It doesn’t have to be current. And cutting out the '70s would disallow some real, um, jewels.
Forty-one posts and no John Denver?!??
“Sunshine on My Shoulders”?
“Annie’s Song”?
“Grandma’s Feather Bed”? (OK, this may be more hokey than sappy.)
It takes on a COMPLETELY different angle in your mind after you see the video. I think the studio and Tyler had a TOTALLY different picture of the lyrics, especially “turn around bright eyes.” Everyone with a functioning mind interpreted that as lubby-dubby… the studio… well, I think the meeting went something like:
“What has eyes that are bright?”
“Ghosts of (or possibly possessed) choir children in ill fitting white robes, obviously! DUH!”
(And make sure you watch all of it, it just gets terrifying at sections)
My nominations:
Hey There Delilah - Plain White T’s
Here Without You - 3 Doors Down
I actually like both of these songs but they’re still incredibly sappy.
Watch the music video- this is not just a love song, it’s a song about how he’s gonna lose this girl. Gave me a whole different take on it.
“Never Let You Go” by Tal Bachman is pretty sappy. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band do some seriously sappy songs sometimes- “Nickel in the Well”, “Fire in the Sky”, “If This Ain’t Love”, “Down The Road”.
But it’s so much fun to sing along when you’re alone, especially in the car. It just dries out for over-emoting.
I know that, I think we just have different definitions of sappy.
I don’t see Feelings, as presented by the redoubtable Morris Albert, up there…
Li’l Markie: Diary of an Unborn Child. [/thread]
It takes three whole minutes to get to the singing part, but when you do it is the most demented sappy song ever.
Two country nominees:
Modern–“Moments” by Emerson Drive. Guy finds homeless man about to jump off a bridge. He tries to talk the man down. While talking, the jumpee reveals how he helped so many others as a younger man. All wedded to the stickly synth strings and pointless key change all bad modern country ballads have.
Older–“No Charge” by Melba Montgomery. Kid gives mom a bill for all the chores he does. Mom points out all the things (the pain of giving birth, paying for college, etc.) she does for him for no charge. At the end of the song, he writes “no charge” on his bill. Even worse string arrangement. Oddly enough written by Harlan Howard, who wrote classics like “I Fall to Pieces”.
We had joy, we had fun
We had seasonis in the sun…
I think it was “sung” by Terry Jacks
Rod McKuen figures into that some way, but I’ll be damned if i can remember how…
Q
I believe this also inspired an Ode to the SDMB back in the day. 
Hey, now, don’t be dissin’ Ol’ Possum.
I’d like to thank my parent’s record collection for inspiration
The Last Farewell - Roger Whittaker
Adrian - Jewel, the most self-indulgent track I’ve ever come across on any album.
So many turds…so little time. I agree with most of the above and won’t shame myself by disagreeing with a few.
“Cat’s in the Cradle” has never done it for me, nor has “Taxi.”
Let’s not omit “Blind Man in the Bleachers.”
That stupid “Playground in my mind,” i.e. “My name is Michael, I got a nickel…”
“Born Free,” with it’s memorable “Stay free…,” guaranteed to elicit feminine hygiene product associations.
“Afternoon Delight,” now that’s not really a turd—it’s more like projectile diarrhea, a fountain o’shit.
<slumps back in chair, exhausted>
ETA @Cazzle: Rocky and I’m not Lisa? NO, STOP!
ROGER WHITTAKER? ROGER WHITTAKER? SOMEBODY CALL 9-1-1!
<flatline>
Don’t forget these:
Love, Me by Collin Ray
Holes in the Floor of Heaven by Steve Wariner
and
How Can I Help You to Say Goodbye by Patti Loveless
He provided the English lyrics. This was originally a French song, done by the brillant Jacque Brel. McKuen and Jacks just ruined it.
What about Johnny Cash’s “Give My Love to Rose”? It’s pretty damned treacly. Homeless guy, just out of prison or some such–hero come across him as he lays dying in the street. “give all my money to Rose. Tell my son to help his mother around the house. Tell Rose to buy some pretty clothes.” etc.
yuck.
Whatever that song is by Elton John and Kiki Dee–I can’t stand it. Doubt it’s sappy, but I just hate it. No, I don’t want to know the title because then it will become an earworm.
phil’s a chick, I think.
Sappy in a good way-- **One Boy, One Girl **by Collin Raye. Makes me tear up every time.
lobotomyboy’s right. “Aaaa aaaa aaaaafternoon delight” wins. Ick. Now I need brain bleach.
What’s that one that was remade recently, by U2 I think? Car crash, girl dies, and now he’ll miss her forever and will let us know about it endlessly? Not Earth Angel, but something like it. That was full of yuck too.