Songs that make people cry?

[mellowman]

For me, the Duhks version of Annabel gets me every time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkviU7EKtG8

[Ryan51]

I've found that "Cat's in the Cradle" can evoke a deep emotional response in some people.

[slooky]

Originally Posted by Gomers

“Thinking of a Place” by War on Drugs. Reminds me of my late parents I lost 5 years ago. Knocks me sideways every time.

Beautiful song, The War on Drugs, are such a great band!

[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

[slooky]

I was hired last summer to perform at a pool party and I sang Neil Young's Harvest Moon. After the party, a young man came up to me and thanked me very much for playing that song. It was his fathers favorite song and he passed the year before. He said he sat there with his mother and it made her cry listening to me sing that song. He said, she and him were really touched by that.


Neil Diamonds song Shilo. My wife was a big fan and I asked if she ever listened to the words of Shilo. She hadn't, but she listened and said It almost made her cry.


Peter Gabriel wrote this song about an assassination and the assassinator's childhood


The streets are lined with camera crews
Everywhere he goes is news
Today is different
Today is not the same
Today I make the action
Take snapshot into the light, snapshot into the light
I'm shooting into the light

Four miles down the cavalcade moves on
Driving into the sun
If I worked it out right
They won't see me or the gun

Two miles to go, they're clearing the road
The cheering has really begun
I've got my radio
I can hear what's going on

I've been waiting for this
I have been waiting for this
All you people in TV land
I will wake up your empty shells
Peak-time viewing blown in a flash
As I burn into your memory cells
'Cos I'm alive

They're coming 'round the corner with the bikers at the front
I'm wiping the sweat from my eyes
-It's a matter of time
-It's a matter of will
And the governor's car is not far behind
He's not the one I've got in mind
'Cos there he is-the man of the hour, standing in the limousine
"I don't really hate you
-I don't care what you do
We were made for each other
-Me and you
I want to be somebody
-You were like that too
If you don't get given you learn to take
And I will take you."

Holding my breath
Release the catch
And I let the bullet fly

All turned quiet-I have been here before
Lonely boy hiding behind the front door
Friends have all gone home
There's my toy gun on the floor
Come back Mum and Dad
You're growing apart
You know that I'm growing up sad
I need some attention
I shoot into the light

[ascotia]

cry cry cry

[gfspencer]

Kate Wolf -

https://youtu.be/T2Kn3j7o2yY

[eyesore]

i have trouble getting thru" Cats in the cradle", but i could never get thru "leader of the band 'and especially "Father and Son" by Cat steven ;never ever!

[TBman]

Zapateado because I know I'll never be able to play this good

[TJN]

Elton John's performance of "Candle in the Wind" at Lady Di's funeral gets to me.

[Chipotle]

I've had people cry when I played Don McLean's "Vincent".

Eric Bogle's "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" has also gotten tears.

Finally, I wrote a verse to "The Parting Glass" for a friend of mine who passed away, and played it for a gathering of friends and family. Not a dry eye in the house, including mine:

For all my friends who have come so far
And for all my friends that I hold so dear
Though in time my voice may from mem'ry fade
Our laughter rings down through the years
And when the time comes, we must take our leave
I bid those who stay to celebrate, not grieve
So let us raise a glass, and lift our voices all
Goodnight, and joy be with you all

[blacknblues]

Roberta Flack - “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Bookstorecowboy

...Have you ever played a song that reliably made at least some people cry? What was it? How do you feel about playing songs like that?

Got a few that I do solo:
Affair on 8th Avenue (Gordon Lightfoot)
A Modern Day Version of Love (Neil Diamond)
Thanksgiving Prayer (Johnny Cash)
Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears (Brendan Graham/Celtic Woman)
Home from the Forest/The Boxer medley (Gordon Lightfoot/Paul Simon)

One that gets to a couple of people at one time or another is S&G's America, mainly because I lived a similar story (which I relate in detail to the audience - and which has changed the way I perform this song ever since) during the summer before I graduated college, and if I'm playing somewhere I know there's a few old doo-woppers in the crowd, I'll bring in Kenny Vance's (ex-Jay & the Americans) Looking for an Echo and trigger a lot of old memories...

The first vocalist with my last band - a grandmotherly-looking type who got her start in the heyday of the Greenwich Village coffeehouses - used to do an older-but-wiser, looking-backward rendition of Linda Ronstadt's Long Long Time (and had the pipes to pull it off) that brought out the handkerchiefs every time we performed...

As far as playing songs that provoke strong reactions of any kind, I have no qualms whatsoever: I've learned over nearly six decades that the most successful performances are the ones that touch the listeners on the deepest emotional levels - bittersweet memories, righteous anger, bellylaughs, the sheer excitement of the moment at hand - and since I'm basically a rocker at heart, I make every effort to break out and encompass the full range of experience within the course of a gig...

That's show business, baby...

[dirkronk]

Lots of sobworthy songs on this thread.
Me, I could list a bunch, as well, but I'll concentrate on the songwriters who seem to trigger the tear ducts without half trying. Sometimes tears of sadness, sometimes tears of sweetness. For me, among relatively recent artists, there is a top-tier triumvirate. Two have already been mentioned several times: Mark Knopfler and John Prine. The third is Jesse Winchester. If you don't get a little verklempt listening to Shama-Ling-Dong-Ding* or I Wave Bye-Bye, I'm guessing that you're not paying attention.

* Can't find the specific link with Elvis Costello's comments at the end after Jesse sings, but this is the same performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGabTMx8mOM

Thanks to everyone who's posted here. I'm making my way through the whole thread and listening to every suggestion.

Dirk

[lfoo6952]

Here are my 3 favorite tear jerkers:

Jesse Winchester's "Sham A Ling Dong Ding"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGabTMx8mOM

Chet Atkins' "I Still Can't Say Goodbye"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVSHdwWzLo4

Everly Brothers' "Ebony Eyes"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQOjxA8rrks