Songs that make you cry

[AlienGirl]

End of the Innocence by Don Henley

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin' by
But "happily ever after" fails
And we've been posisoned by thse fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly

But I know a place where we can go
That's still untouched by men
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by thse fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all the details
Since daddy had to lie

But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We'll sit and watch the clouds toll by
And the tall grass waze in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

Who knows how long this will last
Now we've come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye

Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

This song gets me choked up every time, and I can't quite explain why. It has the sound and imagery of the lost golden ages of childhood that never really existed, if you know what I mean.

What songs get to you?

Tucker

[mark414]

1. Song to Woody

it makes me cry because woody is my hero and dylan is one of the best and puts it the best. i've traveled like woody traveled and i'm leaving soon to do it some more - this song brings to mind the entirety of his life and all the people that were a part of it, the dust bowl refugees, the tramps and hobos, everyone. this song makes me think of them, makes me think of woody, and makes me think of what woody was going through (dealing with the disease that eventually killed him) when this song was written...

lyrics by Bob Dylan
inspiration by Woody Guthrie

I'm out here a thousand miles from my home
Walkin' a road other men have gone down
I'm seein' your world of people and things
Hear paupers and peasants and princes and kings.

Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
'Bout a funny old world that's a-comin' along
Seems sick and it's hungry, it's tired and it's torn
It looks like it's a-dyin' and it's hardly been born.

Hey, Woody Guthrie, but I know that you know
All the things I'm a-sayin', and many times more
I'm a-singin' every song, but I can't sing enough
Cause there's not many men done the things that you done.

Here's to Cisco and Sonny and Leadbelly, too
And to all the good people that traveled with you
Here's to the hearts and the hands of the men
That come with the dust and are gone with the wind

I'm a-leavin' tomorrow, but I could leave today
Somewhere down the road someday
The very last thing that I'd want to do
Is to say I'd been hittin' some hard travelin' too.

[AlienGirl]

3. Have you heard Phil Ochs's tribute to Woody Guthrie?

Bound for Glory by Phil Ochs

He walked all over his own growin' land
From the New York island to the California sands.
He saw all the people that needed to be seen,
Planted all the grass where there needed to be green.
And now he's bound for a glory all his own,
And now he's bound for glory.

He wrote and he sang and he rode upon the rails,
And he got on board when the sailors had to sail.
He said all the words that needed to be said,
Fed all the hungry souls that needed to be fed.

And now he's bound for a glory all his own,
And now he's bound for glory.

He sang in our streets and he sang in our halls,
And he was always there when the unions gave a call.
He did all the jobs that needed to be done,
And he always stood his ground when smaller men would run.

And now he's bound for a glory all his own,
And now he's bound for glory.

And it's "Pastures of Plenty" wrote the Dust Bowl Balladeer,
And "This is Your Land," he wanted us to hear.
The rising of the unions will be sung again,
And the Deportees" live on through the power of his pen.

And now he's bound for a glory all his own,
And now he's bound for glory.

Now they sing out his praises on every distant shore,
But so few remember what he was fightin' for.
Oh why sing the songs and forget about the aim,
He wrote them for a reason, why not sing them for the same?

And now he's bound for a glory all his own,
And now he's bound for glory.

[mark414]

6. yes!

he was getting pissed that all these people were praising woody, mostly for "this land is your land" and trying to turn him into some jingoistic patriot that he said enough is enough! and wanted people to remember why he wrote his songs and who he wrote them for...

[AlienGirl]

7. Yep! We need both these guys back. Or someone much like them.

[NMMNG]

2. The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconson
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the words turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

[mduffy31]

10. That song has a lot of meaning for me

My father sailed on that ship, not on that fateful day he was too busy concieving me with my mom, but I live in Superior where it left from on that day. I have a long history in my family of people who were on that boat. My grandfather worked on it when it was in drydock and if my uncle hadn't gotten into grad school he would have been on the ship on that voyage, so that song may not make me cry but it does make me think.

[NMMNG]

14. How fourtunate

Not only for your father but for you, that he was sharing a romantic interlude with your mother rather than working on the ship that day. It's also fortunate that your uncle got into grad school when he did.

One of those times that small changes did indeed result in big results.

[u4ic]

4. I've got a couple...

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (it's Buffy Ste Marie's version that gets me)

He's five feet two and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of 31 and he's only 17
He's been a soldier for a thousand years

He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain,
a Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
and he knows he shouldn't kill
and he knows he always will
kill you for me my friend and me for you

And he's fighting for Canada,
he's fighting for France,
he's fighting for the USA,
and he's fighting for the Russians
and he's fighting for Japan,
and he thinks we'll put an end to war this way

And he's fighting for Democracy
and fighting for the Reds
He says it's for the peace of all
He's the one who must decide
who's to live and who's to die
and he never sees the writing on the walls

But without him how would Hitler have
condemned him at Dachau
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body
as a weapon to a war
and without him all this killing can't go on

He's the universal soldier and he
really is to blame
His orders come from far away no more
They come from him, and you, and me
and brothers can't you see
this is not the way we put an end to war.





Even finding the lyrics to this one made me :cry:

LIVIN' IN SHAME by the Supremes


Mom was cooking bread
She wore a dirty raggety scarf around her head
Always had her stockings low, rolled to her feet
She just didn't know
She wore a sloppy dress
Oh, no matter how she tried, she always looked a mess
Out of the pot she ate, never used a fork or a dinner plate

I was always so afraid for my uptown friends to see her
Afraid one day when I was grown, that I would be her

Ah, in a college town
Away from home a new identity I found
Said I was born elite, with maids and servants at my feet
I must have been insane
I lied and said momma died on a weekend trip to Spain
She never got out of the house, never even boarded a train

Married a guy, was living high
I didn't want him to know her
She a grandson, two years old
That I never even showed her

I'm living in shame
Momma I miss you
I know you're not to blame
Momma I miss you

Came a telegram
Momma passed away while making homemade jam
Before she died, she cried to see me by her side
She always did her best
Ah, cooking, cleaning, always in the same old dress
Working hard down on her knees
Always trying to please

Momma, momma, momma can you hear me?
Momma, momma, momma can you hear me?

I'm living in shame, momma I miss you
I know you've done you're best
Momma I miss you
Won't you forgive me mom?
For all the wrong I've done
I know you've done your best
Oh, I know you've done your very best you could
But I'm never understood
Working hard down on her knees...

[SeattleGirl]

5. In the Living Years, by Mike and the Mechanics.

Reminds me of when my father died. I was fortunate, though, in that I had the opportunity to talk to my dad and resolve a lot of things with my dad, before he died.

[qwertyMike]

8. Yellow is The Colour of My True Love's Hair

Donovan (Leitch)

[LadyoftheRabbits]

9. I've cried at this one since I was really young...

I didn't understand it then, but I do more so now, I guess.

RIGHT HERE WAITING
Richard Marx

Oceans apart day after day
And I slowly go insane
I hear your voice on the line
But it doesn't stop the pain

If I see you next to never
How can we say forever

Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you

I took for granted, all the times
That I thought would last somehow
I hear the laughter, I taste the tears
But I can't get near you now

Oh, can't you see it baby
You've got me goin' crazy

Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you

I wonder how we can survive
This romance
But in the end if I'm with you
I'll take the chance

Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you
Waiting for you

[speedoo]

11. Gulf Coast Highway - Nanci Griffith

Gets me every time I hear her sing it...

GULF COAST HIGHWAY

(Nanci Griffith / James Hooker / Daniel Flowers)
©1988 Wing & Wheel Music, (BMI)
Rick Hall Music, Inc. / Danny Flowers Music, (ASCAP)

Gulf coast highway
He worked the rails
He worked the rice fields
With their cool dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we've ever owned
Is this old house here by the road

And when he dies he says he'll catch some blackbird's wings
And he will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet bluebonnet spring

She walked through springtime, when I was home
The days were sweet
The nights were warm
The seasons change, the jobs would come, the flowers fade
This old house felt so alone
When the work took me away

And when she dies she said she'd catch some blackbird's wings
And she will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet bluebonnet spring

Highway 90, the jobs are gone
We tend our garden
Te set the sun
This is the only place on earth bluebonnets grow
And once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road

When we die we say we'll catch some blackbird's wings
We will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet bluebonnet spring

Cause when we die we say we'll catch some blackbird's wings
We will fly away together
Come some sweet bluebonnet spring

[Broken_Hero]

12. A few

Open Arms by Journey

Please Forgive Me, Heaven....a few more songs by Bryan Adams...

Its a Mad World by Tear for Fears, but Michael Andrews version is better...

Everybody Hurts, Losing My Religion, by REM....

[Richard Steele]

13. I never CRY, cuz I'm a 'real man'. But I do sometimes get stuff in my eye.

Coincidentally, I tend to get stuff in my eye during
one particular song.

A band called 'Iron Horse' did a bluegrass version
of Metallica's "Enter Sandman"...

It makes me think of flag-draped coffins being offloaded
under cover of darkness; of 18-year-old CHILDREN huddling
in oversized body armor like a hellish version of playing
"dress-up" in Mommy's pumps...



Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
Off to never never land...


Now I lay me down to sleep....
Pray the lord my soul to keep.

If I die before I wake
Pray the lord my soul to take