# What Songs Make You "Tear Up"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676 "2004-05-29T13:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/21 "2004-05-30T01:15:40Z")
“Joe Hill” as sung by Joan Baez. Can’t explain it. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/22 "2004-05-30T01:43:13Z")
**I Don’t Believe In the Sun** –Magnetic Fields. _I don’t believe in the sun, How could it shine on everyone, and never shine on me?_ ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/23 "2004-05-30T03:40:31Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > It’s the only reason I watch the film _Kelly’s Heroes_ Wouldn’t it just be easier to get the [Mike Curb Congregation “Greatest Hits” CD?](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000D01/002-8835818-8065657?v=glance#product-details) Tho seeing this group also did “It’s a small world after all” and “I’ll give you a daisy a day, dear” I must admit my nostalgia for them suddenly lost a bit of its poignancy for me. But it is a great tune. And great minds think… something something. ---
**Author:** ![SallyStar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SallyStar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SallyStar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/24 "2004-05-30T03:52:10Z")
**What Songs Make You “Tear Up”?** \*Old Days \* - **Chicago** \*Bridge Over Troubled Water \* - **S&G** ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/25 "2004-05-30T07:58:52Z")
I tear up at Stevie Wonder’s _Isn’t she Lovely_: Isn’t she lovely Isn’t she wonderfull Isn’t she precious Less than one minute old I never thought through love we’d be Making one as lovely as she But isn’t she lovely made from love ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/26 "2004-05-30T09:54:31Z")
Bob Mould, “Can’t Fight It” > [@](#): > > Divied up the friendships that we used to share > Try and understand me if I stumble now and then > Some miscommunication stood between both you and I > You made your decision, here’s hoping it’s the right one > But God knows this decision you can change > And I can never hold you down again, this I understand > So please forgive the tears, there’s no turning back > > It’s gone and I can’t find it > You’re gone and I can’t fight it Pearl Jam, “Black” > [@](#): > > How quick the sun can, drop away > And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass > Of what was everything > All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything > All the love gone bad turned my world to black > Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I’ll ever be > > I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life, I know you’ll be a star > In somebody else’s sky, but why > Why, why can’t it be, why can’t it be mine Mojave 3, “Mercy” > [@](#): > > your life is like a song, you´re living like a fool > you´re living like a fool, but i can´t tell you right > you´re taking all the time, you´re taking all my time > you´re living like a fool > and i can´t tell you right > > mercy i can´t see your heart > i can´t feel your love “Mercy” also has one of the saddest-sounding guitars that I’ve ever heard. Slowdive, “Primal”: Printing the lyrics for this song just doesn’t work. They don’t really make sense outside the actual song. There’s just a huge amount of emotion in how the song builds up and how it is sung. I suppose that’s true of any of the songs listed in this thread, but for this one it seems more so somehow. It’s kinda hard to explain. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/27 "2004-05-30T10:04:59Z")
“Watermelon in Easter Hay” by Frank Zappa (most gorgeous guitar solo ever), the Kronos Quartet version of “El Llorar” (I’m a sucker for any weepy Mexican music, especially with violins and falsetto singing), and probably a few Beatles songs. Sometimes Devo’s “Beautiful World” almost causes that reaction in me, especially after I saw the video, with its ironic juxtaposition of upbeat music and lyrics with found footage of old-fashioned optimistic ideas of the future along with horrors like the KKK, nuclear death, starvation, and police brutality. But usually it just makes me smirk. ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/28 "2004-05-30T10:15:02Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > “Losing My Religion” is one of those songs that has about a dozen different commonly believed interpretations and unrequited love is only one of them. This is true. I always felt the song was about that feeling you have when you fall for someone, and you have no idea how they feel about you. It’s about searching for clues to their feelings, and dropping hints to them about how you feel. It’s about gearing yourself up to admit to this person your feelings towards them, and recognizing how exposed you are emotionally in doing so. It’s about that feeling of dread you have knowing that the other person might not feel the same way. It’s that huge, nervous knot in your stomach, put into song. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/29 "2004-05-30T10:18:04Z")
_The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer_ gets me every time ever since I was a little kid. This part has always really gotten to me: > [@](#): > > Trains go by on the rails John Henry laid. > They slow down and take off their hats, the men do. > When they come to the place John Henry’s layin’, restin’ his back, > Some of ‘em say, ‘Mornin’, steel driver! You shor’ was a hammer swinger! > Then they go on by, pickin’ up a little speed. (Clickity clack, clickity clack, clickity clack, clickity clack) > Yonder lies a steel drivin’ man, oh lord! > Yonder lies a steel drivin’ man. > Yonder lies a steel drivin’ man, oh lord! > Yonder lies a steel drivin’ man. But now I think this part gets to me even worse, because it reminds me of my Grandfather who was every bit the man that John Henry was and now has brain cancer: > [@](#): > > Ya know, I believe this is the first time I ever watched the sun come up > That I couldn’t come up. ☹ * * * I know this one sounds pretty lame… I’ve never been able to test this theory, but I’ve always thought that if I ever heard a _really_ good rendition of Beethoven’s 9th live in concert I might just well up with tears of joy. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/30 "2004-05-30T10:21:02Z")
Great. I’ve cried twice in the last 7 years. Once a little over a year ago when my girlfriend of two years dumped me, and once right now. I shouldn’t have looked up the lyrics to that song ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/31 "2004-05-30T10:34:00Z")
At the end of the J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” – the lines “Oh no, I can’t deny it / Oh yeah, I guess I gotta buy it” make me tear up, because it’s such an amusingly knowing, funny twist. Will the narrator, who has spent the entire song sadly detailing how the pure, innocent memory of his old crush has been spoiled by the sight of her in an adult magazine, let ANY of that get in the way of some good ol’ masturbating? OF COURSE NOT! Because he’s a _guy._ ---
**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/32 "2004-05-30T12:01:05Z")
[Weezr-I Do](http://ourlyrics.host.sk/lyrics/weezer/3-weezer-i_do.php) > [@](#): > > All the times you came > I should’ve ran away > > You told me that you’d always love me > You told me that you’d always love me > > And the games you played > Were meant to lead me on > > You told me that you’d always love me > You told me that you’d always love me I think the last line, “Never more again / Will I believe the sun” is just so sad, the feeling that you can’t trust anything anymore. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/33 "2004-05-30T21:29:19Z")
The only song that ever did this to me was “Beautiful Boy” by John Lennon. Of course the context that makes it so weepy is that very soon after this song was released, John Lennon was killed. This part really makes me sad… _Out on the ocean sailing away I can hardly wait To see you come of age But I guess we’ll both just have to be patient_ ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/34 "2004-05-31T00:37:36Z")
Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/35 "2004-05-31T03:10:34Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > **Eve** , that’s a great song! I wondered if he’d play it during some of the 9/11 memorial concerts, but we got _New York State of Mind_ instead. Actually, if I remember, he did play “Miami” at the Concert for New York, precluded with a statement something like “when I wrote this, it was science fiction. I would never imagined it could come true.” And it definitely chokes me up when I hear it now. I’d put it on a mix CD about a month before 9/11, and haven’t really been able to listen to any of the album, just knowing that’s on there. Other songs that do it: the finale of **Rent** , more because I picture the staging of the show when I hear it than the song itself. Dang…I know there’s others, I just have blocked them so thoroughly that I just can’t remember right now. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/36 "2004-05-31T04:40:23Z")
Several Pogues songs do it for me, especially “Fairy Tale of New York”, “Broad Majestic Shannon”, and their version of “And the Band Played ‘Waltzing Matilda’”. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/37 "2004-05-31T22:08:06Z")
The them from _Terms of Endearment_ never fails to make me misty. ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/38 "2004-05-31T23:32:44Z")
Alone Again …Naturally - by Gilbert O’Sullivan\* Just a little while from now If I’m not feeling any more sorrow I promise myself, to treat myself and visit a nearby tower Climbing to the top Gonna throw myself off In an effort to Make it clear to who ever what it like when you’re shattered Left standing in the lurch, at a church where people are saying “My God thats tough she stood him up no point in us remaining” I may as well go home cause now I’m on my own “Alone again…Natrually” To think that only yesterday I was cheerful, bright and gay Looking forward to, but wouldn’t do The role I was about to play But as if to knock me down the allergy came around and without so much as a mere touch shook me into little pieces leaving me to doubt talk about “GOD AND HIS MERCY” Oh if he really does exist, why did he desert me. In my hour of need, I truly am indeed Alone again…Natrually It seems to me that there are more hearts still in the world that can’t be mended left unattended what do we do…what do we do lyrics…lyrics lyrics" Looking back over the years and all else that appears I remember I cried when my father died never wishing to hide the tears She was 65 years old, my mother God rest her soul she has left to stand, by the only man, she;d ever had been taken Leaving her to starve with her heart, so badly broken despite encouragement for me no words were ever spoken When she passed away, I cried and cried all day Alone again…natrually Alone again …natrually ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/39 "2004-05-31T23:45:06Z")
Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chaplin. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/40 "2004-05-31T23:58:38Z")
Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden. Probably the saddest song possible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676.md?page=3)