# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/41 "2004-06-01T00:25:14Z")
Lots, but the first one that pops into my mind is “Company” by Rickie Lee Jones. A very dear friend of mine died around the time I was listening to that album, and the music and performance are heartbreaking, but the lyrics rip me up (partial!) to this day: \*I’ll remember you too clearly But I’ll survive another day Conversations to share When there’s no one there I’ll imagine what you’d say I’ll see you in another life now, baby I’ll free you in my dreams But when I reach across the galaxy I will miss your company \* ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/42 "2004-06-01T00:33:54Z")
Amazing Grace It’s one of the songs that my children picked for my wife’s (their mother’s) funeral last summer. July 11th will be one year. It was her grandmother’s favorite song. Wow, Sorry to bring everybody down. ☹ E3 ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/43 "2004-06-01T00:37:15Z")
Also, can someone help me figure out what other song breaks my heart…it was a fairly big hit, I think, sung by a male solo singer. It had pretty big orchestration on it, and it was a song inspired by or about his father, and the thrust of it was telling people you love them while they are alive to hear it. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/44 "2004-06-01T01:18:56Z")
[THIS LINK TO THIS SONG REMINDS ME OF MY RELATIONSHIP TO MY OWN FATHER.](http://www.birdsnest.com/catcrad.htm) > [@](#): > > A child arrived just the other day, > He came to the world in the usual way. > But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay. > He learned to walk while I was away. > And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew, > He’d say, “I’m gonna be like you, dad. > You know I’m gonna be like you.” > > And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon, > Little boy blue and the man in the moon. > “When you coming home, dad?” “I don’t know when, > But we’ll get together then. > You know we’ll have a good time then.” ☹☹☹ ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/45 "2004-06-01T01:34:08Z")
You Can Still Be Free by Savage Garden Into The West by Annie Lennox ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/46 "2004-06-01T01:36:50Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Also, can someone help me figure out what other song breaks my heart…it was a fairly big hit, I think, sung by a male solo singer. It had pretty big orchestration on it, and it was a song inspired by or about his father, and the thrust of it was telling people you love them while they are alive to hear it. > > Any ideas? I’m thinking “The Living Years” by Mike & The Mechanics. Male singer, lots of orchestration, mentions a father’s death … yep, all there. ---
**Author:** ![Squonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squonk)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/47 "2004-06-01T01:38:30Z")
The first song that occured to me was “Keep Me in Your Heart.” In fact, that whole album (_The Wind_) gets to me because he knew he was dying when he wrote/recorded it. some other “favorite” sad songs: - We’ll Meet Again, Johnny Cash - Red Dirt Girl, Emmylou Harris - I Grieve, Peter Gabriel - Beautiful Wife, Natalie Merchant - That Song I always hear on the World Cafe around Christmas about the one-day Christmas truce when the British and German soldiers played soccer, Some country or folk singer whose first name may or may not be Joe. **Stoid** - Some more info would help (like what decade it might be from). The only song that comes to my mind immediately is “The Living Years” by Mike and the Mechanics. I doubt that’s it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/48 "2004-06-01T02:16:08Z")
Aside from my car dying\*, I haven’t actually cried since I was eight. However, _Puff the Magic Dragon_ always got to me back in my youth. REM’s _Losing my Religion_\*\* has managed the response of getting angry to cover any emotion I might really be feeling, though. _I’m a guy. Grandma dies? I’ll miss her cooking, but she had a good, full life. Best friend, who I’ve made a point of not talking to for two years due to a fight, “accidentally” blew his own head off with a shotgun?_\* Pussy couldn’t handle it. My car’s totaled? I blubber like a baby for the better part of an hour. \*\*first double starred item got plenty of radio play about when I heard about the second double starred item. ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/49 "2004-06-01T02:18:33Z")
Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton. I can not sit through this song. It reminds me too much of what I have lost. When my grandma died a few years ago, I begged my family not to play that song, and they did any way. I got up and left half way through the memorial service. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/50 "2008-04-20T15:55:31Z")
[I Come And Stand At Every Door](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XhSPQstrZDw), This Mortal Coil. > [@](#): > > [I come and stand at every door > But no one hears my silent tread > I knock and yet remain unseen > For I am dead, for I am dead.](http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/742.html) [Come Away Melinda](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlef9pDMssw), Uriah Heep. > [@](#): > > [Daddy, daddy, come and look > See what I have found > A little ways away from here > While digging in the ground](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/u/uriah+heep/come+away+melinda_20142504.html) Tim Rose did it better, but not by much. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/51 "2008-04-20T16:11:08Z")
Fallin’- LeBlanc & Carr ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/52 "2008-04-20T16:18:46Z")
[QUOTE=tremorviolet] “Feed Jake” by the Pirates of the Mississipi I guess 'cause it’s an animal thing which always makes me tear up… [/QUOTE] My one small claim to (vicarious) fame: My dad’s second-best friend mixed that album. The song itself makes me cry, but the extra weight of knowing that someone who was a big part of my childhood was involved with making such beautiful music makes an extra-big lump in my chest. Great song pick!! As for my nomination…well, I’m hard-pressed to find a song that doesn’t make me cry. So I’ll take it a little further and nominate one that has lyrics that are already cry-worthy, but with the addition of a musical saw, literally takes my breath away: _In the Aeroplane Over the Sea_ by Neutral Milk Hotel. When I’d listen to it on my MP3 player at work, I’d actually have people coming up to me asking if I was okay, because I tend to make these choking noises. Really the most moving music I’ve ever heard ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/53 "2008-04-20T16:33:01Z")
Ricky Skaggs’ Halfway Home Cafe: Chorus: I’m goin’ home My family’s waitin’ for me, goin’ home I’m amazed that they still love me They forgive me for the bitter seeds I’ve sown Heaven knows I’ve been away too long So now I’m going home. Songs about home always make me cry. Not in a bad way though. And for **Squonk** : > [@](#): > > That Song I always hear on the World Cafe around Christmas about the one-day Christmas truce when the British and German soldiers played soccer, Some country or folk singer whose first name may or may not be Joe. That’d be [Christmas in the Trenches](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9coPzDx6tA) by John McCutcheon. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/54 "2008-04-20T22:14:40Z")
**Tom Waits** - _A Little Rain_ always gets to me: > [@](#): > > She was 15 years old > And never seen the ocean > She climbed into a van > With a vagabond > And the last thing she said > Was, “I love you mom.” > > And a little rain > Never hurt no one > And a little rain > Never hurt no one Also, I see someone mentioned _Black_ by **Pearl Jam** already. I didn’t care much for the song the first few times I heard it but when I paid attention to the lyrics it became a favourite. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/55 "2008-04-20T23:24:03Z")
Ironically enough - _Don’t Cry_ - Seal > [@](#): > > The challenges, we took were hard enough. > They get harder now. > Even when we think that we’ve had enough. > Don’t feel alone, > Cause it’s I you understand. > I’m your sedative, > Take a piece of me whenever you can. > Don’t cry… you’re not alone. > …don’t be so hard on yourself… > Don’t cry… tonight my baby > …Those tears are for…someone else… > Don’t cry… you’ll always be loved > …I hear your voice on the phone… > Don’t cry… tonight sweet baby > …I hear you feel… so alone. > Don’t cry… don’t cry… don’t cry… don’t you cry… > Cry… Don’t cry… > Cause you still be loved > Don’t cry > Don’t cry tonight ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/56 "2008-04-21T00:50:54Z")
[Holes in the Floor of Heaven](http://youtube.com/watch?v=6gGoKxa8zyA) [How Can I Help You Say Goodbye](http://youtube.com/watch?v=z4F_cXGQN9k) [Alyssa Lies](http://youtube.com/watch?v=vvBbBQOifx4) [The Little Girl](http://youtube.com/watch?v=uRriDcrU7-Q) [Go Rest High on That Mountain](http://youtube.com/watch?v=CRyKg5xMaXA) ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/57 "2008-04-21T00:58:41Z")
[Love, Me](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ND7Q6DOdsAY) ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/58 "2008-04-21T01:27:45Z")
A couple. One just did today. 1. Simon and Garfunkel. The end of " Old Friends", which is I believe a separate song. It is about old photographs. 2. In a similar vein ( not oddly ), Billy Joel’s “Souvenir”. 3. “Hey Jude” has been known to just wreck me. 4. “Blackbird”, also by the Beatles. 5. “Miami 2017” by Billy Joel. Moreso after 9/11, but it got to me in the mid-1970’s when it first came out on “Turnstiles”. ( Total aside: **Eve** ’s back !! 😃 ) Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![joazito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@joazito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joazito)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/59 "2008-04-21T02:37:44Z")
“Cat’s in the Cradle” ([wikipedia link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_in_the_Cradle) ) For me it signifies the death of a child’s simple dream of playing with dad: > [@](#): > > I’d love to dad if I could find the time > You see my new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu > But it’s sure nice talking to you, dad … > And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me > He’d grown up just like me > My boy was just like me …". ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676/60 "2008-04-21T05:13:23Z")
The pungent, poignant, plangent songs of Elvis Costello do it for me. **Alison** , **Party Girl** , and most especially **The Favourite Hour** - the song I’m having at my funeral: > [@](#): > > Figure hanging on a leather band > Cog consults the watch he cups in his hand > Bejewelled movement measures lost and vanished time > Pray for the boy who makes his bed in cold earth and quicklime > > (Chorus) > So stay the hands, arrest the time > Till I am captured by your touch > Blessings I don’t count, small mercies and such > The flags may lower as we approach the favourite hour > > Now there’s a tragic waste of brutal youth > Strip and polish this unvarnished truth > The tricky door that gapes beneath the ragged noose > The crippled verdict begs again for the lamest excuse… > > (Repeat Chorus) > > Put out my eyes so I may never spy > Waving branches as they’re waving goodbye > Their vile perfume brings to my mouth a bitter taste > The murmuring brooks had best speak up, it’s a terrible waste… > > (Repeat Chorus) [Note to mods: as these lyrics are published in full on EC’s [own site](http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Favourite_Hour), I don’t imagine there’s any problem in posting them in full here too] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-make-you-tear-up/247676.md?page=4)