Monday, December 19, 2011

The songs that make you cry

I cried in the car three times the other day. I was on an hour and a half drive, I had the radio tuned to a station that was only playing holiday songs, and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" kept playing because practically every singer has done a rendition of it, except The Wiggles.

The line "Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow" is the one that got to me. I thought of my dad, and it made my heart ache. It felt worse if it was the Karen Carpenter version of the song, because she's already tragic to start with, you know?

Then Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg came on and the DJ remarked, "This song always inspires me because it gives me hope for the new year" and I was all, Are you KIDDING me, because this is perhaps one of the saddest songs ever. And again, the tears flowed. How can you listen to this song and not get emotional? Or suddenly feel kind of old? Or maybe that's just me.


The song that's saddest of all to me is Norah Jones' Come Away With Me. Max was born the year her debut CD came out, and it was what I listened to in the car when I drove Max to doctor and therapy appointments. I get totally emotional when I hear that song because it brings me back to that sad and anxious time in my life. Yes, I wanted to come away. So badly.


Is there a song that makes you all weepy?

26 comments:

  1. I hope you dance-always kills me!

    On My Watch Tonight-Mike Corrado (because I discovered this song when my boyfriend at the time had just left for Afghanistan and I used to just SOB)

    I'll cover you (reprise) from Rent. Jesse L Martin and Tracey Thom just break my heart.

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  2. I can't listen to the Christmas shoes song. The one where the boy wants to buy the shoes for his Mom because she is dying and doesn't have enough money so the man behind him pays. Talk about a tear jerker!

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  3. There are too many songs to count (the worst being the beginning of Breakeven by Script and the rare occasion that Fleetwood Mac's Landslide comes on), so I'm going to comment with songs that I blast on the radio when they come on. Songs that make me feel stronger...

    Keep Your Head Up, by Andy Grammer
    (Shhh)It Happens, by Sugarland
    Good Life, by Coldplay

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  4. oops...Good Life is One Republic

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  5. Baby Mine from Dumbo makes me sob.

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  6. Angela I sang Baby Mine to my Max every night until he told me to stop. Now it makes me SOB! As for me, The Circle Game and ill be seeing you make me cry. every time!

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  7. Bruno Mars, Just the Way You Are...this line reminds me of my sweet girl and gets me EVERY time! "When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change
    Cause you're amazing, just the way you are
    And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while
    Because girl you're amazing, just the way you are"

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  8. Smile, by anybody, but the old Nat King Cole version is still the best. Michael Jackson did a good one too. I hard it at work, once, shortly after my boys' diagnosis, and it made me burst into tears at my desk.

    I had to look it up because I could have sworn The Wiggles did Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, but you are right -- they never did!

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  9. I love your posts and I'm so glad they appear on my Facebook. I have been in tears this year with Christmas songs too - my father died this summer and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is breaking my heart and "Grown up Christmas List" are bringing on the tears! I also have a song that takes me right back to my looooong months in the hospital with my son who has severe brain damage from an accident "Collide" by Howie Day "I worry I won't see your face light up again
    ~ even the best fall down sometimes ~ even the wrong words seem to rhyme ~ out of the doubt that fills my mind, I somehow find you and I collide". His first smile after his accident - which happened months later - I remember so huge for me. Happy Holidays everyone! xoxo

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  10. Lullaby by a small group named Pink Martini. There are no lyrics, but the melody brings me back to the early days of my son's life and how relieved I was that with him, there were no questions as to his health. I was able to fully absorb his newness in a way that I couldn't with my daughter because of all the stress.

    In My Daughter's Eyes by Martina McBride gets me everytime, too.

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  11. Puff the Magic Dragon. Molly loves it and it has always made me bawl - am i the only one? Funny that a song about the end of childhood has always struck me that way and then the fates saw fit to give me a child whose childhood will probably never end. Things that make you go hmmm...

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  12. On the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas CD, there's a song called "The Christmas Wish". When Kermit sings, "for I have held the precious gift that love brings", I cry every time. We used that line on our adoption announcements.

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  13. Them song Home by michael buble....it came out the year my little eli was botn 3months early...I just wanted to go home. Also, louis armstrong wonderful world. My grandpa always used to singing it to me, we danced toit at my wedding. He died a month after eli' was born and still in them hospital. Teary just thinking about those songs and memories.

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  14. My list is long and includes many of the songs already mentioned above (and "Same Auld Lang Syne" - love it and hate it at the same time!)

    Last night, however, I was driving the 250 miles home from my parents' house with the kids but without Mr. Andi. I turned on the XM 80s channel while they slept in the backseat and they were counting down the top 40 songs from this week in 1987 - the year I was a senior in high school.

    Although many of the songs were upbeat, I got choked up a few times thinking of all the years from then until now. I thought of things I hadn't remembered in years, and while I didn't wish for my lost youth, I did yearn for the innocence I had back in those days. Yet at the same time, I was thankful for the heartache that has enabled me to see the beauty in my imperfect life.

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  15. I started crying on the way to speech therapy last week when "We're a Couple of Misfits" (from the Rudolph movie) started playing. For some reason I suddenly started worrying about my son's future and if kids were going to make fun of him for being different when he was school aged. He's only 2 and has no concrete diagnosis, so he may catch up by then, but if not, kids are so cruel and that thought frightens me.

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    Replies
    1. Kids are so cruel. Thats a very NARROW minded and negative way of looking at things. Kids do NOT mean to be cruel. Really do you get a kick out of being a narrow minded **** then? If so you should get therapy.

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  16. I can't even listen to Karen Carpenter. Its just too sad all around.

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  17. Clearly, we need to have a sob sisters conference. :)

    Bonnie, I forgot about "Smile"—that one does it for me, too.

    And now, I will keep my ear out for all these other songs you all mention, thereby making this season particularly merry. He, he.

    Andi, I have those thoughts, too. In the midst of that Duran Duran concert the other month, I was thinking back to how back in high school I could have never known what lay ahead.

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  18. Dear Ellen-

    You're really making me cry this week!

    You've completely changed one of my favorite songs-Come Away with me-from happy to sad;)...though I totally understand.

    I'm glad there are so many to share our tears.

    Love,
    Bea

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  19. I can't listen to The Dance by Garth Brooks without crying. It was played at my close friend's funeral - he died when we were 16. Also, songs by Johnny Cash make me teary because they remind me of my Grandpa who passed away 2 years ago.

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  20. When I was a little kid, we had a beautiful angel statue decoration. She spun in circles and played the tune "Silent Night" and I was mesmerized by her. To this day, Silent Night can catch me off guard and I sob like a baby, missing the days when my parents were still together. Also, "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill gets to me almost every time I hear it.

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  21. I needed a good cry today. It's another Christmas without mom and dad, and we said goodbye to a dear friend this week. After reading your post, I went to You Tube to listen to some tender songs that bring the gift of tears.

    It's a Wonderful World, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, I Will Testify to Love, I Hope you Dance, and Forever Young.

    Like rain, tears nurture the good and tender life in me. And worldlessly honor those I love and miss who live on in my heart.

    Blessings and thanks to each of you.

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  22. I am a country music fan so "You're gonna miss this", and "Sounds like life to me" move me...every time.

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  23. I am super close to my father and I have so many "things" I share with him from my childhood. One being Sesame Street Christmas. We cry when they do the sign language song and I bought it for him last Christmas because many years went by when we couldn't find it. We watched it with my sons as me dad and I sobbed during the song and they horsed around. Also, every year, around Thanksgiving, some station would show the Sound of Music and my dad and I would stay up late to watch it because it didn't end until after eleven (and my bedtime was 8). I really get it and am thankful that my dad is still here.

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  24. I am the biggest cheese-ball, EVER. I have whole mixed tapes (yes! tapes!) full of songs that make me cry, and now, mixed playlists, mixed cd's and even mixed youtube videoplaylists.

    Dude, when I want to cry, I want to CRY.

    I love 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' and 'Circle of Life'. "He Gave Me You." Stuff from Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Phantom of the Opera make me cry. Carpenters, YES! I could go on but the kids are up...

    PS. I'm going to come back and take notes: maybe discover some new sob-loves-of-glory?!

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  25. Mom, I am glad your dad is still here for you. Enjoy every moment. I ache for my dad.

    Meriah, I have to smile at the thought of mix tapes/playlist/CD's/videos dedicated to tears-inducing songs. You are very serious about sobbing!

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Thanks for sharing!



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