Songs that actually made you cry

[mvd]

It's the morning and I'm still not completely awake, but I can remember these right away:

Sherrie Austin - Streets Of Heaven
John Michael Montgomery - The Little Girl
Alanis Morissette - Mary Jane
Merle Haggard - Mama Tried

A song has to be very effective if I cry, because I rarely cry.

[meegbear]

1. Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People

from Wings Venus and Mars.

My sister passed away at 38 from breast cancer and she was a huge McCartney fan. It reminds me of her frailty during the final days.

[Skittles]

4. *sniff*

maybe we should have a thread on posts that bring tears to our eyes.

[Skittles]

2. The Living Years (Mike & the Mechanics)

always makes me sniffle a bit:

I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say.
I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years

[SiobhanClancy]

20. Me,too

I can't hear that song without thinking of my father.

[LanternWaste]

3. Bright Eyes

I guess for me the list of those songs change depending on what mood I'm in. Regardless though, whenever I hear the song "Bright Eyes" sung by Art Garfunkle (from the soundtrack to the movie, "Watership Down"), it takes an effort to prevent the tears from welling up.

"Tales from the Vienna Woods" by Strauss, and "I Remember Stan", by Lennie Niehaus pretty much do the same thing.

[leftyandproud]

5. Cannon in D

not sure who played it...but it is the newer version..same classical instruments, but very subtle digital enhancements (slight echo, etc)

you must hear it!!

[Nomad559]

7. I just saw Donnie Darko ... Again

Everytime I watch this movie, this song makes me cry. ;(

Mad World

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tommorow, no tommorow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very Mad World, Mad World
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very Mad World, Mad World

Edit - I Ripped the music video from the DVD :) It's on Kazza If anybody want's It.

Mad World - Donnie Darko
It's 22.3MB

[CBGLuthier]

15. You beat me to it

That version of Mad World is so good.

A little more info, it was originally a Tears for Fears song.

The version in Donnie Darko is by Gary Jules and it is so haunting and beautiful that it is hard to describe.

Our local arts theater is screening Donnie Darko this Halloween and I am looking forward to it although I will have to take a handkerchief to wipe away tears before the lights come up.

[noonwitch]

21. Is it Pachelbel's canon?

There are some really good versions. It may make you cry because it was the music the kids were singing in the choir in the movie "Ordinary People", which is a very good, but heart-rending movie. If you have only seen Mary Tyler Moore doing comedy, it will change your view of her forever.

[dawg]

6. Mama Tried ...

My country-lovin' wife introduced that song to me. Good choice!

[Democrats unite]

8. This song still has me crying

John Ashcroft singing God Belss America.

[BurtWorm]

23. That has me puking.

:puke:

[otohara]

9. Mood Swings / State of Independence I II III

w/ chrissie hynde - and Martin Luther King's - I Have A Dream, speech

[RememberJohn]

10. Patches I'm dependin' on ya son... to pull the family through...

Didn't make me cry but still kinda sad.

Also, "Indiana Wants Me" - sad to thing you could be separated from your spouse like that. "...I wish I had you to talk to..."

[Booberdawg]

11. What a Wonderful World

... for the funeral of a 19 year old;(

[deutsey]

12. Tears in Heaven by Clapton

:-(

[SacredCow]

13. Most recent in memory would be

Unimaginable by The Monarchs.

But I'm not expecting too many people to be familiar with this band.

[Bok_Tukalo]

14. Mr Bojangles - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

He danced for throws at minstrel shows and county fairs
Through out the south
He spoke with tears of fifteen years how his dog and him
Had traveled about
His dog up and died, he up and died, after twenty years he still grieves

He said I dance now at every chance in honky tonks
For drink and tips
But most of the time I spend behind these county bars
'Cause I drinks a bit'
He shook his head and as he shook his head
I heard someone ask him `Please'
Please ..........

Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles
Mr. Bojangles, dance!


(Only song to ever make me cry - "Raising Arizona" and "Empire of the Sun" were the only movies to do so)

[Champion Jack]

16. "The Battle Hymn Of The Republican"

The saddest song ever

[thom1102]

17. Leader of the Band- Dan Fogelberg

The Rainbow Connection-Kermit the Frog
Children Will Listen (Into the Woods)- Bernadette Peters

[corarose]

18. The Little Girl made me cry

No kidding!

[Champion Jack]

19. This one allways makes me blubber like a school girl

AIN'T WE CRAZY
(Haywire Mac)

Now, I know a little ditty,
It's as crazy as can be.
The guy who wrote it said he wanted it,
And handed it to me.
I found I couldn't use it
Because it sounded blue,
And that's the very reason why
I'm handing it to you.

It's a song the alligators sing
While coming through the rye,
As they serenade the elephants
Up in the trees so high.
The iceman hums this ditty
As he shovels in the cold,
And the monkeys join the chorus
Up around the nothern pole.

Ain't we crazy,
Ain't we crazy,
This is the way we pass the time away.
Ain't we crazy,
Ain't we crazy,
We're going to sing this song all night today.

It was midnight on the ocean,
Not a streetcar was in sight,
And the sun was shining brightly,
For it rained all day that night.
'Twas a summer night in winter,
And the rain was snowing fast,
And a barefoot boy with shoes on
Stood a-sitting in the grass.

It was evening, and the rising sun
Was setting in the west.
The little fishes in the trees
Were huddled in their nest.
The rain was pouring down
And the moon was shining bright,
And everything that you could see
Was hidden out of sight.

While the organ peeled potatoes,
Lard was rendered by the choir.
The sexton rung the dishrag,
Someone set the church on fire.
"Holy smoke!" The preacher shouted.
In the rain he lost his hair.
Now his head resembles heaven,
For there is no parting there.

The cows were making cowslips
And the bells were ringing wet,
And the bumblebees were making bums
And smoking cigarettes.
And a man slept in a stable
And came out a little ho(a)rse,
So he hopped upon his golf sticks
And drove all around the course.

Ain't we crazy,
Ain't we crazy,
This is the way we pass the time away.
Ain't we crazy,
Ain't we crazy,
We're goin' to sing this song all night today.

It was midnight on the ocean,
Not a horsecar was in sight
As I stepped into the drugstore
To get myself a light.
The man behind the counter
Was a woman old and gray
Who used to peddle shoestrings
On the road to Mandalay.

"Good evening, sir," the woman said,
And her eyes were bright with tears
As she put her head beneath her feet
And stood that way for years.
Her children, six, were orphans,
Except one tiny tot
Who lived in a house across the street
Above a vacant lot.

Ain't we crazy,
Ain't we crazy,
But this is the way we pass the time away.
Ain't we crazy,
Ain't we crazy,
We're going to sing this song all night today.

[Boudicea]

22. I'm not a country music fan, but one day I actually listened to...

He Stopped Loving Her Today, George Jones, of course. I was driving down the interstate blubbering like an idiot.

[BurtWorm]

24. Show tunes heard in a theater with a live band usually do it to me

I once saw the musical version of "My Favorite Year" and maybe because it was the first musical I'd seen in several years, my eyes watered every time the band started up. And then I would start to sniff and quiver like a baby. And the weird thing is, the music was horrible. The musical sucked (except for Andrea Martin). And people all around me were looking at me like I was a total idiot. To save face, I mouthed, "Air conditioning!"

[Coffee Coyote]

25. can a coyote cry?

Could be. :-)

"Simple Man" - Lynyrd Skynyrd, the live version from One More From The Road. Van Zant says it is based on advice his grandmother gave him as a child. It reminds me of one of my grandmothers, whom I learned much from as a youth.

"Searching For A Heart" - Warren Zevon, from Mr. Bad Example. This made me tear up long before I learned he had cancer.

"Blind Willie McTell" - Bob Dylan, from The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3. Dylan mourns for the world, and I feel his pain.

There's 3, which will do.

[northzax]

26. disturbingly: "coat of many colours'

Emmy Lou Harris or Dolly Parton, whichever.

Back through the years
I go wonderin' once again
Back to the seasons of my youth
I recall a box of rags that someone gave us
And how my momma put the rags to use
There were rags of many colors
Every piece was small
And I didn't have a coat
And it was way down in the fog
Momma sewed the rags together
Sewin' every piece with love
She made my coat of many colors
That I was so proud of
As she sewed, she told a story
From the bible, she had read
About a coat of many colors
Joseph wore and then she said
Perhaps this coat will bring you
Good luck and happiness
And I just couldn't wait to wear it
And momma blessed it with a kiss
Chorus:

My coat of many colors
That my momma made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly
Although we had no money
I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me

So with patches on my britches
Holes in both my shoes
In my coat of many colors
I hurried off to school
Just to find the others laughing
And making fun of me
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me

And oh I couldn't understand it
For I felt I was rich
And I told them of the love
My momma sewed in every stitch
And I told 'em all the story
Momma told me while she sewed
And how my coat of many colors
Was worth more than all their clothes

But they didn't understand it
And I tried to make them see
That one is only poor
Only if they choose to be
Now I know we had no money
But I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me
Made just for me

[Nay]

27. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Makes me weep every time.

[indigo32]

28. Kathy Mattea

Where've you been...

and Tears in Heaven by Clapton

[tjdee]

29. Wonder by Natalie Merchant, and UGH, UGH, I hope you dance.

I blame my kid.

I cannot tell DU how much I dislike 99.99% of country music.
And, I cannot STAND the music in the song either, but something about "And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance..." whew, I'm getting all misty right now!

Also, Wonder by Natalie Merchant...that's the only Merchant song I like (okay, and Candy Everybody Wants and These are Days). She's way too mellow for me in general, but man, the whole thing... "People see me...I'm a challenge, to your balance...I'm over your head, how I confound you, and astound you to know I must be one of the wonders, of God's own creation....and as far as you see you can offer me no explanation..."

I'm telling you, it's that cheesy mommy thing.
How embarrassing.
:scared:

And also, Killing in the Name of! By Rage Against the Machine!
And March of the Pigs! By Nine Inch Nails!
Yeah!
Crying!
;-)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. Brahms Requiem

I rehearsed it the day after a dear friend, who was a violist, passed away. The opening movement, Selig Sind, highlights the violas, and doesn't involve the violins at all. She was to have played on that particular gig, so her loss was felt very deeply by all that were there.

I still hear Debbie playing whenever I perform this piece.