Songs that make people cry?

[Photojeep]

For the longest time I couldn't get through "On Eagle's Wings" at church without choking up. It's a little better now but I have to think of something else as I sing and play it or I can't get through the whole song.

When my Mother-In-Law died, my wife asked me to do the music for her funeral. I was able to hold it together through the entire service until I hit "Amazing Grace." When I got to the last chorus, I suddenly remembered it was my Mom's favorite song and was played at her funeral about 5 years earlier. That did it.

Now, whenever I sing "Amasing Grace" I can't help but remember all of my lost family members and friends and struggle to get through. Luckily I now sing in a much larger group and I can pull back from the mic and no one seems to notice.

There is another song written by a friend of mine, Mike Contreras, called "The Mother's Song" that I would always sing on Mother's Day at church. After Mass, many, many people would come up to me with tears in their eyes to thank me for singing it. Another friend asked that I sing it at his mother's celebration of life service as it was her favorite song. That time it was incredibly hard to get through!

Best,
PJ

[mawmow]

I would add Mem'ries by Barbra Streisand (in a movie with Omar Shariff) :
I was maybe some five years old while the song was playing in the movie while Streisand's character was crying over the bad guy...
It probably was the first time I saw an adult cry and I would always remember the scene (I was not watching the movie and do not know the story).

[Ryan51]

Richard Thompson's reworking of the 18th century ballad "Willie O' Winsbury " as "Farewell Farewell" sung by Sandy Denny in Fairport Convention is a real tearjerker. It was apparently written about Thompson's girlfriend who had recently died at the time.

[antbar]

The Killers “Quiet Town” is one I’ve been working on an acoustic arrangement of. First couple of times I played it I was a mess.

Something about playing it makes you feel it more?

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by TheGITM

Don't know if they have been mentioned, but these come to mind...

Shannon by Henry Gross -
https://youtu.be/R5Wpn3dFrEs

Blind Man in the Bleachers by Kenny Starr -
https://youtu.be/6YM_g3eq6CM

Season In the Sun by Terry Jacks -
https://youtu.be/-tPcc1ftj8E

I haven't heard Seasons in the Sun in many, many years but it could be a tearjerker depending on the circumstances of when you listen to it.

[leew3]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

We play this one just about every gig.
There have been a few times when I actually cracked singing it.
I’ve been known to warn the ladies to have some tissue handy.

I think it's the tender mandolin playing that gets them

[rpatkin]

The Waterboys recording of Yeats “The Stolen Child” … ‘course, Irish music is sort of equally divided between crying songs, drinking songs and fighting songs

[RussellHawaii]

Ok here’s my contribution. I could never play it, but listening to it is always emotional. I’ve never heard anyone else comment on the song in any way. - The Greatest Discovery by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, on his first album. On first hearing it, the listener doesn’t learn what it’s about until the last words.
I’d love to hear your comments about it ( not ridicule, please!)

https://youtu.be/Lmma-0OlBHI

[ksuaggie]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Tecumseh Valley by Townes Van Zandt. Chokes me up every time.

[egordon99]

Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Between Here and Gone" (about Dave Carter) and "My Heaven" (based on the book "The Lovely Bones")

[Rosewood99]

In a Good Way, Jason Isabell, “if we were vampires”




In a bad way, too many songs and artists that make me cry because they’re so bad.

[string1399]

Mama by B.J. Thomas. I'm not crying, you are!

[Martyn Eden]

Magnolia Wind. Guy Clark.

[pjmacd]

I haven't read the whole thread, so someone may have already mentioned "Who Now Will Sing Me Lullabies" by Kate Rusby.

[egordon99]

Originally Posted by pjmacd

I haven't read the whole thread, so someone may have already mentioned "Who Now Will Sing Me Lullabies" by Kate Rusby.

Kate Rusby singing the phone book could make me cry.