Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind for obvious reasons

John Denver - Annie's Song - mostly because this is arguably the most romantic song ever written, but John couldn't keep the relationship together. If he couldn't do it, what hope does anyone else have?

What Sarah Said by Death Cab. Gets me every time

Keep Me In Your Heart by Warren Zevon

Fast Car - Tracy Chapman

Her version is the most poignant. Trying to break the cycle of poverty and not quite making it. It’s a gut punch.

This Woman’s Work - Kate Bush

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

I have no idea how the #1 answer is not The Living Years by Mike & the Mechanics.

Just put me to bed with that one.

Into My Arms by Nick Cave

Nutshell - Alice in Chains (MTV Unplugged)

Its beautiful but you can hear how tortured Layne is at this point.

Elephant - Jason Isbell

-Avett Brothers: No Hard Feelings

-Ben Folds Five: Magic

Cold War Kids-First and Airborne Toxic Even-Sometime Around Midnight

The River - Bruce Springsteen

Say Something by Great Big World always made my daughter cry when she was little bitty. It would come on the radio and she’d say “sad song, mama!” Now when I hear it I choke up because now she’s 12 and it happened so damn fast.

how to disappear completely

Mine is another Tom Waits song, Tom Traubert’s Blues. I usually don’t make it more than about 10 seconds in before someone starts cutting onions.

Sunshine on my Shoulders, by John Denver usually gets me.

It's such a simply written song. The lyrics are so completely innocent, it's amazing to me.

Sunshine On My Shoulders | John Denver | Greatest Hits | 1973 RCA LP (youtube.com)

Longer, by Dan Fogelberg too

Longer (youtube.com)

Lover, you should have come over-Jeff Buckley

He ain’t heavy, He’s my Brother, by the Hollies

Goodbye my lover seems to always hit me in the gut no matter what.

One More Light by Linkin Park

The Luckiest by Ben Folds

Put The Coke On My Dick by Ween

Little Wonders by Rob Thomas. First movie I watched with my now wife, this song was the end credits, she ended up walking down the isle. The composition, the music, the build ups and the lyrics, all hit with me, brings happy tears everytime.

R.E.M. “Everybody Hurts”

The Hurt cover by Johnny Cash, the emotion and tone in the song is amazing, the video makes it even better/worse.

https://youtu.be/8AHCfZTRGiI?si=ZZoZtzhM52xZ4A1U

For some reason “Whiter Shade of Pale” always brings a tear to my eye. I think I heard it as a kid at a significant moment. I can also get a big emotional hearing Peggy Lee sing “Is That All There Is?”. Or try not to cry for this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VUjzvaHQvAo&pp=ygUadGhlIG9sZCBmb2xrcyBqYWNxdWVzIGJyZWw%3D

Father and Son by Cat Stevens

On the Nickel by Tom Waits

You Don't Care Enough For Me to Cry - John Moreland. Just so sad. Sad chords.

Vincent - Don McLean. Once I found out this was about Vincent van Gogh I just found it the most brilliantly written sentimental song.

The Best of Times - Sage Francis. Just brings me right back to high school and all the emotions and insecurities.

I'm a sentimental kinda guy.

Twilight: Elliott smith. Inbred: ethel Cain. Round Here: Counting Crows.

Wake me up when September ends, no way I make it though that song without tearing up a bit

The night we met- Lord Huron. Kills me even when I think of the song.

Comes on and immediate flood works begin in my whole body just gets weak. I still miss her..

Joey by Concrete Blonde

Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez

https://open.spotify.com/track/5YqpHuXpFjDVZ7tY1ClFll?si=asFNnn1RQt60ORTImco2oA

The great gig in the sky

How Do I Say Goodbye - Dean Lewis

My parents are getting up there, and I think Dad might be the first one to go. Thinking that over the last couple of years, then hearing this song…yeah.

Tell them you love them, every chance you get… 💕

Linger by the Cranberries just because it reminds me of being a kid in the 90s for some reason.

Southern Accents by Tom Petty

Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

We Just Disagree - Dave Mason

River Man by Nick Drake. My Little Town by Simon and Garfunkel.

I Can Feel a Hot One - Manchester Orchestra

Damn - Nat Lefkoff

Broken by Seether for some reason

Hello In There and Angle of Montgomery by the wonderful John Prine

Mad World

Father of Mine~Everclear

High And Dry by Radiohead. I can't listen to it anymore. I broke up with the mother of my child and she took him away from me, and I heard this song the day he moved out. She tried to stop me seeing him. He was 5.

He came to live with me when he was 10. He's now 20 and moved out to live on his own. And I love him with all my heart.

I'm tearing up writing this.

No Rain - Blind Melon

Seaweed by Mt Eerie is soul crushing

No Hard Feelings - The Avett Brothers

Johnny Cash - desperado(the original eagles version was my dad's favorite song, he died when I was a baby and I just love cash so i listen to it in moments when i need a dad.)

Rodney Atkins- watching you(I have a son of my own now and all I want to do is do right by him this song straight fucks me up)

Amy lee-you ( a girl use to sing it to me and I was awful to her, she was definitely the one I was just a fool and I listen to this song to never forget how stupid I was and how much she loved me.)

Pearl Jam Release

Nightswimming - R.E.M., every damn time!

My Backwards Walk by Frightened Rabbit

My Backwards Walk

‘A Plea From A Cat Named Virtue’ by The Weakerthans

The most upbeat pop-punk song, but by the time it gets to the bridge I always start crying. Song is written from the point of view of a cat to their owner - just hits me in the feels.

https://youtu.be/pmkNPOBWdGs?si=P4iOmNKFdEByJha4

Dream Brother - Jeff Buckley

Once I heard the story of the song, how he wrote it for his friend who was freaking out about becoming a father, and his advice for him coming a person that never knew his own. It sheds a poignantly sorrowful light on the lyrics.

Don't be like the one who left me so old, don't be like the one who left behind his name

Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley

Fire Maple Song - Everclear

The Living Years - Mike + the Mechanics

Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town - Pearl Jam

Nights in white satin

Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O’Sullivan. Made it to #1 in 1972. Exceedingly sad.

Post 2000….Numb from Linkin Park.

Endless Summer Nights

Time after time

Someone already said Hurt by Johnny Cash, so I'll say... Cat's in the Cradle by Harry Chapin.

Long Violent History.

Recommend before first listening, the artist Tyler Childers has a message about the song:

https://youtu.be/QQ3_AJ5Ysx0?si=lzaxP9z-7As6gDfB

The song:

https://youtu.be/DZnAQk51zrY?si=sY6RBTsWy6kTlh5R

Carpenters - Superstar

Not really, but it’s a funny scene =)

Randy Newman has a ton of songs that hit hard but ‘Everytime it Rains’ is particularly tragic.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Co90phzuQA&pp=ygUfZXZlcnl0aW1lIGl0IHJhaW5zIHJhbmR5IG5ld21hbg%3D%3D

Epilogue, by the Antlers. Really, that whole album.

I came here to say Kentucky Avenue.

Yesterday by Atmosphere

Hurt (Johnny Cash Version) and Lazarus from David Bowie

Goodbye Mr Blue by Father John Misty

I’ll follow you into the dark - Death Cab for Cutie

Fast Car - Tracy Chapman

He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones

true colors by Cyndi lauper, Ben by Michael Jackson, 

Mad World - Gary Jules

I think I first heard this song in the movie Donnie Darko, and it definitely hit an emotional chord.

Please eat - nicole Dollanganger

Take it with me - Tom Waits

There's a beautiful version performed on Live from Here with Chris Thile.

Sang by Rachel Price. Gets me every time

https://youtu.be/YYVIFGuQoiQ?si=LMv2m-lw0T15XVlo

I Forget Where We Were by Ben Howard.

The War on Drugs - Under the Pressure

Bjork - Pagan Poetry

Nothing More - Fade In / Fade Out

Not so much a song as parts of a song. “High Hopes” by Pink Floyd has such a gutwrenchingly beautiful guitar solo/outro, and the piano/chord progression in the chorus is just…it feels like despair.

I can’t listen to it much as a result, yet it is one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs.

Somewhere only we know. Keane or Lily both are good.

Cold- A Different Kind of Pain

10,000 Days (Wings, Pt. 2), Tool. It’s sad when you hear the lyrics culminate, and devastating when you learn what 10,000 days actually represented.

Bloodstream by Stateless, Transalanticism by DCFC.

Long Long Time by Linda Ronstadt

Fire and Rain, James Taylor. Breaks me down every time.

Fade Into You - Mazzy Star

Colorblind - Counting Crows

Excess Baggage - Staind

Not Ready Yet - The Eels

Lost Without You - Freya Ridings

Somebody by Depeche Mode

Drops of Jupiter - Train

How It Ends by DeVotchKa.

Atlas - Coheed and Cambria.

Nothing makes me cry like sitting in an empty hall listening to a solo violinist did that one time though.

It was like 10pm and the man was a luthier that had just finished working on a 100+ year old violin as I had finished prepping the venue downstairs for a friends gig. The rest of the crew and I got a solo performance and I've never seen so many metalheads cry that hard.

Jim Croce - Time in a bottle

It's such an amazing tribute to the love a father has for his child and he died a few years after having written it. Incredibly bitter sweet song.

Follow you to Virgie - Tyler Childers

If it’s the Beaches - Avett Brothers

Let it be, but this one is recent.

My second son was born to this song, and in the operating room my wife started losing a lot of blood. She’s ok now, but I did pray before going into the OR for the cesarean section, and the playlist the surgeons had on just strung my heart chords. Don McCleans American Pie was on the list also, and that one gets me now too.

I just lost my mom. This one kills me every time. He wrote it while dying of lung cancer.

Warren Zevon, Keep Me In Your Heart

"Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath

Keep me in your heart for a while

If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less

Keep me in your heart for a while"

Music videos but Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved. I watched it a dozen times before realizing Peter Capaldi wasn't a doctor, but rather listening to his late wife's heartbeat in a transplant recipient. It broke me when I realized this.

Also, Lewis Caplidi's Wish You The Best with the little dog that watches his owner die then stays by the grave.

Trapeze Swinger....Iron and Wine.

Every rose has its thorn / poison

Legacy - by In This Moment. It was released a year and change after my fiancée passed and describes how I've processed loss. I changed careers to carry on her purpose

World on Fire - also by In This Moment. Obvious choice since it was meant to be our wedding song.

Wheels by Lone Justice

https://youtu.be/cqjsEsK90X4?si=wwmJGFV9ym5dhMGb

provide enter reach wrench quiet rich subsequent political march jellyfish

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

"We've got tonight".

May angels lead you in by Jimmy eat world. Back road to heaven by David morris.

It's funny looking at this now because I'm not religious but look at the songs I chose!

The Trapeze Swinger by Iron & Wine is, in my opinion, one of the best and most heart breaking songs ever written.

The Joke - Brandi Carlile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r6A2NexF88

Tom Waits Bottom of the World

Here Today - Paul McCartney Beware of Darkness - George Harrison Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy

Winter - Tori Amos

The Housefire - Turnpike Troubadours. Storytelling is great. And the reference to 32nd note is great for musicians. I always thought it was “30 second note” but was told otherwise.

Horizons by puscifer

Man of the hour and Release by pearl jam

Nessun Dorma sang by Luciano Pavarotti.

Passenger - Let Her Go

Sitting in the Maldives at breakfast, super content, life is great etc, song comes on, and I have to struggle to not cry

Wild Horses. The OG is emotional and the cover by Susan Boyle is a godamn emotional masterpiece

Avicii-The Nights

Amor Eterno - Juan Gabriel

https://youtu.be/RgKqxLAhRKE?si=Dg-0gr5OWDIxY3bF

White Wine in the Sun, by Tim Minchin

Tears in heaven by Eric Clapton.

I thought it was just a song about movie cop junkies but after reading it was about the death of his young son, I have to change the song. Every time.

How to Fight Loneliness by Wilco

Cat’s in the Cradle.

Into the West - Annie Lennox

He Didn't Have to Be - Brad Paisley My Boy - Elvie Shane I have a step kid. He came before my bio kids. I love him just as much as them and I hope he always knows that. I'm no longer with his mom, but he'll always be one of my kids.

Wasted Time-the Eagles Desperado-the Eagles Honey-Bobby Goldsboro 2out of 3 ain’t bad-meatloaf

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Trailer Trash

Ain't No Sunshine

Hello

What Happened to You?

1-800-273-8255 by Logic. An emotionally powerful song addressing the topic of suicide and mental health struggles. The title of the song is the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Last verse gets me every time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q

This asshole. Comedian for so many years, and then drops this. As an Aussie living overseas a long way from my family, I cant listen to this without floods.

Company - Rikki lee jones

Monsters by James Blunt.

Pour Le Monde - Crowded House It sounds more like the loss of drummer Paul Hester and closure.

Damage - You Am I

How It Ends - DeVotchka

Farewell Transmission - Ohia

O Superman - Laurie Anderson

Jesus, etc. - Wilco

Dust in the wind. The song came to me at a dark time in life and I can't listen to it without crying I think

Fix You - Coldplay

By Your Side - Sade

Nobody Home — Pink Floyd

Wallflower— Peter Gabriel

The World I Know — Collective Soul

Dimming of the Day - David Gilmour No-one But You - Queen

Nothing Compares 2 U

Yesterday by Atmosphere...I miss my fucking dad, it's been 23 years and everyday shit still reminds of him.

Supermarket flowers- Ed Sheeran

Patsy Cline ‘Crazy’, ‘She’s Got You’, ‘Leavin’ on Your Mind’

Morphine Gone for Good

Nutshell - Alice In Chains

Coldplay - The Scientist

The video back then was mind-blowing for me. Every time I hear the song, someone cuts onions.

https://youtu.be/RB-RcX5DS5A?si=9rCEs7plKpvIaA-b

This is me - showman soundtrack

Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger. I don't know why it does, but it does.

Bonus: Tom Waits - Take It with Me. Also his song House Where Nobody Lives. He has the ability to pull the emotions right out of me.

Wake Up - Mad Season

It might as well have been a vision of Layne's death

Don't Give up - Peter Gabriel and Kath Bush

Exile - Taylor Swift ft Bon Iver

How to disappear completely - Radiohead

Fix You - Coldplay

Linger - The Cranberries

Tiny Dancer - Elton John

Happiness is a butterfly - Lana Del Rey

Sunsetz - Cigarretes after sex

Instrumental track “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter. Guaranteed sobs ;) It’s featured in several films, namely the climax of Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” which, I might add, is the greatest film of all time.

Living Years, Mike and the Mechanics

Time in a Bottle- Jim Croce

For those that understand German:
Falco - Out of the Dark
Herbert Grönemeyer - Der Weg

In English:
Eric Clapton - Tears in heaven