco’s “Say You Miss Me” made me cry nearly instantly, but blame the vagaries of girls for that.
“Nobody Needs to Know” from the musical * The Last 5 Years *
Gets me every. damn. time.
I’m performing said musical with a fellow artistic director in a “Faculty Series” (we both are Faculty for youth theater programs in the Twin Cities – this series showcases faculty of such programs, while putting the youth in charge of director, conception, and design of the shows – nifty stuff) in January 2010. I don’t know how I’m going to manage listening to my coworker sing this without sniffling.
Back when I still had emotions, there were a number of songs off Wish by The Cure that did it to me. I remember A Letter to Elise and To Wish Impossible Things being especially potent.
The Internationale. Srsly!
The Ballad of the Green Berets always makes me cry.
Wait…that’s because it’s painfully* bad*, not painfully sad.
Never mind.
Amazing Grace at a funeral is just brutal.
The first time I heard Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt it seemed like he was singing it from experience. It got to me for some reason.
I defy any grown man to listen to “Cat’s in the Cradle” without tearing up.
And Elenfair, preach it sister. Good to see someone on the boards who knows that musical. I’m a huge JRB fan and adore that show, and wholeheartedly agree with you about that song.
That’s a good one.
For me, the one that sprang to mind is “Thank You” by Dido. It pisses me off to say this, but it makes me weepy.
Joe
Every freakin time, for me. Even when I’m not at a funeral. I can’t make it past the first 3 notes without bursting into tears.
The other “make me bawl like a baby no matter where I am” song is a Country song I don’t know the name of. Something about Grandma writing Grandpa a note and leaving it in a tree. Tears from Heaven, maybe, But I will NOT google it. I don’t why, but that damn song just kills me. I had to turn into a Bitch Boss who banned all radios on the production floor when that damn song was Top 10.
If I listen to “Joey” by Concrete Blonde too often, I get an ache in my chest and a lump in my throat.
Joey, baby, don’t get crazy
Detours, fences . . . I get defensive
I know you’ve heard it all before
So I dont say it anymore
I just stand by and watch you
Fight your secret war
Although I used to wonder why,
I used to cry till I was dry
Still sometimes I get a strange pain inside
Oh, Joey, if you’re hurting, so am I
Also, MadPansy64, the song you’re thinking of is “If You Get There Before I Do” by Collin Raye
Mariah Carey’s Whenever You Call. It makes me think of my SO and I get all weepy.
When I’m in the right mood, Christina Aguilara’s Beautiful. I go through phases of feeling like shit about myself and that song just hits me.
Third Eye Blind’s Jumper. At a low point in my life I was strongly considering suicide and at the lowest point I heard that song for the first time. It probably saved my life. Hearing it now reminds me of that time.
“Concrete Angel” by Martina Mcbride, for obvious reason.
“The Change” by Garth Brooks is tragic yet inspiring.
“When you Believe” by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Listen to this song while thinking of a person or a group of people who’ve gone through a lot but didn’t lose hope. I dare you not to get a little choked up.
“Sound the Bugle” by Bryan Adams. Something about the quality of his voice and the lyrics makes me cry like a little girl.
“Time and Tide” by Alan Price. If you’ve seen The Plague Dogs, you know why.
“Bright Eyes” by Art Garfunkel. Very ethereal and beautiful song.
“Hurt” by Christina Aguilera. Makes me think of my dad.
Romeo and Juliet by the Dire Straits, as well as Third Eye Blind’s Deep Inside of You.
I’ll have to echo Amazing Grace, but with bagpipes. Tears in Heaven does it as well. A number of Cure songs do the trick as well, if played at the right time.
Danny Boy
Orphan Girl by Gillian Welch.
Sorry, missed the edit window.
Also Hockey by Jane Siberry.