Best Songs for Crying

[syrakusos]

When I was three (about 1952), I figured out the record player well enough to put these on. My mother came in and wanted to know what was going on. I could not explain then... but it was cathartic to be sure.

More recently....

[Reidy]

Three for me, too (for autobiographical reasons that need not concern us here):

The third is not a song strictly speaking, though the melody that emerges on top of the accompaniment is a hymn (making it relevant to the current religious music thread):

[PDS]

About 20 years ago I heard some recordings made of the compositions of Hildegard von Bingen, a 10th century nun.

These had the same effect on me.

[merjet]

[Jjeorge]

You guys are so much classier than I.

The songs that I've cried to in the past, as far as actual sad songs go, were focused on.. well, girl trouble, I guess.

So there was this one when I developed feelings for a girl I had known for quite some time, and couldn't seem to bear being just friends with her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7odhYxiuxc

And then when she dumped me on the night before prom, and then showed up to it with one of my best friends:

This one in particular is one where I dislike a lot of the lyrics. "Am I better off dead?" Probably not. "If she seems how much I'm hurting, she'll take me back for sure." That would horrify me. Sounds too much like pity.

Looking back on the stuff now, it seems that resonating with these songs is an indication that something is wonky, because they're just appalling to me when I'm actually happy.

Recently, I've taken to more uplifting songs though. Usually they're pretty simple things, mostly the songs we played in band that I liked, such as:

(We seem to be developing a trend of 3 videos per post.)

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here's a song where I literally cried three days and nights to write and produce it. I even put the three days and nights in the lyrics.

You Don't Give a Damn About Me

You can read more about it here: A Few Tracks.

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

Completely professional, Michael. I really liked it. (Ignore Bob, below; Bob needs to be ignored sometimes.)

While the song was playing one of my cats was ass on the arm of my armchair front paws pumping my stomach in synch giving me a cold-eyed stare like he was telling me, "The hardest thing I did in life was listening to you lie" ("You don't need your balls to play"[?])

--Brant

he's still doing it

Edited October 30, 2014 by Brant Gaede

[BaalChatzaf]

Ye gods!!!!! What sentimental rot!!!!!! Lachrymose rots big time

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Jjeorge]

Ye gods!!!!! What sentimental rot!!!!!! Lachrymose rots big time

Ba'al Chatzaf

Alas, I have tried my whole life (which admittedly is not exactly a huge amount of time) to get rid of my sentimental streak... But whenever it goes away for a spell, it just comes back even stronger.

I'm a sucker for this sort of thing.

[Selene]

Ye gods!!!!! What sentimental rot!!!!!! Lachrymose rots big time

Ba'al Chatzaf

Out of curiosity Bob, what music allows you to cry?

That is a serious question.

[BaalChatzaf]

Ye gods!!!!! What sentimental rot!!!!!! Lachrymose rots big time

Ba'al Chatzaf

Out of curiosity Bob, what music allows you to cry?

That is a serious question.

Once when I saw of vid of Ofra Hazah singing Y'rushalayim shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold). She died a terrible death and I think that is what moved me to tears.

Such a good singer and such a beautiful woman. I think Solomon had her in mind when he wrote "The Song of Songs"

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob is a sap underneath.

That's why he protests too much.

Michael

[syrakusos]

Here's a song where I literally cried three days and nights to write and produce it. I even put the three days and nights in the lyrics.

Michael

Not the voice I would have imagined for you but very professional. Nice work. Thanks.

[Brant Gaede]

Here's a song where I literally cried three days and nights to write and produce it. I even put the three days and nights in the lyrics.

Michael

Not the voice I would have imagined for you but very professional. Nice work. Thanks.

Michael's the singer, too?

--Brant

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Hell no, that wasn't me singing.

That was JJ Jackson.

This is the JJ Jackson from Brazil (formerly Leo Robinson), not the one from MTV. I did a lot of shows with that guy during a colorful time in my past.

I wrote the song, directed the recording and produced the album. One song on that album ("Blue Rose," which I also wrote) became one of the theme songs for a top TV novela (soap opera) in the 90's--called Razão de Viver.

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

I think the JJ from MTV is deceased.

--Brant

[Guyau]

.

Against the current, Happy Sixty-Five Day, Michael Marotta!

[syrakusos]

…brings a tear, Stephen. Thanks!

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Michael,

Happy belated birthday.

I'm so sorry I missed it. (I screwed up.)

I should open a thread, but it seems lame to do that for a belated birthday.

Regardless, you are important and beloved here on OL.

We wish you all the happiness in the world.

Michael & Kat

[BaalChatzaf]

…brings a tear, Stephen. Thanks!

65. You are a post ww2 model.

I was born during the Depression, but I had no idea what that was.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Peter]

Baal wrote about Ofra Hazah singing Y'rushalayim shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold).

What a beautiful song and voice.

From Wikipedia:

Ofra Haza died on 23 February 2000 at the age of 42, of AIDS -related pneumonia. While the fact of her HIV infection is now generally acknowledged, the decision by the major Israeli newspaper Haaretz to report about it shortly after her death caused controversy in Israel. After Haza's death was announced, Israeli radio stations played non-stop retrospectives of her music and then Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised her work as a cultural emissary, commenting that she also represented the Israeli success story "Ofra emerged from the Hatikvah slums to reach the peak of Israeli culture. She has left a mark on us all".

The disclosure that Haza had likely died due to an AIDS-related illness added another layer to the public mourning. The fact that a star with a reputation for clean living could be stricken caused shock among fans, debate about the media's potential invasion of her privacy, and speculation about how she had become infected. Immediately after her death, the media placed blame on her husband for giving her the disease. Haza's manager Bezalel Aloni also claimed in his book that Haza's infection occurred during sex with her husband. As reported indirectly some years later, her husband had said that she became infected due to a blood transfusion in a Turkish hospital following a miscarriage.

In The Prince of Egypt, she voiced the small role of Yocheved, as well as singing "Deliver Us". When Hans Zimmer, who was working with Haza on the music for The Prince of Egypt, introduced her to the artists, they thought that she was so beautiful that they drew Yocheved to look like the singer.

end quote

I think I commented on this somewhere else, but that is horrible. What a shame.

[Peter]

My contribution.

For a long time I thought this classic was "Hes a rolling stone." Then I thought it was "Beeker Street." It's "Baker Street." And I have a quibble with SONGLYRICS. The last word is a bit slurred but the last line should read, "But you're going, you're going home." Now the last word could be 'on' but I think it was 'home.' On Wikipedia it says the word is 'home.' Minor brag I just contributed 20 bucks to Jimbo Wales Wikipedia, (for the second time I think) after saying I never would because it needed someone in charge to ok the final information on each topic.

And what a beautiful saxophone solo. This song is addictive.

Gerry Rafferty Baker Street

Winding your way down on Baker Street

Light in your head and dead on your feet

Well another crazy day, you'll drink the night away

And forget about everything

This city desert makes you feel so cold

It's got so many people but it's got no soul

And it's taken you so long to find out you were wrong

When you thought it held everything

You used to think that it was so easy

You used to say that it was so easy

But you're tryin', you're tryin' now

Another year and then you'd be happy

Just one more year and then you'd be happy

But you're cryin', you're cryin' now

Way down the street there's a light in his place

He opens the door, he's got that look on his face

And he asks you where you've been, you tell him who you've seen

And you talk about anything

He's got this dream about buyin' some land

He's gonna give up the booze and the one night stands

And then he'll settle down, it's a quiet little town

And forget about everything

But you know he'll always keep movin'

You know he's never gonna stop movin'

'Cause he's rollin', he's the rollin' stone

And when you wake up it's a new mornin'

The sun is shinin', it's a new mornin'

But you're going, you're going on

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I found this song watching this woman, Amanda Palmer, give a Google Talk.

I find the melody and lyrics quite poignant. They surprised me.

Her singing voice is just all right. At least it carries the song well enough.

The visuals are horrible. I was lucky to hear this song for the first time without them--with just her and the ukulele in front of the Google employees. If you close your eyes as you listen, you might get the same feeling I did.

This is almost a great song. For Amanda, though, I suppose it is.

Michael

EDIT: I just saw another song by her where she was drenched in blood. Despite the song above, I don't think this is my kind of artist.

[Peter]

Since seeing movie stars from the 30's I have never understood why women pluck their eyebrows until the hairs are gone, and then paint them back on. What's the point of that? It looks hideous. Talk about downers! I think a rearrangement of that song with different visuals would make it better. Ukes are an interesting instrument. One song I Mentioned on another musical thread is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," by Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakama something something. If you listen to Iz's version you will always have two versions of Over The Rainbow in your head.

Aaand in that same mood . . . . Holding Back the Years by Simply Red. What a wistful, hopeful, crying song. I think many of us from the human species have this feeling in our teens . . . and we revisit the feeling later on.

From Wikipedia:

Holding Back the Years" is the 7th track of Simply Reds debut studio album Picture Book (1985). It remains their most successful single, having reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the UK Singles Chart. It is one of two Simply Red songs (the other being their cover of "If You Dont Know Me by Now ") to reach #1 in the US. "Holding Back the Years" had initially been released in the UK the year before, reaching #51 . . . . Frontman of the group, Mick Hucknall, wrote the song when he was 17, while living at his father's house. The chorus did not come to him until many years later. His mother left the family when he was three; the upheaval caused by this event inspired him to write the song. The music was co-written with Neil Moss, a member of Hucknall's first group, the Frantic Elevators.

end quote

Holding back the years

Thinking of the fear I've had for so long

When somebody hears

Listen to the fear that's gone

Strangled by the wishes of pater

Hoping for the arm of mater

Get to me sooner or later

Holding back the years

Chance for me to escape from all I know

Holding back the tears

Cause nothing here has grown

I've wasted all my tears

Wasted all those years

Nothing had the chance to be good

Nothing ever could, yeah

I'll keep holding on

I'll keep holding on

I'll keep holding on

I'll keep holding on so tight

I've wasted all my tears

Wasted all those years

And nothing had the chance to be good

Nothing ever could

Ill keep holding on

I'll keep holding on

I'll keep holding on

I'll keep holding on

Holding, holding, holding, yeah

I say it's all I have today

It's all I have to say

[Brant Gaede]

I suspect there were two Hollywood eyebrow schools: pluck and shave (and paint back on). Joan Crawford plucked to a more decent effect. Trimming is only for men who aren't pretty anyway, but look much better without the Pierre Salinger bushy effect.

--Brant