Songs that make people cry?

[llew]

Chris Stapleton's "Maggie's Song". A dog song will get me every time! And I had a "Maggie"...beautiful Australian Shepherd who almost made 16 years!

[Glennwillow]

I was listening just yesterday through external speakers to Dan Fogelberg's "The Leader of the Band." By the time it was over my wife came in with tears running down her face to give me a hug.



I find that this song strikes a sad chord not only because of the inevitable conflicts between fathers and sons and how hard it is to express love in this relationship, but also because of Dan Fogelberg's relatively early death.

Dan Fogelberg has said that this was perhaps his most important song and that nothing was left unsaid.

- Glenn

[Gas]

This is a goodern

https://youtu.be/Eu77tX7uDvc

[foxo]

Tonight I am going to The Sad Song Club in Edinburgh, an open mic exclusively for, you guessed it, sad songs. I’m not prone to crying but I’ll let you know if anything moved me to tears.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

“Where Have You Been” as sung by Kathy Mattea and written by her husband, Jon Vezner along with Don Henry and Craig Carrouthers. Makes me cry every time I hear it.

I was a pretty big KM fan back in the day, but I'd not heard that song previously....I just drained my tear ducts when she sang the line about being in "separate beds on different floors" - direct reminder of an awful part of the last few years for me on 9/20/17.

One of my favorite songs of all time was written by Tim O'brien and sung by Kathy here:

[Mr. Paul]

Originally Posted by foxo

Tonight I am going to The Sad Song Club in Edinburgh, an open mic exclusively for, you guessed it, sad songs. I’m not prone to crying but I’ll let you know if anything moved me to tears.

LOL ... I put this one away waiting for a "saddest song ever" contest but the Sad Song Club sounds perfect . It started with a sad chorus and with every verse explaining how we got there it just turned downright tragic. Played it for my wife, she cried, then at our local song circle. The tears there prompted me to put it on the shelf.

BILLY GOT SICK

CHORUS
When he read the first line
of her last letter
Billy got sick
and he never got better


Momma'd always pray
for Billy's peace of heart
She saw it only once
Then watched it fall apart

Billy loved that girl
... and Momma did too
But she warned him of her nature
While Billy's love grew

She was all he ever wanted
But in the end
Billy lost his only girl
To his only friend

CHORUS
When he'd read the first line
Of her last letter
Billy got sick
And he never got better

She'd been the only light
to shine through his shell
and from that day on
Billy was not well

He left them all behind
Mamma knew (it was) for good
She fell to her knees
Where her boy had stood

A pirate on the coast
then way out west
the seas never calmed
over Billy's sunken chest

His heart in the wind
running an endless race
Billy never found a morning
He could embrace


CHORUS
That day he read the first line
Of her last letter
Billy got sick
And he never got better

All his friends said
they were better together
a long time ago
back when Billy was better

Before he'd read the first line
in her last letter
Before he got sick
Before he never, ever ever, got better

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Here are a couple that get me:

Go Rest High on that Mountain--Vince Gill

If you don't cry watching this, you have no soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l11oCvBxnQ0

[Dave Hicks]

Dink's Song always gets my wife going - but it might be the back story rather than the song itself.

D.H.

[gfspencer]

I guess it's because I spent 37 years in the Army . . . . Dire Straits - "Brothers In Arms"

[davidbeinct]

Once at a picking party a new guy sung American Flowers by Birds of Chicago. I was weeping by the end. He did a good job with it. The band’s rendition is spectacular.
I was sipping red cream soda, I was listening to Johnny Prine…

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Bookstorecowboy

I once played the "Streets of Laredo" for some kids in Budapest (they spoke English). The idea was that they would learn to sing the song. But after I played it once and explained the lyrics, then played it again, some of them started crying. They begged me not to play it again and asked for a happy song. Of course I changed to something else (I forget which song; I probably knew at least one happy song). But I was wondering today: 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?

Hi all…
I once played Mr. Bojangles, and a lady tipped me $20. As she walked by she said, "Thanks for the song, my dog died. His name was Bojangles."

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by ewalling

In teaching literature, I sometimes have to get a grip on myself to keep it together when talking about certain stories and poems.

Same here. Especially with poems.

In one of my seminars I led the class through an analysis of the auditory rhetoric of David Benoit's piece, "9-11", on his Orchestral Stories album. One of the students began to weep during our second listening of the composition, and soon the entire class, instructor included, was in tears.

[gfspencer]

Originally Posted by nostatic

If you don't cry watching this, you have no soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l11oCvBxnQ0

That one is special!

[FingahPickah]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rd8VktT8xY

[jaymarsch]

Kathy Mattea's beautiful and soulful voice lends itself to carrying the poignancy of a sad song. Here's another one with a lovely acoustic guitar accompaniment:



Best,
Jayne