Songs That Make You Cry

Two for me:
Cat Stevens' Father and Son
Joni Mitchell's Last Time I Saw Richard

 

zeke -
Please note first entry on my list.

 

Don't even get me started on "Let Her Roll" or "Picasso's Mandolin."

 

My Skin by Natalie Merchant

He's My Son by Mark Schultz

I Know You By Heart by Lee Lessack My mom died in October, and there's this line in that song, "You left in autumn, the leaves were turning" that rips my heart out every time.

 

Tears in Heaven -- Eric Clapton
I Can't Make You Love Me -- Bonnie Raitt

 

God Only Knows: The Wilsons et al
Sunshine on My Shoulders, Annie's Song and Leaving On a Jet Plane by Herr Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.

 

The Trapeze Swinger by Iron and Wine, most beautiful lyrics I've ever heard.

 

Sad songs

"So Lonesome I Could Cry" - Hank Williams.
(here's the Bob Dylan - Johnny Cash version) -

(and the Elvis Presley version -

- Slaid Cleaves

- Rod Picott (can't find Slaid Cleaves' version on YouTube)

 

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
Like me he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry

Read an interview with Steve Earle one time, and he said that last verse was some of the most perfect songwriting ever, not just in country music. It certainly captures the moment.

 

Israel Kamakawiwo Ole'
" Somewhere Over The Rainbow"

Tears me up.

Here's a utube link ...

 

Hardly any song makes me cry, but the aforementioned Danko/Manuel by DBT came awfully close.

 

Rice Rice Baby by Weird Al.