“Tomorrow Wendy” by Concrete Blonde always gets me. Some of it is the lyrics, and some of it has to do with personal events. “That Day is Done” by Elvis Costello can get me to, if it catches me at the right moment.
I cry over emotional songs way too easily to list them; happy songs and sad songs both make me cry. But in the sense of songs that make me cry because they are about sad things, I’ll list Garth Brooks’ “The Dance”, Lorrie Morgan’s “Something in Red”, Kenny Loggins’ “The Real Thing” and Bread’s “if”. I’d second the previous postings of “Tears in Heaven,” “Honey,” and “E lucevan le stelle.”
Oh, almost forgot “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the musical Carousel.
Steve Goodman’s The Ballad of Penny Evans It’s about 35 years old and Michelle Shocked has covered it.
I put it on a CD I burned not to long ago and I have to skip it when I’m out in public, because I just know I’ll start bawling like a baby.
This song had been previously mentioned, but I have to second. Only time I’d cried at something recreational, but when I saw RENT on Broadway and Collins belted out “When your hearts has expired!” at Angel’s tribute/funeral (“I’ll Cover You- Reprise”) I absolutely lost it. One of the most moving things I’ve ever seen. To this day, I will well up whenever I hear the song
“In the Shape of a Heart” Jackson Browne
The song Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel never fails to make me sob like a little girl. I can never stop thinking about when he does the song in concert and brings up 4 or 5 Vietnam Vets, who stand there and sing the song with him in the dark, arm in arm. By the end of the song they’re all in tears, it’s just so intense.
Oooh, how could I forget???
‘Jerusalem’ - it’s my favourite hymn yet the tears are running down my cheeks by the end of the first verse and I just can’t sing anymore of it.
It’s the sentimental love of home, I suppose … although I’d never admit it to a soul!
Mama, by Genesis.
Reminds me of an old friend.
Depending on my mood and pints of Guinness on board…
Independence Day by Martina McBride. There was a CrossRoads special on CMT where Pat Benatar sang it…wow
I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby sung by Alison Krauss (also Dolly Parton)
By Way of Sorrow written by Julie Miller…I like the version done on Cry Cry Cry by Lucy Kaplansky
Wisteria by Richard Shindell
Second MaxtheVool’s comment that there are a number of moments in musicals that can start the waterworks.
For me it’s Eponine’s death in Les Mis, and her line to Marius: “I’ll sleep in your embrace at last…”
In Miss Saigon, in Act II, when Kim is outside the embassy trying to get in and Chris is fruitlessly trying to call her at the apartment. She sings, “I’m the wife of a soldier - please, let me through! Help me, who must I pay? Tell me what I must do?” Inside, Chris is on the phone: “Please Kim, hear the phone; I can’t get there, please be home…” and she’s outside the locked gates in the crowd: “Please Chris, no one sees… I am lost here… find me please.”
And then they beautifully duet: “Please, get me through, I don’t care how
don’t take my love away, not now…”
And then… when Kim is dying, having ensured that Tam will have a life with his father, and Chris has rushed in - the last thing she says to him echoes what they said to each other afther the night they met: “How in one night have we come… so far…”
Rent’s been mentioned several times, so let me just add the stunning reprise of “I’ll Cover You,” after Angel’s death and the break in Roger’s voice during “Your Eyes,” when he sings: “How’d I let you slip away, when I’m longing so to hold you… Now I’d die for one more day, 'cause there’s something I should have told you…”
- Rick
American Tune, by Simon & Garfunkel:
Also by Paul Simon, what I think of as the perfect goodbye/loneliness song, Only Living Boy in New York:
Alright For Now, by Tom Petty:
Ditto One Tin Soldier and Leaving on a Jet Plane. And in the same class as those, let me add Run, River, Run:
I second **American Tune ** (that almost made my list as well), and If by Bread.
That reminds me of another weepy Bread tune, Aubrey, which is just gorgeous.
Also forgot Billy Joel’s Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel). Too sad, too sad…
I’ll second the Dixie Chicks’ “Travelin’ Soldier” and Collin Raye’s “Love Me.”
And I’dd add Kathy Mattea’s “Where’ve You Been?” That one does it to me every time.
Harry Chapin’s “Taxi,” with “Sequel” right after will do it, as will his “Better Place to Be.” Had to sing that one on stage one night; it was difficult to get through it.
And Judy Collins’ version of “Amazing Grace.” It’s beautiful, it’s haunting, it’s what that hymn should be but so rarely is.
Whoops, that should be, “I’d add…”
Thinking of these songs, it’s a little hard to see the keyboard right now…
Hey Jupiter
…nothing’s been the same
so are you gay
are you blue
thought we both could use a friend
to run to
and I thought I wouldn’t have to be
with you
something new…
Time After Time
…when you fall, I will catch you
I will be waiting
time after time…
(although the version between Cyndi and Patti Labelle is so joyous)
Knight Moves
Watch while the queen
In one false move
Turns herself into a pawn
Sleepy and shaken
And watching while the blury night
Turns into a very clear dawn
Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?..
And if you wonder
What I am doing
As I am heading
For the sink
I am spitting out all the bitterness
Along with half of my last drink
I am thinking
Of your woman
Who is crying in the hall
It’s like drinking gasoline
To quench a thirst
Until there’s nothing there left at all
wow Rubystreak, you got the two I was gonna go with: Black and Wish You Were Here, they get me every time
Low Down Man by The Squirrel Nut Zippers
End of the Line by The Traveling Wilburys (The music video is so sad, with the empty rocking chair slowly rocking back and forth.)
Let It Be and The Long and Winding Road by The Beatles
From Jesus Christ Superstar, Could We Start Again Please? and I Don’t Know How to Love Him. It’s the best musical ever. The Last Supper gets me going too, when Christ sings, “Will no one stay awake with me? Peter, John and James? Will none of you wait with me? Peter, John, and James?”
Golden Slumbers by the Beatles. Every time I hear that song, I remember my beloved cat dying, and the grief feels harsh and new. It’s been nearly seven years now. I wonder if I’ll ever develop a scar on my heart that’s sturdy enough to bear the pain of listening to that song again. For a long, long time after that little cat died, I just did not want to live any longer.
Luke Kelly & The Dubliners The Town I Loved So Well
**Tom Waits version of **.Big Joe & Phantom 309
Some time before my mother died, I bought a copy of Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Cracked Rear View” (yeah, yeah… I was in high school!)
The opening line of “I’m Going Home” made me cry for some time:
… although seven years down the track, I don’t feel much for the song.
A line from Michael Franti & Spearhead’s “Never Too Late” also gets to me:
Luckily, I’m not alone.