Pajiba

1. Defying Gravity, "Wicked" (shut up)
2. One Day More, Les Miserables (I have a thing for musicals)
3. 5am, Tori Amos
4. Do What You Have To Do, Sarah McLachlan
5. Space reserved for whatever amazing piece of music my orchestra is playing that semester, there's always one that gets me.

"Treasure" - The Cure

"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" - Nirvana Unplugged

"Cat's in the Cradle" - Harry Chapin

"Mad World" - Michael Andrews Version...dunno...if i hear it at the right (wrong?) time it can get me.

"Love, Reign O'er Me" - Pearl Jam...got swept up in it during the movie...

::sigh::... Now i have to go cut myself.

Hm... I can only think of three.

1. "Trouble," Cat Stevens
2. "The Size of Our Love," Sleater-Kinney
3. "A Better Son/Daughter," Rilo Kiley

1) Famous Blue Raincoat: Leonard Cohen (literally, the saddest song in the world)
2) Whatever song Sarah McLachlan is singing in the ASPCA commercials because you just can't associate a piece of music with abandoned and injured dogs and not expect me to weep every time I hear it.
Some of the Brits and assorted other non-US Pajibans may know my #3
3) Two Little Boys: Rolf Harris (awful bloody song but makes me cry every time)
4) Carrickfergus: Van Morrison & Chieftains (there are actually many more versions since it's a folk song but I'm listing the one that most people may have heard)
5) Every song that I have held close to my heart that has subsequently been used for crass commercial purposes because mis-using a certain kind of song is just evil and makes me cry(i.e., Pogues:Sunnyside of the Street for Cadillac, Clash: London Calling for Jaguar, etc.)
Sorry, I know not a great song list, but I have to be honest.

1. slip slidin' away - paul simon
2. bongo man - jimmy cliff (something about my dad?)
3. will the circle be unbroken - the neville brothers version (it's the chief jolly verse that gets me everytime. i guess i've known alot of chief jollies)
4. hearts and bones - paul simon (the man has written some seriously beautiful and sad lyrics)
5. space oddity - david bowie (okay maybe it doesn't make me cry now but when i was a little girl i thought it was the darkest thing i'd ever heard.)

1. Hallelujah (Buckley version. and yes, duh.)
2. Nightswimming by REM
3. Everybody Hurts...REM. They also have their own corner of this market
4. Holes in the Floor of Heaven by Colin Raye
5. Iris..The Goo Goo Dolls

Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" is about it, and that only because I now forever associate it with Eddie Guerrero's death.

"Series of Dreams" by Bob Dylan is so beautiful that it chokes me up, though, just about every time. So that's a close second.

father of mine by everclear

Times of Your Life - Paul Anka - For all you Parents out there

1. The Best of What's Around, DMB: It reminds me of the summer of 1998, after my senior year of high school. This was the summer that me and my friends Dawn, Tommy, Little Mike, and my best friend Jay discovered each other and became inseparable. Little Mike was killed in a car accident 3 1/2 years ago, so I tear up at his memory and the memory of how young we were and how much fun we had. I love this song.

2. Fast Car, Tracy Chapman: Both the melody and her voice slay me, but mainly this song makes me think of my father (he loves Chapman) and how great our relationship used to be and reminds me of the apathetic asshole he's become.

3. Where Will I Be, Emmy Lou Harris: The way she wails causes goosebumps.

4. The World I Know, Collective Soul: Shut. Up. It makes me weep.

5. Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel: I adore this song, but it depresses me for god knows what reason. I have a masochistic relationship with this song...it hurts, but it hurts so GOOD.

How exciting, I almost never get in early on these afternoon comment diversions!

Here are some tearjerking songs that I love, complete with commentary, because I feel wordy today (sorry, everybody):

Aftermath - REM (For some reason, one part always makes me overwhelmingly sad: "So you work it out, overfeed the cat / and the plants are dry and they need to drink, so you do your best and you flood the sink / sit down in the kitchen and cry")

And Now The Day Is Done - Ron Sexsmith ("The sun has gone, it arose but never shone"...sniff!)

Harrowdown Hill - Thom Yorke (Even without the backstory, it's such an emotion-filled song)

Camera - REM ("I still like you, can you remember?")

Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong - Radiohead (Sigh, now that's love...)

And for good measure, here are two songs that I don't often listen to because they just plain depress me:

Misguided Angel - Cowboy Junkies

Fiddler's Green - The Tragically Hip

These five are usually the closers on my "slit your wrists for love" mixes:

5. "Dead Flowers," Townes van Zandt

4. "Almost Blue," Elvis Costello

3. "All I Left Behind," Emmylou Harris (the most heartbreaking female voice out there)

2. "Wild Horses," The Rolling Stones

1. "Jackson," Lucinda Williams

The thing about sobfest tunes is that one person's "oh my God that breaks my heart" song is the next person's "WTF? How can you get the snots over that corny song?" song. (To give one example, U2's "One" just makes me roll my eyes.)

But okay, I'll reveal my inner sentimental cornball self a little:

1) "End of the Game" by Sting. By the time he gets to the last verse I am a useless lump of wet pain.

2) "Brick" by Ben Folds Five. The first time I heard this I was driving and I had to pull over. Rips my heart out.

3) Sarah McLaughlin (judging by these posts she is the Weepy Queen!) did a cover of "The Rainbow Connection" for a kids' album. Go ahead and snicker, you fucks. I dare you to listen to what she does with this simple, beautiful song. If you are not moved you were never a child.

Oh, God, michael: "Night Swimming." Yes indeed.

I can only come up with four. I'm sure there are a few more that I can't remember (I know there is definitely one or two by Colin Hay) but I don't like to sonically cut myself so I generally stay away from tear-jerking songs. Here's my four in no particular order:

1. God Knows I'm Good by Bowie (This song makes me cry like a baby. You cannot get any sadder than an impoverished old woman being arrested for stealing bread in order to eat and feeling bad about the act.)

2. Some Things Last A Long Time by Daniel Johnston (This song rips my heart out. The first time I heard it was when it was covered by David J. So I hunted down the original. Holy God, I don't know which version was more heart-wrenching.)

3. On Eagle's Wings by whatever church choir is singing it at the time (Always made me cry, but since it was played at my grandfather's funeral I'm nothing but a puddle of tears every time I hear it. Shit, thinking about it makes me tear up. Moving on...)

4. Let It Be by The Beatles (Yeah! What of it, bitches? Something about this song makes me verklempt.)

"Dust in the Wind" and "Carry on my Wayward Son" by Kansas.
Both because the connection I've made between them and people that have died.
The former because...well have you listened to the lyrics?
Unfortunately, the latter used to be a happy song, reminding me of marching band (geek alert!). But...no more.

Iron and Wine covering "You Were Always on My Mind"

Maggie Gyllenhaal singing "Just the Way You Are" in Happy Endings.

"I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab

"Desire" by Ryan Adams

"Casimir Pulaski Day" by Sufjan Stevens

and Many many Bob Dylan songs choke me up.

1."What A Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
2."I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie
3."Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley
4."Hurt" by Christina Aguilera
5."Breath Me" by Sia

1. Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog - I can get through it without crying now unless I'm actually holding my son. When I found out that Sarah McLachlan had recorded a version of it, I started crying JUST ON PRINCIPLE.
2.Life Is Sweet - Natalie Merchant Every. Time.
3.Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens - Because motherhood makes you pathetic and weak!
4. That I Would Be Good - Alanis Morissette
5. 500 Miles - Peter Paul and Mary

1. on eagle's wings - the closing hymn at my dad's funeral. it's been 15 years, and still...
2. mercy (clumsy lovers) - "look her in they and try for mercy."
3. when will i be loved? (elvis costello) - teen angst and heartbreak.
4. chicago (sufjan stevens) - something about that swelling at each chorus...dunno why.
5. what a crying shame (the mavericks) - "'cause i believed in you / from the beginnning / i thought our love was true / now it's all ending." just a lovely, sad lyric.

sigh...

Plus a shout out for the Cowboy Junkies mention. My brother likes to the Junkies oeuvre "music to kill yourself by".

sorry. "look her in THE EYE and try for mercy."

Hurt - Johnny Cash vers.

I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie (If you have ever seen this youtube video with the sketchbook you will understand)

Cold Water - Damien Rice

Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell (Her re-recorded version. The depth she brings to it now blows me away.)

Brick - Ben Folds Five (This one still gets me. Mostly because it instantly returns me to my 13 year old self.)

In My Life- Ben Lee cover
I just graduated college-enough said.

Go Rest High on the Mountain - Vince Gill (Normally am not a fan of bluegrass, but this song was played at my grandfather's funeral and everytime I hear it ((not very often)) it doesn't just bring tears to my eyes, it makes me ball.)

Butterfly- Weezer
Rivers Cuomo's voice is so heartbreaking in this song.

You've got a Friend- Carole King
Did I mention that I just graduated from a woman's college. That just went co-ed. Where most of my friends live states away, if not in different countries?

Samson- Regina Spektor
I have no idea why this song makes me cry. The first time I heard it, my eyes just filled with tears.

My Apartment- Ben Kweller
The frustrations of not knowing where you fit inthe world are beautifully laid out here.

**Love the one about Puff the Magic Dragon. Made me cry as a kid.

No particular order:

Hallelujah--whichever version

On The Turning Away-Pink Floyd
(not teary per se, just puts you in an introspective "all my difficulties are meaningless" mood

Bridge Over Troubled Water-S&G

Started a Joke-Bee Gees

Imagine - John Lennon, because it's all we'll ever be able to do, imagine living a life of peace. fucking politicians!

Fur Elise - Beethoven. I don't know if classical music can be called a "song" per se, but this moves me.

Color MY World - Chicago. My sister's favorite song before she died.

I Want You - Elvis Costello. I guess this makes me more mad than sad, but in the end I always come up short so ... yeah, here it is.

Anything by Madonna - Because her voice can be heard.

I can only think of three at the moment:

1. Why - Annie Lennox
2. Walk Away - Ben Harper
3. The Water is Wide - I have sung this at a bunch of weddings, but recently sung it at a friend's funeral, so it will always be associated with that day.

Songs with beautiful instrumentation or an amazing voice also get to me, so I tear up at a lot of opera and classical/choral music.

1) "Mess to be Made" The Format
2) "Trouble" Ray LaMontagne
3) "Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" Colin Hay
4) "Tragedy" Brandi Carlile
5) "Waste of Paint" Bright Eyes

And pretty much anything by Sarah McLachlan

Aprhodite - I totally second "Samson." Song KILLS me. I think it's just the tone in her voice - it's so MOURNFUL.

As for the rest:
- "Putting the Damage on," Tori Amos. And probably 27 other Tori tracks, but I'll restrain myself.
- "Nightswimming," REM. Michael Stipe will get tyour tears, one way or another
- "The Promise," Tracy Chapman. Played over and over as I mourned the death of my high school relationship
- "Tiny Vessels," Death Cab. Coldhearted and heartbreaking at the same time
- ANYTHING AT ALL by Patsy Cline. And if you don't cry at Patsy Cline, you're a cynical shell of a human being. The End.

1. Holiday in Spain - The Counting Crows

2. The Professor - Damien Rice

3. Someday You Will Be Loved - Death Cab

4. Kite - U2

5. Everybody's Changing - Keane



oof.

Smoke by Ben Folds Five
You Could Be Happy by Snow Patrol
20,000 Seconds and Almost Happy by K's Choice
The Old Apartment by the Barenaked Ladies
and lately, Daylight by Better than Ezra

1. Long Long Time by Linda Ronstadt

2. Strange Fruit by Billie Holliday

3. I Don't Care Much sung by Alan Cumming in Cabaret

4. Hurt by Nine Inch Nails

I can't really think of a #5. There are plenty of songs from musicals (like Genny, I kind of have a thing for them), but those are mostly just tear jerking in context.

Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper
EVERY TIME.

1. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
2. Ordinary World - Duran Duran
3. Will the Circle Be Unbroken - from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band collaboration
4. American Tune - Simon and Garfunkel (or just Paul Simon, really!)
5. Winter - Tori Amos

Tears From Heaven goes without saying, my son was a few months old when it came out and it can still reduce me to a quivering blob. So the top five:
1. Imagine - John Lennon Makes me weep with pain and fury over the MAGNITUDE of the loss of the man who wrote it.
2.Are You Lonesome Tonight - Elvis Presley I heard this on the radio the day after my mother died and now it is forever linked to how much I miss her.
3.Hallelujah - any version...it's hard to screw up a Leonard Cohen song
4.Famous Blue Raincoat -ditto the above, but I do prefer the Jennifer Warren version (voice of an angel)
5.Julia -Eurythmics 1984 soundtrack - this song just haunts and haunts and haunts me.

Because songs sung by people who are now dead instantly double in pathos:
Halleluiah: Jeff Buckley
Time is a Healer: Eva Cassidy
Calling You: Jeff Buckley

And even though she's not dead (I don't think):
Why: Annie Lennox

And then because it's the song I walked down the aisle to when I got married, and it's just SO beautiful:
At Last: Etta James

"King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1" by Neutral Milk Hotel

"Something Pretty" by Patrick Park

"Dancing in the Dark" covered by Mirah (I love her version)

"Somewhere in My Heart" by Volebeats

"Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd

"Just Like Anyone" by Aimee Mann

lots of former Catholic schoolers in here, huh? On Eagle's Wings has been played at every sad moment in my life... literally (and not just for funerals/memorial services)

other than that...

Mad World: Gary Jules version
Humble Me: Norah Jones
Eleanor Rigby: The Beatles
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (instrumental version in Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
Stand by Me: Ben E. King
SRXT: Bloc Party

1. Size of Our Love, Sleater-Kinney

2. Everest, Ani DiFranco

3. Something Vague, Bright Eyes

4. It's a Gift to Be Simple, this music box of my mom's. That stupid Shaker construct *kills* me.

Oh god! How could I forget Stand By Me by Ben E. King???
So very many sixth grade tears shed over that song... even now when I cry when I watch the movie and the narrator goes into what becomes of Chris Chambers.

1. "Black" - Pearl Jam
2. "It Doesn't Matter" - Alison Krauss (first heard it on Buffy; it's stuck with me ever since)
3. "Falling Out of Love" - Aqualung
4. "Lily Dreams On" - Cotton Mather (Veronica Mars fans, you know why)
5. "My Father's Eyes" - Eric Clapton (yes, really)

Julie at 3:06...totally NOT my business but at least you've got a living breathing father to be pissed at...and hence my sad songs list:

WARNING: Extreme Cheese Factor

1. Dance with My Father, Luther Vandross
2. I Hope You Dance, Leann Womack
3. Father and Daughter, Paul Simon
4. Stranded, Van Morrison
5. Downeaster Alexa, Billy Joel
6. Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits
7. Ghost of Tom Joad, The BOSS :-)
8. Fire Maple Song, Everclear
9. Pictures of You, The Cure
10. Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding

Good call, Eileen. That "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want This Time" song is covered by The Dream Academy. Great movie, great scene, great song.

Great diversion. I sang "On Eagle's Wings" at my grandpa's memorial service when I was sixteen. All you people who mentioned that song....holy shit....talk about hitting a long-forgotten teenage nerve. In a good way. Thank you.

next four:

"Upward Over The Mountain" - Iron and Wine
"Famous Blue Raincoat" - both the Cohen original and an absolutely heartbreaking live rendition by Hayden on piano.
"Only In Dreams" - Weezer - yeah, shut up.
"Good Woman" - Cat Power. Actually, most of that woman's discography makes me bawl like a newborn.

I cry at a lot of things, but only these 3 songs:

Coat of Many Colors - Dolly Parton
Long Ride Home - Patty Griffith
Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

The Luckiest - Ben Folds

Every time.

The Luckiest - Ben Folds.

Every time.

- I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab For Cutie

- The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel

- All the Same - Sick Puppies

- I Don't Know How to Love Him - from Jesus Christ Superstar

- Hurt a Long Time - Jerry Cantrell

There are 3 that fit the bill here:

Sharon Shannon - The Shamrock Shore, although the Brady Molloy Peoples version is a crusher.

Jethro Tull - Cheap Day Return. While you wouldn't think this about Tull, there's just something about this song.

Paul Williams - You Give a Little Love from the Bugsy Malone soundtrack. There is not one song I connect more to my childhood than this one. Of course, the song was whored out to Coke for some dipshit commercial they put together, but that's life, I suppose.

There's sort of a trend here with musical choices, so I offer a somewhat different selection... though my choices too fall prey to the experiences that brought about my tears.

1) Hot for teacher (Van Halen) in high school I had a bit of a relationship with a math teacher and it ended badly.

2) Headed for a heartbreak (Winger) I always feel like a am...

3) Sweet home alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd) the government hasn't been true in years.

4) I wear my sunglasses at night (Corey Hart) my father always did, but if he hadn't he might have seen the semi before it was too late...

5) Jump (Van Halen) I lost the use of my legs in middle school.

such great heights (postal service cover) - iron & wine (i only listen to this when i am in dire need of a good cry...like when i'm super, overly hydrated or something)

nobody has to stay - mirah (it sounds like giving up, if that makes sense)

i know - jude (if you've ever seen city of angels, you know whats up with this song)

i found a reason - cat power (i believe someone already said this about her, but cat power has an uncanny ability to depress me. in a good way)

across the universe - the beatles (this is a 'you've had a hard day...now let it all out' song)

1. Mad World
2. Wild World (Cat Stevens)
3. Hallelujah (Buckley version)
4. Ne Me Quitte Pas (Nina Simone)
5. The Stranger Song (Leonard Cohen)

Fountain of Sorrow -- Jackson Browne

Chelsea Hotel #2 -- Leonard Cohen

Red Dirt Girl -- Emmylou Harris

American Tune -- Simon and Garfunkel

Leader of the Band -- Dan Fogelberg

Funny thing is that this isn't at all the kind of music I listen to, but when I hear these songs, I just can't help listening and then tearing up. Hell, Dan Fogelberg is this awful folk stuff my mom listens to, but that song is absolutely impossible to listen to without crying, seriously. As an experiment, I once tried reciting the lyrics to my girlfriend in a completely inflection-free voice and by the end we were both completely bawling fools.

1)Joni Mitchell-River
2)Stars-The Aspidistra Files
3)Snow Patrol-Set fire to the 3rd bar
4)Fiona Apple-cover of Across the Universe
5)Otis Redding-These Arms of mine...aw, hell also about 75% of his cataloge can manage to make me lose it, I really need to stop listening to that shit after a break up.

"Come What May" - Moulin Rouge Soundtrack, gets me every fuckin' time.

"All for Leyna" - Billy Joel

"Mary" - Boingo

"Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls - Yeah I'm a sappy MF.

"Moanin'" - Led Belly - look it up and tell it doesn't break you heart.

Antony and the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone
Tom Waits - Dirt in the Ground
Nine Inch Nails - Right Where it Belongs
Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Cat Power - Maybe Not

Beck's entire Sea Change album. If you need to narrow it down (but you shouldn't):

Guess I'm Doing Fine,

Lost Cause,

Already Dead

Antony and the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone
Tom Waits - Dirt in the Ground
Nine Inch Nails - Right Where it Belongs
Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Cat Power - Maybe Not

Thank you, thunderstorm, for making me post a douchey three times.

Addendum: Regina Spektor - Chemo Limo

Bonus: Tom Waits : Come On Up To the House

Be Adequite: that's very true. :) Dance With Your Father would completely make me nuts, I can't listen to a song about fathers without thinking of our estrangement.

s. pisaster, Seriously, were we cleaved in two at birth? I made my list before reading the comments (but before posting) and they matched yours EXACTLY and IN THE SAME ORDER. Really really cool and really really scary!

1. The Boxer - Simon and Garfunkel
2. Un Bel Di - Maria Callas
3. Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
4. Hurt - Johnny Cash
5. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

1. "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack (It's lame, but has to do with my mother)
2. "Wicked Little Town [Tommy Gnosis Version]" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch (I don't know why, but it kills me.)
3. "$1000 Dollar Wedding" covered by Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield (original by Gram Parsons)
4. "Stand By Me" (Man, I agree with the person who cries over Chris Chambers there. I cry a little for River Phoenix, too.)
5. The Sarah McLachlan shivering ASPCA pets song.

Hmmm...
Full of Grace - Sarah McLachlan from the Surfacing album

My Lover's Gone - Dido

I'll second Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg, even though I haven't heard it in about 20 years.

Pachelbell's Cannon (the purple and orange version)

Piano Sonata in C Sharp Minor, Op.27 No.2:3 (Basically the third movement of the Moonlight Sonata) The first movement is slow and sweet and sad, but this one is full of this terrible desperation that breaks my heart, and I'm going on way too long about this...

5. Mad World - Gary Jules..it's not even the lyrics, it's the meoldy that gets me

4. America - Simon and Garfunkle...I can't make it through this song without tearing up

3. My life - The Beatles...I love the raw emotion in Lennon's voice

2. Dear Prudence - The Beatles...again, it's the melody here.

1. Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole...this song first got me when it was on a commercial for kids toys or something. Then that blasted show ER had to use it when Dr. Green's character died...SOB!

ah... so many of those listed here have such sad stories

In no particular order
1) Morning Light by Concorde Dawn (for my recently-deceased-at-34 brother in law)

2) You Are My Sunshine by pretty much anyone (because it reminds me of my best friend and we live on opposite sides of the world)

3) If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys (because I live in hope)

4) Untitled and Unsung by Belly (cos its just that little bit too close to the bone)

5) With Or Without You by U2 (does anyone else remember that episode of 21 Jumpstreet about a million years ago when Dougie goes to El Salvador find his beloved?....)

Honourable mention must also go to Puff the Magic Dragon, because it can still get me and my sister's bawling, and we are all in our 30s.

Hurt - Johnny Cash (due to the one-two punch of the song with that video. GOD the video)

Ruby's Arms - Tom Waits

Cold Cold Ground - Tom Waits (the stoic-yet-sad gets me every time)

Famous Blue Raincoat - Leonard Cohen

The Size Of Our Love - Sleater-Kinney (possibly the most literal of the songs on this list, but still a killer. And thanks to litelysalted for making me remember that one)

Story Of An Artist - Daniel Johnston

Midnight Radio - Hedwig/John Cameron Mitchell/Steven Trask/Whoever (specifically due to the stage show, not so much the impressionistic movie ending)

Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead (fun note! The band had just come from a Jeff Buckley show the evening Thom laid down the vocal for this. Makes sense, no?)

I Found A Reason - Cat Power

Twilly, I love that you added Mary by Patty Griffin. That's awesome.
I'd add If I Laugh by Cat Stevens and
Bang the Drum Slowly by Emmy Lou Harris

1) "The One I Love" - REM My boyfriend was murdered fourteen years ago. He had recently learned how to play this song on the guitar and it was played at his funeral. I still have difficulty listening to it.

2) "God is Trying to Tell You Something" - Color Purple Soundtrack (movie) And it doesn't matter if you believe in God.

3) "This Woman's Work" Kate Bush Oh. My. God.

4) "Don't Give Up" Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel

5) "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye" Black Crowes See murdered boyfriend noted above.

1 Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major "Kreutzer" - Beethoven. Every time, without fail.
2 A Pair of Brown Eyes - The Pogues
3 Into These Arms - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
4 Lilac Wine - Jeff Buckley
5 Summertime - Janis Joplin

Mr. Bojangles- The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Bar none the saddest, most beautiful song ever.

1. Bad As They Seem- Hayden
2. Golden Slumbers- The Beatles
3. Time- Pink Floyd
4. Broken- Elvis Costello
5. Somewhere- Tom Waits

Pretty sure most of mine have already been said, but, in my opinion, they are worth saying again...

1. Hallelujah-Jeff Buckley (All Jeff Buckley songs have an element of tragedy in them, but for some reason, this one always kills me.)
2. Casimir Pulaski Day-Sufjan Stevens
3. Brick-Ben Folds Five
4. Nothing-Peter Searcy (I confess, rather ashamed, that I first heard this song on Roswell, but on its own, it's still sad.)
5. Song for an Empty House-Common Rotation

1.Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul, and Mary can suck it(like typing the name is making me tear up)
2.Cat's in the Cradle - Harry Chapin
3.The Last Unicorn
4.L'chi Lach(It's a Jewish thing)
5.Essentially any song with lyrics about animals dying, children dying, or really anything touching at all.

The first time I ever heard "Is Heaven Good Enough For You" by Allison Moorer, I had to pull over the car to make sure I wasn't driving unsafely. It's a song she wrote after her mother died, asking if God could possibly love her mother more than she did. It just rips the heart out of me to hear it like no other song.

Runner-up: "No One is Alone" from the musical Into the Woods.

Oh Lord. These are some rather recent newfound tearjerkers for me, here I go:

Goldmund - 25 Thousand Miles
(You can almost hear his fingers on the piano, and you feel how he only shoots off a new note when the preceding one has vanished.)

Clint Mansell + Kronos Quartet + Mogwai - The Last Man
(I know Death Is the Road To Awe is the best song on the score, but it somehow gets me ecstatic rather than down. The Last Man does the job though.)

Songs:Ohia - Love Leaves Its Abusers
(Just look at the song's title and you can already guess how this is weeping material.)

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone - I Love Creedence
(Owen Ashworth from CFTPA has a unique way in storytelling, and his "crappy", simplistic Casio melodies perfectly serve as the backdrop for his mostly gut-wrenchingly sad lyrics. If he'd play acoustic guitar or violin, people'd seriously have to kill themselves listening to his records.)

The Wind-Up Bird - Whips
(This is actually a whole album, but I couldn't just pick one song off of it. I am not joking or exaggerating when I say that this album is leaving me a puddle of tears every time I listen to it. Looking at the tracklist alone gives me goosebumps each time. FYI The songs make up one sentence, which was supposedly left on the artists' answering machine, they amount to: Sorry that I've Become This Monster, I Love You A Lot. there are few albums who really break me down like this one. I can't listen to it while doing anything else, it honestly (and rightfully) demands undivided attention.)

There you go people. If you are in need of good music, or want to know what it felt like to be hit with en amotional sledgehammer to the gut, seek these out.

i had a really rough day at work.

this list made me cry just reading it.

*sigh* i needed a good purge.

i love you, Pajiba.

Sweet Old World, Lucinda Williams
Raglan Road, Van Morrison
The Hem of His Garment, Sam Cooke
Girl from the North Country, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
Keep Me in Your Heart, Warren Zevon

"Adagio for Strings" Samuel Barber

"Over the Rainbow" Judy Garland

"Better Place to Be" Harry Chapin (almost anything by Chapin can get to me)

"Ode to Joy" Beethovan

Theme to "Brian's Song" Michal Legrand(my mother loved that movie!)

since i am made of cheese and LOVE a good cry:

"why" annie lenox--i honestly can't control my reaction to this song
"breathe me" sia
"bridge over troubled water" simon & garfunkel--i can't help this one either
"don't give up" kate bush & peter gabriel
"standing" anthony head (i love that man, and that song, and that show)

I forgot!
"Of Angels and Angles" by the Decemberists
"Uninvited" by Alanis Morrisette
"The Son Never Shines on Closed Doors" by Flogging Molly

house of smoke and mirrors - matthew good band
couldn't love you more - john martyn
vienna - the fray
nataq - richard Desjardins
lover, you should've come over - jeff buckley

Shit. I forgot one. I know that's six, but I have to do it.

-Biko, Peter Gabriel

1)Sufjan Stevens: For the Windows in Paradise
2)Red Hot Chili Peppers: Wet Sand
3)Hard-Fi: Move on Now
4)U2: With or Without You
5)Jose Gonzales: Crosses

1. "Part of the wind" by Tim Hardin.
2. "Mad World" by Michael Andrews
3. "Bag Lady" by Erykah Baduh, but in a good way
4. "Bonnie" Prefab Sprout
5. "Little girl in bloom" by Thin Lizzy, because I just love it so much

Because motherhood makes you pathetic and weak!

Ha Henry! Ain't that the truth.

Cowboy Mouth - The Avenue. Especially if it's live.
"What A Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole simply for the ER/Dr. Green kicks it in Hawaii ep.
Sarah McLaughlan- Full of Grace. I still see the image of Buffy on that bus leaving Sunnydale when I hear it.
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (actually the Refreshments) - Mekong and anyone who has been to a live show will agree there isn't anything else quite like a room full of strangers coming together with their beers raised for this song. here's to life! (god i'm lame)

(in no particular order)

-'tiny vessels' death cab for cutie
-'heartbeats' jose gonzalez
-'fast car' tracy chapman (xiu xiu as well)
-'breathe me' sia (after six feet under, it has become a reflex for my throat to close up and my stomach to drop)
-'the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us' sufjan stevens (don't quite know why on this one)

maybe not 'crying' songs but essentially that general 'choking/moping feeling' songs

yeah didn't mean to post that twice. apologies.

1. Sia - Breathe Me
2. Judy Garland - Smile
3. Death Cab For Cutie - Tiny Vessles
4. Mindy Smith - Jolene
5. Gary Jules - Mad World

Ok, so firstly, thanks to this list I've discovered several new songs to add to my list of songs that make me cry, so thanks (weird to be saying thanks for being made to cry, but hey). Here are some that I already knew and make me cry:

1. Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now (re-recorded version) I associate it with the scene in Love Actually,a nd say what you will of the film, buut Emma Thompson is a fantastic actress, and as a result I saw what several people I know must have gone through behind closed doors when I was growing up, which was damned hard.

2. Counting Crows - Holiday In Spain, this is just forever associated with a really bad period in my ife, and has the uncanny ability to mentally transport me back there, to the extent where if it comes on the radio I become a blathering wreck instantly.

3. Johnny Cash - Hurt, the video made me cry, and now the song does by association.

4. Ryan Adams - The Rescue Blues, my eldest brother emailed me when I was living away from home for the first time in a different country, telling me I should listen to tis if ever I needed him and he'd be there in spirit. That was it, I was gone.

5. David Gray - This Years Love, I associate it with my break-up from my first love and sitting alone in my room, in the dark a lot. So this makes me cry on behalf of my sixteen year old self!

"If You Could See Me Now" by Truth
"With or Without You" by U2
(I associate those two with my uncle's attempted suicide and subsequent death when I was quite young)
"Resurrection" by Nicole Nordman
"Be Thou My Vision" by Fernando Ortega or pretty much anyone who sings it.
the whole "Fiction" album by Mukala...I was a very depressed 13 year old.

1) Death Cab for Cutie - What Sarah Said
2)Joni Mitchell - River
3) Bright Eyes - Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh
4) REM - Everybody Hurts
5) Bright Eyes - A Song to Pass the Time

1)Llorando by Rebekah del Rio-when I heard it on Mulholland Drive I felt chills and sadness. Now whenever I hear it I tear up a little. Such a beautiful rendition by her.

2)Cold Water by Damien Rice- I don't know if it was the chant or the woman's angelic voice or the lyrics or maybe all three but this song touched me more than any of the songs off that cd.

3)Last Kiss by Ricky Nelson- This song makes me think of those ghost stories about high schoolers coming back from the dead to reunite with their sweetheart. I always get sad at those stories...embarrassing I know.

4)Etsi ksafnika by Antonis Remos- It's a greek song and I don't really know what the song means but the way this man sings is so powerful that I don't really care. One of my favorite songs ever.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoxOrM1fs8Q

Oh fuck, a sixth. The Smiths' Rubber Ring.

I'ma leave the "Hallelujah" alone and just take it as a given like Jolie and Clooney are do-able.

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole. Little girls danced to this at my daughter's school recital and I..was..a..mess. I don't even think I can talk about it.

"Hurt" by Johnny Cash . Caught this one right after Cash died, when they played it at the end of the best "Smallville" episode ever. Haven't watched it since.

"Angel" by Sarah McLaughlin. Just what is wrong with this woman that she feels the need to make me weep?

"Lately" by Stevie Wonder. sigh.

"I Care for You" by Aaliyah. Yeah, a song by the dead girl. sniff.

rudy - that is creepy. We pajibans must be getting too much alike :)

This was easy; I'm pathetic enough to have a "sad songs" playlist on my iPod. Anyways, I'm a sucker for breakup songs, so...

1. Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy
2. Sister Hazel - Best I'll Ever Be (and I'm surprised I didn't already see it on the list)
3. Sugarcult - Back to California
4. Something Corporate - Konstantine
5. The Get Up Kids - I'll Catch You

Wenchmaster: And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda is such a great song. Have you heard Eric Bogle's other anti-war songs? Try the Green Fields of France and My Youngest Son Cam Home Today. Amazing.

Also love that so many people like Peter Gabriel's Biko, but that song doesn't make me cry. It makes me really freaking angry.

dangerkitten:
"Also love that so many people like Peter Gabriel's Biko, but that song doesn't make me cry. It makes me really freaking angry."

Sorrow and anger are both pretty appropriate responses to Biko. Gabriel did a good job.

cmcd:
Somebody else actually saw Oscar and Lucinda? Major props. I love that movie.

Tonight we fly by The Divine Comedy. Well, many many songs involving Neil Hannon choke me up.

Bryan Ferry - Don't think twice, it's all right. Nobody does Dylan like Ferry.

Ben Folds five - Seeing that much love for Ben Folds, specially for "Brick", I cannot not mention this one. Not particularly dramatic or sad, but I love the passion in the voice.

Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's blues. The one with the Waltzing Matilda. That sweeping beauty and breaking voice gets me every time.

Nick Cave and the bad seeds - Into my arms. There's not much to say about this one, is there?

1. Desperadoes Under the Eaves - Warren Zevon

2. It Makes No Difference - The Band

3. Adagio for Strings - Samuel Barber

4. The Dutchman - Steve Goodman

5. Two Star - Everything But The Girl

Georgia On My Mind, Ray Charles
(especially at the Stone Mountain Lasershow - they play it toward the end and I've usually had a few beers and wooo!-ed myself lightheaded - it makes me sentimental.)
Ack! What is it about the Stone Mountain Laser Show? I HATE "God Bless the USA", but found myself with tears streaming down my cheeks the first time I heard it there. Everyone thought I'd lost my mind.

Oh, and Beloved Wife by Natalie Merchant. No way Mrs. socalled goes less than 60 seconds before me.

JulieD - it's because they break the sword! And then it turns into the North and the South! And then the country is reunited! God Bless the USA!

Yeah I don't really know what it is either, but I cry every time. Ridiculous.

"Without You" from RENT.

Ben, I know just what you mean. I can hear Sia's "Breathe Me" independent of the last few minutes of that SFU episode and be just fine, but show me the clip on YouTube and I'm a mess. Also, I'll take your empty fifth spot to add a sixth song I forgot:

6. Ben Folds Five, "Don't Change Your Plans"...something about the juxtaposition of the pretty, wistful tone and the incredibly sad lyrics makes me cry like a wee baby.

1. If This is Goodbye- Mark Knopfler and Emma Lou Harris. This is the song that we played for my mom's funeral. I really can't handle hearing it.

2. What A Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong. I really can't say why I find this song so terribly sad, but I do.

Really, I can't think of any others off the top of my head. Probably something from a musical.

Linger - The Cranberries
Unloveable - The Smiths
Hardheaded Woman - Cat Stevens
NIN - Something I Can Never Have
Elvis Costello - Poisoned Rose

Two more that I forgot to list earlier:

Yaz - Only You. This will always harbor memories of the finale to The Office (UK) where Dawn and Tim finally get together. It is the only TV moment that has ever gotten me. Perfect ending Mr. Gervais and Mr. Merchant. It will always live with me.

Otis Redding - Pain in My Heart. This one's the clincher. I've never heard a more gut wrenching song than this one. Simple, but so fucking heartfelt. It crushes me every time I hear it.

Llorando by Rebekah del Rio-when I heard it on Mulholland Drive I felt chills and sadness. Now whenever I hear it I tear up a little. Such a beautiful rendition by her.

Lex you are so right. I had completely forgotten about this song. Her rendition was so heartfelt and heartbreaking. I don't think I breathed until her performance was over and she collapsed. And combined with the tragic relationship of the two women....amazing rendition. So glad you reminded me. I get goosebumps thinking about it.

Just a little post of solidarity for the "Beaches" soundtrack love, but I've always thought "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" is the saddest song on it. And I, too, cry when I hear the National Anthem. Makes it damn difficult to sing. I'm such a sop.

As a side note, I finally heard the Avett Brothers' "Emotionalism" this evening, and I cried through most of it. (I'll blame some of those tears on this list!) Give it a go, if you haven't yet.

Oh, and Ex-Factor by Lauryn Hill

1. Puff the Magic Dragon-Peter, Paul & Mary
[I'm a sucker for kids outgrowing their childhood friends. The older I get, the harder I sob.]

2. Honey-Bobby Goldsboro
[AHHH! My mom played this for me and damned if I don't cry ever time. Its an older song and I can't believe that nobody else has heard it.]

3. Nan's Song-Robbie Williams (I KNOW! JESUS!)
[Completely trite but my Great Grandmother died not too long ago and anytime anyone mentions someone being in heaven it gets me all teary. I'm an atheist. Cripes.]

4. Ruby Tuesday-The Rolling Stones.
[For no reason other than the scene in "Children of Men"...I can't even hear the song without losing my fool mind now.]

5. Mr. Tambourine Man-Bob Dylan
[Res Ipsa Loquitur.]

* Cosmic Dancer-T.Rex always puts me in a melancholy mood but only because I decided one day that I wanted the song played at my funeral. Haha. It was some lame Myspace survey and I couldn't think of a song...then I listened to this again and thought it was perfect for some reason. Now I think its sad. When really...its not very. Hmph.

So, music that makes me lose my shit. Kinda hard to think of them, considering the effect:

"Everybody Hurts", R.E.M.
"Fuzzy", Grant Lee Buffalo
"Hallelujah" by Buckley
"My One and Only Love", Sting, on the Leaving Las Vegas soundtrack
"In My Life", by you know who...

And a few others, depending on the right mood.

Great list. I'm just gonna add one song I haven't seen yet:

"I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" by Stevie Wonder. All I can say is Stevie really pours it on towards the end - "Whyyyyy didn't you stay..."

Gets me every g.d. time

"Un Canadien Errant" Leonard Cohen
"Leavin' On Your Mind" Patsy Cline
"Jerusalem of Gold" Ofra Haza
"Goodnight Irene" Dr. John

One song :
Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate by Jackson Browne

The way he sings the line "Oh God this is some shape I'm in" makes me start crying. The next line, "And the only thing that makes me cry is the kindness in my baby's eyes" makes me want to curl up and cry for days.

I am glad there are others who agree with me about Puff. It took me all day to think of the other 4 songs.
I am glad to see some Nick Cave here, and I will say his renditions of "Shivers" and "Opium Tea" get to me. Whoo.
A lot of people have Annie Lennox's "Why?" but I say "I've Tried Everything" from the Sopranos sndtk is the real weeper.
The Flaming Lips "Sleeping on the Porch" reminds me of my childhood and is such an incredibly beautiful song that it makes me tear up.
And finally, "Half Acre" by Hem.
And to those who said "The Last Unicorn", I so agree with that. I think I sobbed everytime as a child listening to that.

Wow, what a topic...

I have a few that get me going my wife usually wont let me play them.... especially if I happen to be driving at the time.

In no particular order

Annie Lennox - 'No more I love you's' it was in heavy rotation at the time of a bad break-up...it made working very difficult when it was played two of three times daily during working hours

Beatles - 'Across the Universe'

The Fixx - 'Happy Landings' and 'Camphor' & 'Do What you Can' when played back to back

Supertramp - 'Fools Overture' it doesn't make me sad, but it gets cranked to 11 when I'm in a depressed mood.

Far from complete but these are first the come to mind.

A lot of mine are pretty obvious, and similar to those already there, but one I didn't see was "I Dreamed A Dream" off the Les Miserables soundtrack. I mean, consider the context: broke, abandoned young woman forced into prostitution to support a daughter she never sees, sings on her deathbed about the wreck her life has become, and about still loving the man who got her pregnant and left her with nothing. Seriously. Tragic.

Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton

Same Old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg

Fire and Rain - James Taylor

Your Mother & I - Loudon Wainwright III

Cactus Tree - Joni Mitchell

Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live version 1983) - U2

Damn, I miss a day of work and I miss out on a cool diversion! Too bad I've probably mentioned some of these under the breakup songs, but eh...

1) Lover you should've come over or Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley. I first heard him when I was way too young to understand how much he was truly going to affect my life. Dramatic, yeah, but not untrue.

2) For Martha--Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan wrote it for his mom and my own mom issues make me cry when I hear it.

3) Dinner at Eight--Rufus Wainwright. Saw him do it on Letterman before Want One came out, and was a sad, sad puddle at the end of his performance.

4) Writing to reach you, As you are, Love will come through--Travis. Fran Healy's voice always gets me, and "As you are" was written as a bit of a tribute to Jeff Buckley's style.

5) Maybe I'm Amazed--Jem. I'm getting my Pajiba license revoked after this admission, but I saw it on an episode of the "OC" and my boyfriend was moving away and it just totally completely got to me. Hey, it was rough.

6) I'll find a way--Rachael Yamagata. More crying over the same who moved away.

7) Cheers Darlin'--Damien Rice. If Damien Rice doesn't make you cry, or at least want to make you drown your sadness with lots and lots of alcohol (like this song in particular with the clinking glasses at the beginning of the song), nothing will.

8) Blame it on my youth--Jamie Cullum. Can't say enough good things about him, and this song blew me away the first time I heard it. Can't remember if he wrote it or if it's a cover.

9) To be of use--Smog. Another ex-boyfriend song.

10) Say yes--Elliott Smith. No explanation needed.

I apparently cry a lot.

"Angel," Sarah McLachlan
"The Bagman's Gambit," The Decemberists
"Wash Away," Joe Purdy
"I Grieve," Peter Gabriel
"Wandering," Ben Folds

Taps.

I'd never really given the song much thought, but then it was played at my aunt's funeral, and I just lost it.

First Day of my Life-Bright Eyes

Love, Reign O'er Me-the Who

Susanne-Leonard Cohen

Harvest Moon-Elliott Smith

Song to Woody-Bob Dylan

Apropos of nothing at all....

1. A change is gonna come - Sam Cooke
2. Fake plastic trees - Radiohead
3. Hurt - Johnny Cash
4. Father & Son - Cat Stevens
5. Too much love will kill you - Queen

1. All of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel. Mangum you magnificent bastard.

2. I really wish I could remember the title, but it's that children's song about the guy who loses his meatball. I remember geting really broken up about it as a kid because I never realized that the meatball was just a meatball. I thought it was his pet or something. Even now I well up.

3. Chelsea Hotel No. 2 by Leonard Cohen. It's one of his less maudlin ones, and that makes it work way better. Simple and pretty.

4. Gloomy Sunday. I forget who composed it, and I definitely don't know which version I heard (it was someone singing it in the original language) But if you've heard any version at all you know what I mean. It's punishingly sad.

5. I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) by the White Stripes. It's a pretty silly song, but that little part where he starts to whisper and his voice goes all frail gets me every fucking time.

Ben Folds - "The Luckiest"
Goo Goo Dolls - "Iris"
Green Day - "Good Riddance"
Sufjan Stevens - "Casimir Pulaski Day"
Joseph Arthur - "Honey and the Moon"

Oh showtunes.

Pretty much the entire score to "Titanic: the Musical". It sounds a lot campier than it is and it has nothing to do with the movie aside from the boat. I was in it with a youth theatre group and that was the greatest summer of my entire life. But the song "Still", a duet between two elderly passengers, made me cry before rehearsals even started.

"The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)" from "HAiR". I just want to state how much it pisses me off when the last part of that song is used in things like car commercials as something happy and peppy. Most of the song is absolutely miserable. The main character dies during it. What the fuck, man.

"Another National Anthem" from "Assassins". I'm not entirely sure why.

there are a lot of showtunes, but I'll move on to the non-showtune music.

"Beautiful" by the Smashing Pumpkins. Something to do with the way it starts to fade at the "I'll wait under the stars forever" line.

"Never Gonna Be the Same" by Courtney Love. Graduation thing.

"Spanish Boots of Spanish Leather" by Bob Dylan. Something to do with a person. Not gonna say any more.

"Little Girl Blue" by Janis Joplin. That might be cheating because that's a cover of a showtune, but still. It gets to me.

"Farewell Song" by Janis Joplin. I relate to the situation of the song. Another reason is the end of the live version where you can barely hear "Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Janis Joplin" and you know she died a few years later.

In short, I'm a sappy son of a bitch and should be taken out back and shot.

"Sadly Beautiful" the Replacements, with Paul Westerberg achingly singing about (perhaps only in my head) his estranged daughter;
"Nightswimming" is perhaps the best performance Michael Stipe has given in the studio, and his ode to loss (youth, relationships) feels more real for the simple strings and naked piano;
"Breathe Me" by Sia, forever organically mixed with the ending of Six Feet Under and all those deaths and the car heading out into the desert sunshine;
"Calling All Angels" Jane Siberry and K.D. Lange, still gives me chills, literally;
"Into the Mystic" will play at my funeral, with the soulful horns taking it around the bend.

Tonight, Ex-Lover - Stars (especially when driving alone at night. The tears just flow.)

Hear You Me - Jimmy Eat World (reminds me of my mother, who died when I was eleven.)

Hospital Vespers - The Weakerthans

Death Cab for Cutie - What Sarah Said

Ben Folds - Late

Mountain Goats - Dance Music

And, to be honest, many more.

Not in any particular order:

1)I am Trying to Break Your Heart--Wilco

2)Lilac Wine--Nina Simone

3)The Other Woman--Nina Simone (lots of Nina Simone really, but these are the main two)

4) Gloomy Sunday--Billie Holiday

5) Cuccurruccu Paloma--Caetano Veloso (it's the song sung at the dinner party in Talk to Her)

6) Know--Nick Drake (Nick Drake makes me cry a lot)

How can I apply...? - Trashcan Sinatras
Standing Outside A Broken Phonebooth... - Primitive Radio Gods
Nightswimming - R.E.M.
Pictures of You - The Cure
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band

1) Mess, Ben Folds
2) M62 Song, Doves
3) The King of Carrot Flowers, Pts 2&3, Neutral Milk Hotel
4) The Way, Bonnie "Prince" Billie
5) The Transfiguration, Sufjan Stevens

bob dylan- song to woody
cat stevens- o caritas
the pogues- waltzing matilda

1) Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie, heard it for the first time the week my best friend moved to the States with his evil fiancee.

2) The Special Two - Missy Higgins

3) What Might Have Been - as sung by Jimmy Nail in Still Crazy. Hate the guy, love the film.

4) Achilles Heel - Toploader

5) Bring Me Sunshine - Morecombe and Wise, think it's because my grandfather used to sing it as well but anytime there's some kind of program or tribute to Eric & Ernie and this starts playing, that's it game over.

Oh Man Dustin you want us to turn on the water works hmmnn.

1. Cannonball- Damien Rice
(What is with the dude making it his aim to make ppl cry. I love the lyrics though)

2. His Eyes are on the Sparrow- Lauryn Hill version
(It was at a school mate's funeral and i just couldn't help myself)

3. Heartbeats- Jose Gonzalez.
(...To call for hands of above
To lean on
Wouldn't be good enough
For me, no...Enough said)

4.Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol
(It gets me everytime.)

5.If I could turn back the hand of Time- R Kelly
(This was R Kelly in the talented times. It brings back good and fond memories.)

"Hey There Delilah", Plain White T's. Longing at its finest (and not the radio version, either. The early album version sans cello).



"The Greatest", Cat Power. I always lose my emotional balance when she sings, "You let me down..."


"I Will Follow You Into The Dark", Death Cab for Cutie. This one kills me at "roooooooooooms."



"All is Full of Love", Björk. Something about the way she talks about love gets me, especially when it's just her voice.



"Hallelujah" That's a given.



"Tulips (Original Version)", Bloc Party. "Cuz you're the one I love..."



"Maps", Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Why isn't that on here yet?

Crying during songs is pretty random for me - it's not about the song, more about the situation while listening and the music working at that particular time...

But, I've been watching a lot of Hindi movies lately, and Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow May Never Come) just makes me bawl.

1. Grace by Jeff Buckley
2. Still Loving You Tonight by Jethro Tull
3. Lord, Is It Mine? by Supertramp
4. Extreme Ways by Moby
5. (Obv.) Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

Damien Rice - 'Cannonball,' the closest thing I have to a break-up song.

Green Day - 'Time of Your Life,' cliché but it does get the waterworks going.

Imogen Heap - 'Hide and Seek,' though that isn't about the song, more about who introduced me to it (a wonderful person, who is now dead).

Placebo - 'Running Up That Hill.'

Sweetness Follows - REM
Between The Bars - Elliott Smith
Once Upon A Time In America - Ennio Morricone
Horses In My Dreams - PJ Harvey
Big O Motel - Tarnation

There are just two:

With or without you - U2: was the song playing when i first worked up the balls to ask my future wife to dance.

Fields of gold - Eva Cassidy (my wife's favourite song) - played it at her funeral

A drunk driver took my love, my laughter and my smile... it's been a little over a year since it happened but these two songs fuck me up big time

Thanks Pajibans, I spent last night Youtubing the songs/vids on this list. I am a total mess this morning. Thank god for allergy season so I can shift the blame.

Oh, and Ben, for a complete meltdown watch the "Goodbye, My Lover" tribute video to Brokeback Mountain. The three opening chords and I can no longer see.

Ghost: The Indigo Girls, breaks my heart

Grace is Gone: Dave Matthews Band

More Than Us: Travis

Feels Like Home: Chantal Kreviazuk, first song that made me cry just because I heard on the radio

Nothing Can Change This Love: Sam Cooke, he is a genius and the song is the most aching two and a half minutes you will ever endure

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
This song always reminds me of my Mom and makes me cry every time I hear it.

These songs will wring tears from me everytime.

1. The Highwayman - Phil Ochs

2. Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe) (the version on "Opel") - Syd Barrett

3. These Days - Nico

4. Julia - The Beatles

5. Lachrymosa from Mozart's Requiem

1. Hands - Jewel

2. Oh Canada - When you live in a country other than your own, it is amazing how much the anthem can symbolize the life you left behind and that you live in a place not quite your own.
And I live in New Jersey so multiply that by 10. And now I'm crying.
At work.

3. the last verse of Amazing Grace - Transcendence
slays me

4. Landslide - Stevie Nicks

5. Sing a Song - Sesame Street - I'm surprised this hasn't appeared sooner

Cannonball - Damien Rice
Hallelujah - The Rufus Wainwright version (sorry!)
Almost Honest - Josh Kelley
Do what you have to do - Sarah McLachlan
And just to REALLY cheese it up...Always on your side by Sheryl Crow and Sting

most of mine have already been posted so I'll try to go for the ones I haven't seen yet

Snow Patrol - Run. I was just heading off to college when this came out and I heard it every half hour and it never fails to get me sobbing.

Oceansize - Music For A Nurse. it's about the singer's mother dyingand it's so beautifully done that gives me chills thinking about it.

Imogen Heap - Hide And Seek. I know it's been mentioned, but I cannot say enough about this song. her voice is stunning and when she gets to "what did she say" - if I'm not blubbering by then, that line does it.

The Sea And Cake - Parasol. there is something so sweetly melancholy (does that make sense?) about the melody and the voice and how it all comes together. it's a good cry kind of song.

Oasis - Half The World Away. I don't really even like Oasis, but this song brings back memories of summer several years ago.

Sigur Ros - Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa. the whole thing is truly one of the loveliest songs I've heard, but it's the last line that gets me.

Ooh...I have another one...This Woman's Work, Kate Bush

6. One Shining Moment--as sung by Teddy Pendergrass

I'm an idiot...sorry for the OCD style posting. woops

Of course, I decide to flip through the iPod while I am compiling my list, and am now sitting, at work, sniffling while listening to Leonard Cohen.

1. A Thousand Kisses Deep-Leonard Cohen (although really, half his catalog makes teary)

2. Grace-Jeff Buckley

3. Lamentation-Leah Andreone

4. Hey, Jupiter-Tori Amos

5. Salvage a Smile-Laura Veirs

and honorable mention...Paint me a Birmingham-Tracy Lawrence (yes, this is country, but it makes me tear up every time I hear it)

To all the canucks in the house I can't beleive you forgot Stan Rogers! His voice gives me shivers, we lost him way too soon.

5) The Mary Ellen Carter-Stan Rogers

4) Older Chests-Damien Rice

3) Twilight-Elliot Smith

2) Northern Lad-Tori Amos

1) Girl From the North Country-Bob Dylan

Superkays...your post made me tear up. That is so heartbreaking.

superkays, It gets somewhat better/easier as time passes. The aching loss will remain but the raw hurt dulls a bit. There is no real consolation but I found that giving into the grieving process by consciously listening to the song or whatever other reminders trigger the memories actually helped me to come to terms with a similar loss. Take care of yourself and let others help you should they offer.

"winter"- tori amos
"cats in the cradle"
"sara" bob dylan

Nice idea for a comment thread -- it's taken me twenty minutes to post because I'm reading everyone else's.

Here's mine:

"Fish and Bird" by Tom Waits
"Me and a Gun" by Tori Amos
"I Know" by Fiona Apple
"Smoke" by Ben Folds Five
"Alice" by Tom Waits

If you give me a cocktail and play any one of these songs, I will sing, cry, and drink all at the same time.

Well, I am late as hell to this, but I will have a go anyway!

In no particular order:
Hurt-Johnny Cash
Far Away Boys-Flogging Molly
Tears in Heaven-Eric Clapton (of course)
Allegretto, Symph. #7-Beethoven

Aaaand, the most heartbreaking song of all time
Adagio for Strings-Samuel Barber

If you can listen to this song without getting leaky eyes, especially after seeing The Elephant Man and Platoon, you have no soul.

1. "Rainbow Connection" - the Muppets
2. "You Were Always on my Mind" - Willie Nelson
3. Most Christmas songs, but "Do They Know it's Christmas?" gets me every time

And as embarrassed as I am to admit it (although I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen it yet): "The Living Years" - Mike and the Mechanics

Honey-Bobby Goldsboro
[AHHH! My mom played this for me and damned if I don't cry ever time. Its an older song and I can't believe that nobody else has heard it.]

OMG Leanne...when I was 7 or so that song was in the top 10 and every girl in my grade 2 class mooned over Bobby Goldsboro and wept openly and dramatically over the sad tale of Honey. My mom ( or possibly my brother) 'disappeared' the 45 after about a month. Now I've got this big goofy grin on my face just thinking about it.

you too, nora?

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 newborn tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

well, I know I'm coming a bit late to this, but having just cried at a concert, this is what did it: Wilco: Jesus, Etc. at Bonnaroo this past weekend.

Others that make me cry:
anything by the Doobie Brothers (dad's fave band, he passed away last year), One by U2 (especially the Mary J. Blige version), Fire and Rain by James Taylor. Ok, that's it. I'm going home now. Must. Not. Cry. At. Work.

Yeah I posting a little late in the game, but what the hell...

1. "Kissing You" Desiree' - her tone and everything sounds so sad, but to love like that is painful. Especially when it's a sociopath.

2. "Changes" Tupac - heard it on the way to work this morning, and it never fails to sadden me.

3. "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" Reba McEntire

4. "Colorblind" Counting Crows and "Sweet Surrender" Sarah McLachlan. Acceepting someone just as they are.

5. Hearing "Taps" always does it because I'm usually at a funeral when I hear it. Had a bunch of uncles in WWII.

Holy God. I just read ALL the comments. It really pisses me off when I get behind on my pajiba-reading. I really really hate crying, but unfortunately agree with most posts. Nevertheless, I couldn't believe there wasn't more of these songs:

1.) Jewel: "Hands"-- was in my head for months after 9/11.
2.) Fiona Apple: "Love Ridden" I don't really understand how such a tiny little white lady's anger/hurt breaks me everytime.
3.) Regina Spektor: "Samson" That woman knows how to play a song in concert and make you feel alone in the room and want to cry.
4.) Snow Patrol: "Run" I've been in a long-distance relationship since fucking forever.
5.) any damien rice song. Especially cannonball.

... I could make a separate listing for spanish cry-worthy songs. Are there no bilingual pajiba readers? And since I'm going to be in the end ANYWAY:
- "mi viejo," piero. (My dad is getting older, and this gets to my sisters and i every time)
- "no se tu," by luis miguel
- "vivir sin aire" by mana
- and so many many more songs. honestly. where are the bilingual pajiba lovers?

...ps, the rest of my work day is going to be pretty fucking depressing.

Late on the come up, as always!

First - alot of posters have shared some pretty sad stories of loss, through death and otherwise. My condsolesces to all of you. Hang in there.

That said, here goes:
1. "I Can't Make You Love Me" Bonnie Raitt
I learned this the hard way in high school. I think the guy I was mooning over ended up marrying the "other" chick. I guess it wasn't meant to be!

2. "Black" Pearl Jam
"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life...I know you'll be the sun in somebody else's sky...but why, why can't it be mine?"

3. "Desperado" the Eagles
Everyone has that evil ex...this song dead-on describes mine...even though I know it was the Grace of God intervening that got him out of my life, it still hurt like the dickens...

4. "Stick in the Mud" the Jayhawks
"Let me be nice to you...you're still my best friend...who says that this is the end?...why do good things divide?? why do they all choose sides?"
*SNIFF*

5. "Sukiyaki" whoever - all the covers of this gorgeous song are lovely

scientist-- good catch. another big one for me. I can only let myself listen to it every few months after a close break-up.

In no particular order:

1. Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown", ESPECIALLY the last verse.
2. Rufus Wainwright's "Poses"
3. "Waltzing Matilda", any version
4. Morrissey's "Late Night, Maudlin Street"
5. ...and an embarrassing one: Elton John's "You'll Be Blessed." Forgive me.

Regarding the above suggestion:
Please, for the love of god; no wedding songs lists!
Seriously.

Reason To Believe - Brice Springsteen
Abandoned Love - Bob Dylan
Barquito De Papel - Joan Manuel Serrat
Mychal - Black 47
Man Of The Hour - Pearl Jam

1. The Beatles - In My Life (song I danced to with my dad at my wedding and because it always makes me look back at everything)
2. 3 Doors Down - Away From The Sun (because my husband is in Iraq for the 2nd time. the first time, he used to sing this to me over the phone, this time around i don't have the heart to listen to it)
3. Nessun Dorma (sung by anybody, its just a beautiful song)
4. Poe - Spanish Doll (because I listened to it religiously when my First Love and I called it quits. it just brings me back to how broken I felt)
5. Radiohead - Lucky (dude...its just such a sad song! always gets me down)

Jeff Buckley goes without saying.

- Kate Bush - "This Woman's Work" - I heard this shortly after my miscarriage and it's forever been linked.

- Hooverphonic - "Eden"

- Moby - "The Spirit of God Moving Over the Water" - just instrumental, but it makes me very emotional

- Don McLean - several of his songs "Empty Chairs," "The Grave", etc. He has an honest voice.

"a" are you my soulmate/long lost identical twin?

" These songs don't actually make me cry - just really sad (& I agree, Hallelujah is a given):
~ Stars - One More Night
~ Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You into the Dark
~ Radiohead - High & Dry "

all three, totally on my list...also, "transatlanticism" by death cab, and as someone else mentioned, "last goodbye" by jeff buckley which = the epitome of my last breakup. still gets me. especially embarassing when i'm riding on the metro and it comes on the ipod...

to make up for my embarrassing leo sayer post:

the 5 saddest pieces of music from movie soundtracks:

Bach's "Concerto in F for Harpsichord and Orchestra", from "Hannah and Her Sisters.

Rachmaninov's "Piano Concerto No.2 In C Minor" - Adagio, from "Brief Encounter"

Mahler's "Symphony No.5" from "Death In Venice"

Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No.5 In E Flat Major, Op.73" from "Dead Poets Society"

Elgar's "Cello Concerto, Op.85", from "Hilary and Jackie"

1. American Tune

Then I gave up trying to think of modern stuff (although I'm sure eventually I could come up with something) and these are the no-fail tearjearkers for me:

2. the trio at the end of Rosenkavalier
3. "When I am laid in earth" from Dido and Aeneas (plus the following chorus, if I can cheat), especially sung by Anne Sofie von Otter; an orchestral version of this was used very effectively in the Band of Brothers episode where they find the concentration camp - appropriately during the scene when they bury the dead
4. Mozart's Ave verum corpus
5. the ultimate tearjerker - the Salve Regina at the end of Dialogues of the Carmelites, where all the nuns get their heads cut off.

*I also agree with the person who mentioned Beethoven's symphony no. 7 - that one is so overwhelmingly joyful, it makes me cry, too.

1. Between the Bars, by Elliot Smith is a song I cannot relate to in any way, and yet it still upsets me. If I could cry, this song would make me do so.

2. Nothing Without You, by Vienna Teng. "I am nothing without you/ and I don't know who you are." Come on. Come on.

3. Disappoint, by Assemblage23. Normally nothing at all like what would make me cry, but there were circumstances surrounding this song and how I came across it (on a CD made by my older brother figure-man found in our house after his suicide) that make me break down when I hear it. Not that I hear it often. Whenever I'm feeling sorry for myself, though, I'll have a listen.

4. Scene #s 81 & 117 of Casshern, by Shiro Sagisu. D:

5. O Fortuna/Carmina Burana/whatever you want to call the damn thing. You know how when you feel something, and someone else has felt it, and you can empathise with them? I've never done that, but I think I came close with this. Augh!

Christians and the Pagans - Dar Williams
The River - Springsteen
Foolish Love - Rufus Wainwright

5 - Famous Blue Raincoat, Leonard Cohen ("...and you treated/my woman/to a flake/of your life/and when she came back/she was nobody's wife...") *sigh*
4 - John Wayne Gacy, Sufjan Stevens ("...twenty-seven people/even more/they were boys/with their cars/summer jobs/oh my god...") *sniff*
3 - Fuck and Run, Liz Phair ("...and I never thought this would happen again...") *choke*
4 - The Luckiest, Ben Folds ("...next door there's an old man/who lived to his nineties/and one day he passed away in his sleep/and his wife she stayed for a couple of days/and passed away/I'm sorry that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong...") The song my husband played for me when he first told me he loved me. *sob*
5 - Strange Form of Life, Bonnie "Prince" Billy ("...and a hard way to come/into a cabin/into the weather/into a path/walking together/a hard world...") The song playing whilst my water broke, as I lay in the bathtub, the night my daughter was born. *sob...sob...*

I can't think of many songs that make me cry now ("Do You Realize?" by the Flaming Lips make me feel quiet and thoughtful, but not really tearful), so I'll list some embarassing ones from my ill-spent 1990s youth. These are the songs I would play every time I holed up in my room feeling sorry for myself.

"Nobody Knows" by Tony Rich Project
"Silver Springs" by Fleetwood Mac (still love this one!)
"Home" by Sheryl Crow (not sure why that one would speak to a 16-year-old, but whatever)
"Home Ain't Where His Heart Is" by Shania Twain (I can't believe I just admitted that)

Oh, and I totally agree with the first commenter - Jackie Paper is definitely a little bastard.

Portishead - "Numb"
Bjork - "All Neon Like"
the Smiths - "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
Radiohead - "Lucky"
Cat Power - "Good Woman"

Sky Blue by Peter Gabriel...

First time posting, but I haven't seen any of mine so far. In no particular order:

Grey Street - DMB.
Winter - Tori Amos
Aint No Love - David Grey
Danny Boy - no particular artist, but a cousin did an amazing a cappella version at my grandfather's funeral.

1. Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
2. Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House (since Neil and Tim Finn performed this song last year to commemorate the death of their friend and drummer Paul Hester this song has held even greater meaning)
3. Cigarette - Ben Folds Five
4. The Man Who Told Everything - Doves
5. I'm going to stop pretending that I didn't break your heart - Eels

hmmmm, I've never actually cried to just a piece of music, but I guess songs with the strongest emotional charge will do as well.

1. A nightingale sings the blues, Peggy Lee

Heard this for the first time in my life in a cab on the way home after a gig. I was haunted for the rest of my life. It's the saddest song ever, but somehow it's still a bit funky. Even though it isn't. Weird song.

2. Widow of a Living Man, Ben Harper

Apart from this being a very good, moving sad song. There's something about the production that in the chorus makes it sound as though he's actually whispering something at you from behind you. Which gets me emotional.

3. Sandalwood, Lisa Loeb

Bibi.

4. Portishead, Glory Box

Bibi.

5. The Light, Common

Dilla, who produced the song sampled Bobby Caldwell - 'Open Your Eyes' and made it into an even more beautiful song than it was. The raps are just gorgeous and remind me of lovely evenings with my lovely lady :)

1. Lisa Germano -- The darkest night of all
2. Mazzy Star -- Look on down from the bridge
3. Fiona Apple -- I know
4. Portishead -- Glory box
5. Tori Amos -- Marianne

I can think of three off the top of my head. The other 2 are ones that if they come on my Ipod I and I am in a mood I will have to fast forward because they will make me cry. And I would have to say these songs have brought tears for me in the last year.

1. Fix You-Coldplay
2. Love is All You Deserve-Turin Brakes
3. Open Your Arms-Editors
4. With or Without You-U2
5. Make This Go on Forever-Snow Patrol

1. Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
2. A Minor Incident - Badly Drawn Boy
3. Something Pretty - Patrick Park
4. John Wayne Gacy - Sufjan Stevens
5. Find the River - REM
6. Same Situation - Joni Mitchell
7. Hard Times - Emmylou Harris (I believe this is traditional but Emmylou's voice just kills)
8. Beautiful - Christina Aguilera (yeah, i don't care, it's a great song)

1. Where Did You Sleep Last Night-Nirvana version

2. Over the Rainbow--any late live recording by Judy Garland

3. As You Turn To Go--the 6ths

4. Zion--Lauren Hill

5. Picture of You--The Cure

Honorable Mentions: Eleanor Rigby and Joey Ramone's version of What a Wonderful World

No particular order:


"Drive" The Cars


"Sometime In June" Julie Plug


"Letter To Elise" The Cure


"Paper Cup" Heather Nova


"Come Rain Or Come Shine" Don Henley in "Leaving Las Vegas"

One other I forgot: "Overcome" by Live. It was played heavily after 9/11 and is such a sad song. I am getting sad thinking about it. Someone made a video of news coverage that day and paired this song with it. My Junior year college student was not quite able to recover from that song and still cries at it to this day.

If anyone is still reading, check it out if you really need a cry.

Space oddity ALWAYS gets me...Always. maybe because i grew up close to NASA and have been around those guys my entire life.

And live folk music.

I am embarrassed to admit it, but the only song that made me really TRULY bawl (so much so that I had to pull the car over) was the full version of Blue October's "Hate Me". It starts with the answering machine message from his deceased mother, and I just got to thinking about how I would feel if my mom weren't around, and what I need to say to her, and he was saying everything I should say...'sniff'... I hate that it was THAT song that shows how big of a puss I am.

rocky: I just have to say that I LOVE Rach 2, and I can't believe I forgot it on my list.

And 'Cuno, I hear ya about how Johnny Cash's voice "deteriorated" as he got older and I can understand, from a musical standpoint, anyway, why that would cause you to cast your vote for NiN's version.

But I have to say that I think that the rough quality of his old pipes lends a weariness to the song, which, for me, makes it that much more powerful. You can believe that this jaded, tired, old man needed to hurt himself to see if he could still feel. I love that song, even though it doesn't necessarily bring me to the point of tears.

Bloody. New. Job. With. State Department. Gives me no time to check Pajiba.

But better late thna never, right?
Here goes:

1. I Can't Make You Love Me If You Don't. Bonnie Raitt
2. Angie. The Rolling Stones.
3. Do What You Gotta Do. Nina Simone
4. Willie. Joni Mitchell
5. Lover (You Should Have Come Over). Jeff Buckley

Note to self: need box of kleenex for new cubicle.

1) Thank You by Led Zeppelin: It was my wedding song so...
2) In my Life by the Beatles: absolutely perfect.
3) Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley: yeah, me too.
4) Winter by Tori Amos: because I'm not a little girl anymore
5) On Eagles Wings: the church hymn. Too many funerals.

Needle in the Hay-Elliot Smith
Smoke-Ben Folds Five
Adam's Song-Blink 182
Wise Up-Aimee Mann
Little Altar Boy-Karen Carpenter

Every one, every time...

Wow, I'm super late, but:

Street Spirit - Radiohead

House of Pain - Faster Pussycat (yeah, seriously; I know.)

Trouble - Coldplay (it's the piano; it rips my heart out.)

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls (I don't know why; it just always has. I don't get it at all.)

Black - Pearl Jam (this song prevented me from leaving the man who is now my husband; it queued up one afternoon and I was like, holy shit, this is how it's going to feel if I go, I still love this guy, I can't do this. And that was that.)

Blue Valentines - Tom Waits

Hallelujah - Buckley's version

You Were Always on my Mind - Willie Nelson

And scads more. Lots of Cure.

Great, and moving lists. Thanks for this one.

"You'll Never Walk Alone"-- Frank Sinatra. Reminds me of my parents, and all the lonely sacrifices of WWII. Frankie boy was as spontaneously romantic during the war as he was predictably cynical after it.
"When I'm Gone"- Phil Ochs--Sail on, good heart.
"A Change Is Gonna Come"-Otis Redding--I think this would hit me like a ton of bricks even if Otis hadn't died young.
"Sorrow In The Wind"- Emmy Lou Harris--achingly pure keening
"Cole, Cooke, and Redding"--Wilson Pickett--I absolutely defy anyone to sit through this with dry eyes. Feeling sorry for yourself? Sensing the Big Biological Clock ticking? Ever wonder a little bit about, uh, like, an afterlife? Have a listen.

"Sorrow's Child"
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

When I was very little (5 or 6), "Seasons in the Sun" always did it to me.

From "The Mission" -- "Gabriel's Oboe."

Play this at my funeral please. Over and over again.

Anything by Eva Cassidy, especially "Fields of Gold" and "Over the Rainbow". Major goosebumps, sad memories and the fact that the songbird died way too young.

This question totally destroys my hipster cred:

1). graceland- paul simon
2). helpless- neil young
3). waterloo sunset- elliot smith cover
4). trouble- cat stevens (thanks to harold and maude).
5). sad song- au revoir simone (alexis taylor remix- way better than the original and yeah, I'm loser for crying at a song called sad song).

"The Luckiest" Ben Folds Five
"Butterfly Kisses" Bob Carlisle
"Hello" Evanescence

in no particular order:

"Waltz (x/o)" - Elliott Smith
"Lord Anthony" - Belle & Sebastian
"Fake Plastic Trees" - The Radioheads
"Pavane for a Dead Princess" (both versions) - Ravel
"No Good Deed" - Wicked

"My Skin" by Natalie Merchant
"A Man Needs a Maid" by Neil Young
"Country Feedback" by REM
"Talking Old Soldiers" by Elton John
"Roads" by Portishead

nin - the great below
radiohead - talk show host
radiohead - spinning plates
aimee mann - save me
jeff buckley - hallelujah (maybe the saddest song ever)

You're all killing me, and I haven't even been able to make it through all of the comments yet. However, my list:
1. For all of you who listed Rainbow Connection, weepy thanks - one of my father's favorite songs and we played it at his funeral in 1981. I didn't even know there was a version by Sarah McLachlan.
2. Bach violin concert in A, andante - used in the closing scenes of "Truly, Madly, Deeply," where it made me sob uncontrollably for years. And then last year, my husband (a cellist) died unexpectedly after 20 years of marriage - and that film resonates too hard for me to watch. I still love the music, though - even though it makes me weep.
3. Finale of Beethoven's Ninth - I sang this with my chorus last year, and it was the last concert that my husband attended before his death. Glorious music and heightened emotion.
4. Nearly anything Leonard Cohen (yes, add my vote for Hallelujah)- but the one that stops me cold every single time is Anthem... "Ring the bells that still can ring; forget your perfect offering; There is a crack, a crack in everything... that's how the light gets in."

1. Twilight - Elliot Smith
2. Do You Realize? - The Flaming Lips
3. Unravel - Bjork
4. Never Is a Promise - Fiona Apple (also, Love Ridden)
5. Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
6. Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor (yes, it's cliche...but it's still terribly sad)
7. The Scientist and Fix You - Coldplay
8. I Miss You - Aaliyah (especially because of the video)
9. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys (especially because of the movie "My Life Without Me")
10. Fool of Me - Me'Shell Ndegeocello
11 Tell Him - Lauryn Hill
12. Field Below - Regina Spektor
13. Drunk - Tweet ( I know, but it's really terribly sad)

1) Silver Mt. Zion - Movie (Never Made)
2) Tindersticks - Desperate Man
3) Codeine - Pea
4) Savoy Grand - Face Down In A Fountain
5) Joy Division - Candidate
(typical yes - but somehow nothing gets to me the way that one line does: "I tried to get to you/ you treat me like this". There's something incredibly real to it.)

1. A Song For You - Donny Hatahway

2. Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer - Stevie Wonder

3. Somewhere Out There (The song from the Fievel movie) - Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram

4. Everybody Hurts - REM

5. From A Distance - Julie Gold

and many more...

OK, I'm rather late to this comment party (computer crashed--ended up buying new one) but I'll add my list.

"Hurt" --Johnny Cash. This one is especially weepy because Johnny Cash reminded me of my aging step-father who died not long after Cash died.

"Everybody Hurts" -- REM. Listened to that a lot when I had mono and had also gone through a sad breakup.

"Linger" -- The Cranberries. I could list lots of Cranberries songs here--right up there with Sarah McLachlan for weepy tunes, I think

"Puedo Escribir" -- Sixpence None the Richer. Bonus because lyrics are from my favorite poet--Pablo Neruda

"Theme from The Mission" -- Ennio Morricone It's just so damn beautiful

All of these songs make me bawl if I'm in the "right" mood:

• Bush, "Letting the Cables Sleep"
  
• Jewel, "Break Me"
  
• Tori Amos, "1000 Oceans"
  
• Dave Matthews Band, "I'll Back You Up"
  
• Ben Harper, "The Three of Us"
  
• Boyz II Men, "Water Runs Dry" (I know, I just can't help myself.)

And the "Mad World" cover from Donnie Darko makes me too sad to cry: I just curl up in a fetal position and whimper.

Porcelain- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Across the Sea- Weezer
Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime- Beck
Isle of Yew- Meligrove Band
Maybe Not- Cat Power

Ditto on Patty Griffin's "Mary".

Up to the Mountain - Patty Griffin (that one elicits chills and tears, esp live)

Oh Danny Boy - pretty much any version. Shoot me, I'm Irish.

Er, #6 above should be "Just Like Anyone" by Aimee Mann.

Don't forget:

Wondrin' Aloud - Jethro Tull

and also the followup:

Wondrin' Again - Jethro Tull

Puff the magic dragon - I had no idea how it ended until I learned to read, then I had nightmares for years. I mean, his scales fell off! Fuck you Jackie Paper.

Chasing cars - Snow Patrol
All I want is you - U2
No Aphrodisiac like loneliness - The Whitlams
Throw my arms around you - Hunters and Collectors

I'll give you all that I remember
Soledad [Westlife]
I Cry [Westlife]
Breathe Easy [Blue]
Because of You [Kelly Clarkson]
Don't Speak [No Doubt]
Better than Me [Hinder]
Untitled [Simple Plan]
What you're made of [Lucie Silvas]
Miss You [Jem]
Have you ever been in love [Westlife cover]
Butterfly Kisses [Westlife cover]
My immortal [Evanescence]
Somewhere over the rainbow [Israel Kamakawiwo'ole] (Dr. Mark Greene

What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong - lyrically, the simplest, yet most beautiful song ever written.

Sleepwalker by Richie Valens

1. You are so beautiful - Joe Cocker
2. Last Kiss - Pearl Jam
3. Imagine - John Lennon
4. Please Forgive Me - Bryan Adams
5. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

1. Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough - Patty Smyth/Don Henley

2. Light From A Dead Star - Lush

3. My Immortal - Evanescence

4. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield

5. May It Be - Lisa Kelly version