The first time I heard Kentucky Avenue from Tom Waits 1978 Blue Valentine album, I was brought to tears. Maybe its because of my childhood in 1950's Brooklyn but every single time I listen to the song it strikes a deep emotional chord, even after 45 years. A Child's Song by Tom Rush is another sobering listen, again, perhaps because of the period in time when it was written, it was such a truthful example of what so many of us went through.
I remember listening to Fables of the Reconstruction album for the first time and I just started crying after the final track which was Wendell Gee and I had no idea why. Something about the song really hit me hard. It took me a few listens to work out what the song was about. The lyrics in the second verse make a great metaphor - 'he had a dream one night that the tree had lost its middle so he built a trunk of chicken wire to try to hold it up, but the wire, the wire it turned to lizard skin and then he climbed inside. There wasn't even time to say goodbye to Wendell Gee, so whistle as the wind blows, whistle as the wind blows with me'. There's times in your life when something bad happens and there's nothing you can do. The backing vocals from Mike Mills really help to elevate the song as well. He sings 'Gonna miss you boy' throughout the song and Michael Stipe's chorus of 'Whistle as the wind blows, whistle as the wind blows with me'' really expresses the feeling of helplessness. Peter Buck's banjo gives it a timeless folk song feel.
REM Try Not To Breathe from their 1992 Automatic For the People album. And a song that answers the previous one so beautifully is Trevor Burton’s (of The Move) Just Breathe from his 2018 album Long Play. I do believe Trevor is referencing the REM song because he also covers a Vic Chesnutt song on this album, and Chesnutt was produced by Michael Stipe. don’t get me started on Vic Chesnutt or I’ll be crying all day.
What a great topic. Fully half of 'Blue' gets my bottom lip a-tremblin', even the happy stuff. 'All I Want' is almost a weeper, just because of her delivery. A brave dive into a sensitive topic. Well done !
I've felt tears welling up in my eyes from two songs. Culture (a Jamaican roots reggae band) Stop the Fussing and Fighting and The Pretenders Birds Of Paradise. Also felt tears from a part of Stravinsky's Petrushka
Whiter Shade of Pale - Back in the early 90s i grieved the dissolution of a relationship - 17 months. I love hhe haunting music. As I mentioned, i grieved my mom's passing to Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man.
A Whiter Shade Of Pale is such a powerful track. There’s really nothing like it. The Hammond B3 and Brooker’s vocal bring out a range of emotions. Ballad Of A Thin Man is an all time top 5 Dylan track for me personally.
Great topic. It's a pity party up in here! Mysteries Of Love - Julee Cruise (Blue Velvet sdtk) Cold Morning Light - Todd Rundgren The Same Situation - Joni Mitchell How Can We Hang On To A Dream - Tim Hardin Superstar - The Carpenters Save It For A Rainy Day - The Jayhawks Why Does It Always Rain On Me - Travis Holding Back The Years - Simply Red Sweet Surrender - Sarah McLachlan A Fond Farewell - Elliott Smith
One album that has not one, but several moving tracks is the Sparklehorse album, It's a Wonderful Life. Apple Bed, Eyepennies, More Yellow Birds. To name a few.
Fleetwood Mac- Beautiful Child. The Band- Unfairhful Servant ..And I don't know why but the last chord and Agnethas singing on the very last part of Head over heals always bring a tear to my eye. Can't help it😂
While we're on the subject of Tom Rapp, how about Rocket Man, by Pearls Before Swine. With its pained lyric (inspired by a Ray Bradbury short story) about a boy longing for his distant and deceased father, and its weeping arrangement, this song very sad and beautiful.
Yeah, "Northern Sky" gets me every time. I don't know if that keyboard is a piano -- I think it might be a celeste. I've got just the thing for this installment, Tom -- a weepy CD I made for an old girlfriend. Every song's a weeper. 01) Doris Day -- For All We Know 02) Dwight Twilley Band -- You Were So Warm 03) Tim Hardin -- How Can We Hang On To A Dream 04) Brenda Lee -- The Crying Game 05) Los Straitjackets w/Leigh Nash -- The End Of The World 06) Oysterband w/June Tabor -- Love Will Tear Us Apart 07) Hearts And Flowers -- A Road To Nowhere 08) Superette -- Knowing Me Knowing You 09) Billy Bragg -- Walk Away Renee 10) Dummy -- Walk Away Renee 11) Dave Alvin -- Fourth Of July 12) Jayhawks -- Blue 13) dBs -- Black And White 14) Sleater-Kinney -- One More Hour 15) Muck And The Mires -- I Never Got Over You 16) Magic Numbers -- Love Me Like You 17) Badfinger -- Baby Blue (U.S. single mix) 18) John Doe -- The Unhappy Song 19) Carol King -- A Road To Nowhere 20) Rodolphe Burger -- Love Will Tear Us Apart 21) Crazy Horse -- I'll Get By 22) Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby -- I Still Miss Someone 23) Orioles -- For All We Know It's supposed to be a catharsis, and yes, it all fits on one disc, and the repeated songs do work, and if you can get through the whole thing without crying like a baby, you're a stronger person than I am.
Thought about it, but went with the sarcasm of Billy Bragg (it's a spoken word piece that uses only the music), combined with the brutal thrash of Dummy's version. And no, her name was not Renee. 😉
Johnny Cash singing “Hurt” (by Trent Reznor) after the death of his wife, not long before his. It’s enough just to hear it in my mind. Good God that’s powerful when you have regrets and have lost loved ones.
at 65, i pretty much skip any sad song because i just don’t want to relive the heartache or nostalgia of things i loved but can’t get back. sometimes it’s a bittersweet memory, sometimes it’s a regret. most of the time i focus on the more feel good, uplifting tunes from the old records. speaking of sandy denny, “who knows where the time goes” could be a contender for a weeper song. same with “the greatest discovery” from elton’s eponymous album, and john prine’s “souvenirs”. “she’s leaving home”, “father and son”, “landslide”, “sometime in the morning” (monkees), “crazy love”, “squeezing out sparks”, “ballad of el goodo”, “levon“, have all punctured my heart at one time or another.
Another great topic. I love a melancholy tune. I will think it over and reply with mine. Off the top of my head... Brook Benton - House is Not a Home - classic bacharach Crazy Horse - I Dont Want To Talk About It John Hiatt - Tip Of My Tongue Elloitt Smith - Everything Means Nothing to Me Steve Earle - Goodbye Check em' out , if you dont know them.
A lovely selection of tunes, Tom. Here's a few that grab me: One Step Up-Bruce Springsteen, Find The River-REM, To Be Without You- Ryan Adams, So Far Away Carole King.
Tom Waits has written so many weepers that he made an entire album called Bawlers (part of the Orphans collection). Tom Traubert's Blues is possibly his best-known weeper, but the one that always gets me is Ruby's Arms, from the Heartattack and Vine album. I saw him perform it live, and you could hear practically the entire audience reaching for their Kleenex.
Here’s a few more weepers: Joni Mitchell’s Two Grey Rooms Neil Young’s Pardon My Heart Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush’s Don’t Give Up Fleetwood Mac’s Why (Christine McVie) Gerry Rafferty’s The Right Moment Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven Richard and Linda Thompson’s Dimming of the Day Richard and Linda Thompson’s Down Where the Drunkards Roll Sinead O’Connor’s cover of She Moved Through the Fair Crazy Horse’s I Don’t Want to Talk About It (Danny Whitten) Linda Ronstadt’s Talk to Me of Mendocino Linda Ronstadt’s Heart Like a Wheel Emmylou Harris’ Till I Gain Control again Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris’ If This Is Goodbye Ray LaMontagne Such a Simple Thing Beatles’ Now and Then Angus and Julia Stone’s Santa Monica Dream Angus and Julia Stone’s I’m Not Yours
Tom an excellent topic. Songs can travel across time and evoke bittersweet -painful memories that often have little in common with the songwriter's lyric subject. I have a cluster of early 70s songs - 'The Only Living Boy in New York' by Simon and Garfunkel - 'Albatross' by Fleetwood Mac - 'Across the Universe' - Beatles, 'Name of the Game' , Badfinger - 'The Actor' , Moody Blues - 'The Wind', Cat Steven - 'I Have You Anytime', George Harrison - 'Who Knows Where the Times Goes' - Sandy Denny, 'Costafine Town' - Splinter, ' When the Healing has Began' Van Morrison, 'I Don't Want to Know About Evil' - John Martyn, and some post 70s stops 'You and Me' -Neil Young, As Wise as a Serpent' - Gerry Rafferty, '''Bubble' - King Creosote & John Hopkins, 'Blue Ridge Mountains' - Fleet Foxes, 'Stacks' - Bon Iver, 'Just One Thing' - My Morning Jacket
Great topic and loved your choices Petty easy to come up with a list as they are some of my favorite songs , have to be right ? 1 Trouble : Cat Stevens If you know the scene where it plays in Harold and Maude you are probably welling up right now 2. Stay with Me ( Baby ) : Lorraine Ellison ; list has to have a soul song and this is unmatched vocal. 3. Couldn’t Love you More : John Martyn ; for my wife ! Sometime you need someone else words to express how you feel . This one get every time even as we approach our 30 anniversary 4. My Madrigal : Patti Smith Patti was not so lucky and lost her husband the great Fred Smith way too early ; the refrain of “ til death do us part “ is heartbreaking 5. I Try : Macy Gray This relates back to when my son was born ; magical times Loved this post
There's a song on Belle and Sebastian's hit and miss 4th album, Fold Your Hands Child... called Chalet Lines that is written from the perspective of a rape victim. Brutally realistic and devastating in the way the narrator attempts to recount the memory. That's number one. Others include: The Kids- Lou Reed If You See her, Say Hello- Bob Dylan The Losing End- Neil Young (I think he has a few weepers) Solitary Man- Neil Diamond, but my preferred version is Johnny Cash's cover Leaving on a Jet Plane- John Denver (this last one is a weeper because my parents used to play John Denver on 8-track when I was a kid. I remember this song getting played a lot and this was in the pre-divorce days, representing the "young and innocent days" so it's a personal weeper because of the added nostalgia factor) Operator- Jim Croce (Another artist my parents used to play. His guitar playing combined with the story and imagery in the lyrics just gets me every time!) Note: Time in a Bottle is another one of his= honorable mention
Operator is such a great song. There’s a video by Rick Beato talking about why it’s so good. He mentions that it packs so much information about the narrator’s life into just a few short lines.
Great topic, Tom. My number one weeper would have to be Brompton Oratory by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the music and those lyrics, man, they just get me every time. Nobody thinks of Steely Dan as an emotional band especially, but Deacon Blues can bring me to tears. Some more: My Finest Hour by the Sundays, waterworks guaranteed; Bad by U2, especially after you realize the lyrics are about the death of an actual friend of Bono's; Birds of Paradise by Pretenders; Ten Years Gone by Led Zeppelin, the quiet parts, Jimmy's guitar; Dreamin' Man by Neil Young; Wreck on the Highway by Springsteen; and The Bed by Lou Reed. Not a surprise that a common theme among many of these is loss. Man, I'm tearing up just thinking about these songs, so I'd better stop!
One of my favorite weepers is Father and Son by Cat Stevens of off Tea for the Tillerman. Hearing Cat sing both parts of the father and son in different octaves, slays me. Both Sides Now from Joni Mitchell is another weeper.
"Father and Son" does bring tears to my eyes. "Both Sides Now?" I don't know if it gives me tears, because it is such a masterfully crafted song, with its metaphor of the clouds being a parallel to life. I get lost in the beauty of the lyrics and poetic construction, and I might forget to "feel" the lyrics.
Speaking of "masterfully crafted song", we haven't even gotten to 10CC 's "I'm Not In Love", or Graham Gouldman's "No Milk Today" (please, not the Herman's Hermits version). Gouldman really is a master of this genre, yet I shed no tears -- the master's hand shines through.
@@simonagree4070 I'm a huge fan of Graham Goldman's songwriting. I sort of remember a story Graham Nash told about Goldman. The Hollies were being nagged by someone who wanted them to visit her nephew who wrote great songs. They finally relented. When they arrived, not expecting much, they were disappointed to find a mere kid of, like, 16 years old: Graham Gouldman. He played for them ""Bus Stop." They were stunned, and said, "we''ll take it." Then he played, "Look Through Any Window," and they said, "We''ll take that, too. Do you have any more?" Gouldman said, "well, there's 'No Milk Today', but I already promised it to Herman's Hermits." Another story: Graham Gouldman's dad came back from a walk and told Graham about the empty milk bottle he saw with the note, "No milk today" written in it. He told Graham he should make a song about it. Graham told his father, "No way could that be a song." His father explained how a story could be woven around it, with the empty bottle as a symbol. Graham Gouldman understood, and made a great song. Ace records has a nice Graham Gouldman compilation. called "Listen People." You can get it along with their Tony Hatch compilation, "Colour My World," my dream come true album.
I consider myself a tough guy. One of the few songs that I literally wept to after hearing it, is the beautiful and heartbreaking song Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens.
Bonnie Raitt's heartbreaking version of John Prine's Angel from Montgomery, and Jackson Browne's Song for Adam, Dire Strait's Brothers in Arms, and Over the Hill (too close to home!), by Ten Years After.
Thanks for this video. I may add almost all songs from the first Album by Cowboy Junkies. And “Joey’ by Concrete Blonde, ‘Jonny Mathis’ Feet’ by The American Music Club. And then add almost all Songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake.
Hey Tom, another thought provoking video ... pretty much anything off of "Things we lost in the fire" by Low but Sunflower and Medicine Magazines are brilliantly sad. Spring by Angel Olsen from her All Mirrors lp is pretty melancholic.
Interesting topic! Two songs I would include are Song for Adam by Jackson Browne about what it's like to lose a friend to suicide and Don't It Make You Want to Go Home by Gene Clark and Carla Olson about memories and the security of youth. The song, written by Joe South, features a soulful harmonica.
Interesting topic and great picks in Northern Sky, Melissa, Young & innocent days, Tom! Here's mine: "Separate Ways" - Elvis "Man of the World" - Fleetwood Mac "Signed DC" - Love (Out Here version) "Who knows where the time goes" - Fairport Convention -"Nights in white Satin" - Moody Blues "Reason to believe" - Tim Hardin/Rod Stewart "The working life" - Bruce Springsteen
Brown Earth (1970) by Laura Nyro. A song of innocence, hope and love. Absolutely beautiful. Georgia on My Mind, sung live by Ian Moss 1983, guitarist for Australia's best ever rock band, Cold Chisel, from their Barking Spiders album. The definitive version, the video of the performance is amazing. Somewhere Over the Rainbow circa 1997, by rock legend Billy Thorpe, live in a radio station with just two acoustic guitars. The definitive version. Thorpe was a child singing prodigy and one of rock's greatest vocalists. His 'Mama' live on GTK (1971) is mindblowing. McCartney and Grohl ripped it off for their Grammy winning Cut me Some Slack.
brown earth is a great choice and more people should hear it. personally, i find it more uplifting or joyful, but i can see how it might be a weeper in that way, too 😊
@@tomrobinson5776 You probably know that Duanne Allman plays on the track Beads of Sweat along with Chuck Rainey and Cornel Dupree. Lots of greats on that album, also Alice Coltrane, Richard Davis.
What a great idea. Judy Collins had to drag Leonard Cohen onstage to get him to sing in front of an audience for the first time. Then Leonard Cohen, in turn, got her to finally write a song of her own: Since You Asked (1967) Judy Collins Nature, passing of the seasons, timeless themes: Sometimes in Winter (1968) Steve Katz (BS&T) After Halloween (1972 demo version) Sandy Denny Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most (1962) Mark Murphy River Man (1969) Nick Drake River (1971) Joni Mitchell Will to Love (1976) Neil Young I Can't Make It Anymore (1967) Richie Havens Laughing (1971) David Crosby Old Friends (1968) Simon and Garfunkel Many years ago we were about to get out of the car when my 4 year old son heard a song begin on the radio, and for the first and only time, he insisted we stay and listen to the song. So now it always gives me an extra emotional twinge whenever I hear the song: Leaving on a Jet Plane (1967) Peter, Paul & Mary
Tom Waits - Shiver Me Timbers Tom Waits - On The Nickel Tom Waits - Soldiers Things Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat Jim Croce - Hey Tomorrow Cat Stevens -Trouble Elton John - Daniel Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here David Sylvian - Orpheus Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues
Great list Tom, I need to check out a few of yours including the corresponding catalogs. I’ll throw some into the mix: Never My Love • The Association From The Flagstones • Cocteau Twins Such A Shame • Talk Talk I Want To Live • This Mortal Coil
Days - The Kinks Drive All Night - Springsteen Summer's Gone - Beach Boys most songs from Pet Sounds - Beach Boys Hurt - Johnny Cash For A Dancer - Jackson Browne Shiver Me Timbers - Tom Waits
Mason Proffit's album Wanted has a song called "You Finally Found Your Love" that makes me misty. It also has their song "Two Hangmen" on it for starters.
Souvenirs from the group Switchfoot😢 another tearjerker would have to be Paul McCartney's song an instrumental Junk😢 then there's Jim Croce's Photographs and memories😢 .. Gordon lightfoot's , If I could read your mind 😢 how about Perry Como's, and I love her so....
1. Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell (orchestral version) 2. I'll Be Home - Randy Newman (he wrote so many weepers !) 3. The Kiss - Judee Sill 4. You've Got A Friend - Carole King (James Taylor version) 5. Wailing Wall - Todd Rundgren 6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Neil Young 7. Madge - Stephen Bishop 8. Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) (Billy Joel) 9. Au Lait (Pat Metheny) 10. Milonga Del Angel (Astor Piazzola) ...and a few others...
I can only think of 6 weepers 1 the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald- Gordon lightfoot 2 stay with me til dawn- Judie tzuke 3 how wonderful you are- Gordon Haskell 4 English rose-the jam 5 will you- hazel o Conner 6 alone again- the glitter band
Close Watch by John Cale, I think the ‘82 version from Music For New Society is the best. The song The Kick inside, by Kate Bush is pretty effecting as well.
Tom This is a crazy co incidence Around 6.30 heading home from work i was passing the corner where After The Goldrush cover was shot I passed by this corner a million times but today for some reason i stopped and took a photo I was going to talk to my daughter about it and then you hold up the album ( mind blown ) Its the corner of 3rd Street and Sullivan but south of Washing Square Park NYC
"melissa", "birds" and "farewell, farewell" are three of the most moving songs ever. i'd probably go with "this is where i belong", "black eyed dog" and "snow in san anselmo" by the three artists you mention but a great list as always.
Big time. That is an incredible song that brings out a lot of heavy emotion. Those lyrics, the melody. Only Ray could write a song like that. Masterpiece.
The Long and Winding Road by The Beatles, Vincent by Don McLean, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, and Don't Cry Daddy by Elvis Presley.
Little Feat "Voices on the Wind" from Let It Roll. Features Linda Ronstadt as well as Craig Fuller on vocals. Speaking of LR I always lose it whenever I hear "Long Long Time."
Great list. Just listened to Wendell Gee the other day! For some reason "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve brings me to tears every time. Associate it with a happy period in my life which feels like it's a hundred years away. 100 Years by The Rolling Stones is another. Perfect Circle by R.E.M. Chime of the City Clock by Nick Drake Journey Through the Past by Neil Young Leaving New York by R.E.M. Visions of Joanna by Bob Dylan Oh, Sweet Nuthin' by The Velvet Underground Soon by Yes I Talk to the Wind by King Crimson Orange Skies by Love great idea for a video!! Thank you.
Another Kinks weeper for me is "I'll Remember" from Face To Face. Phoebe Bridgers cover of Mark Kozelek's "You Missed My Heart" on Stranger in the Alps.
"Young and Innocent Days" certainly has brought many a tear to my eyes. What about songs that bring tears of joy to one's eyes? I feel that, often. Some ABBA songs can do that to me. Probably some ELO songs, too. It's a great feeling. Some songs give me goose bumps.
Agree on Little Green, for the Kinks mine would be Oklahoma USA. Fables my Favorite REM album, but the weeper for me is Good Advices Two all time “ weepers” for me are “ Half Past France by John Cale and “ April Fool” by Ronnie Lane of the Townshend/ Lane Rough Mix album
Rickie Lee Jones : On saturday afternoons in 1963. Fountains of Wayne : Sick day. The Kinks : The way love used to be. The Smiths : Well i wonder Echo and the Bunnymen : Ocean rain CSN : Just a song before i go .......and many more !
Good topic. There was something similar just recently on a Stones fansite, about 'darkest songs', and I realized how subjective these choices are. As weepers I'd say "Twilight" by the Band; Van Morrison, where to start? It could even just be a certain version of one of his cuts. A song that really gets me is "Substitute for Love" by Madonna. I;m not even sure that's the title. "Kentucky Ave" by Tom Waits. Not the most original choice. "Love is a losing game' by Amy.
Well, you know, as Robert Smith tells us, boys don't cry. So l'm no weeper. Ha. Some of my choices are as follows: "Camera", by REM. They wrote that one in honor of a friend of theirs who died young. I think of those l have lost when l hear it. Not a maudlin experience at all, but joyful. But loss sure fucking hurts. "New York City Serenade" by Bruce Springsteen. The last part of the song, featuring a surreal image of dawn breaking over Manhattan and a junkman all dressed up in satin, singing. It gets me and l don't even know why. Yes, l play this tune every September 11, in an overserved state. And l lose my shit a little bit. "Sixteen Blue" by the Replacements. The very first time l listened to Let it Be, l rocked along to the uptempo tunes, bopped along to the silly joke songs, and midway through "Sixteen Blue", l realized there were tears pouring down my face. Who IS this Paul Westerberg, l wondered, and what kind of mind control is this? What a ride the Mats were! So glad to have been young then. "Fall" by the Miles Davis Quintet. Because l'm just a little teeny bit of a stone cold atheist. But during Wayne Shorter's solo, l realize there really might be a God, and if so, all His or Her frightened, confused, lonely children get to go home. ALL of them. I become Niagra Falls.
Sixteen Blue is my personal fave off Let It Be and that guitar solo at the end is the icing on the cake. Simple but so effective. Camera is another great early REM ballad with an incredible vibe.
How about "Magdelene" by Procol off "Shine on Brightly"..... has a wonderful sympathetic piano track w/great vocal by Gary. Definitely a sweeper keeper in the Procol cannon.
I love sad songs, so ... Nina Simone's George Harrison cover "Isn't it a pity", Sinead O'Connor and Matt Johnson "Kingdom of Rain" are two off the top of my head.
Hey Tom I was meaning to mention and book I really like This will end in Tears ( A Miserabilist Guide to Music ) by Adam Brent Houghtaling Its a guide to the saddest songs of all times with essays on the top 25 From Edith Piaf to Joy Division Essay on Gloomy Sunday amd its origins all way to what was voted the saddest piece Adagio for Strings : Samuel Barber Its a really great read
You Set the Scene by Love from Forever Changes is the track that always turns on the waterworks. It's the arrangement and words that have a certain effect as it closes the album. Triggers the emotions for sure.😪
Tom, I've been enjoying your videos! Just out of curiosity...how many albums do you own? 🤔 Have you done any videos on the 60's and 70's "modern" blues albums? (I used to play with Johnny Winter, but only when he was doing clubs and cover songs. I was not with him when he became nationally known.) Thanks!
Hi Buzz, I’ve never counted, maybe close to 2000. That is so cool you played with Johnny Winter. He doesn’t get enough credit these days. The guy was just brilliant and that slide playing is incredible. Love the Progressive Blues Experiment album the best.
Speaking of Nick Drake, the song "Things Behind the Sun" from Pink Moon really affects me in a melancholy way. There is something existential about the lyrics and the chord structure is also strangely disturbing to me. I find it difficult to listen to. Nevertheless, it is a great song. Cheers.
The first time I heard Kentucky Avenue from Tom Waits 1978 Blue Valentine album, I was brought to tears. Maybe its because of my childhood in 1950's Brooklyn but every single time I listen to the song it strikes a deep emotional chord, even after 45 years. A Child's Song by Tom Rush is another sobering listen, again, perhaps because of the period in time when it was written, it was such a truthful example of what so many of us went through.
"Watching and Waiting" by the Moody Blues gives me a lump in my throat. Justin Hayward's vocal is so melancholy, but incredibly beautiful.
Old Friends by Simon and Garfunkel always makes me weep. It reminds me of my dying mother and our relationship.
The lyrics , pure melancholy, and sentimental poetry. Chiseled perfection.
Love the Bookends album, but that’s a hard one to get through depending on my mood.
Candle of Life - The Moody Blues
The perfect sad but hopeful song.
Not sure why but "Expresso Love" by Dire Straits gets to me.
I remember listening to Fables of the Reconstruction album for the first time and I just started crying after the final track which was Wendell Gee and I had no idea why. Something about the song really hit me hard. It took me a few listens to work out what the song was about. The lyrics in the second verse make a great metaphor - 'he had a dream one night that the tree had lost its middle so he built a trunk of chicken wire to try to hold it up, but the wire, the wire it turned to lizard skin and then he climbed inside. There wasn't even time to say goodbye to Wendell Gee, so whistle as the wind blows, whistle as the wind blows with me'. There's times in your life when something bad happens and there's nothing you can do. The backing vocals from Mike Mills really help to elevate the song as well. He sings 'Gonna miss you boy' throughout the song and Michael Stipe's chorus of 'Whistle as the wind blows, whistle as the wind blows with me'' really expresses the feeling of helplessness. Peter Buck's banjo gives it a timeless folk song feel.
REM Try Not To Breathe from their 1992 Automatic For the People album.
And a song that answers the previous one so beautifully is Trevor Burton’s (of The Move) Just Breathe from his 2018 album Long Play.
I do believe Trevor is referencing the REM song because he also covers a Vic Chesnutt song on this album, and Chesnutt was produced by Michael Stipe.
don’t get me started on Vic Chesnutt or I’ll be crying all day.
Hello in there.... John Prine
Borrowed Tune - Neil Young
The whole Tonight's the Night album is very moving.
Totally. I always found the track New Mama incredible. Those harmonies are just fantastic.
Jim Croce wrote some classics
What a great loss so young…
I agree.
Best Folk/ Country-Songwriter of all time!
What a great topic. Fully half of 'Blue' gets my bottom lip a-tremblin', even the happy stuff. 'All I Want' is almost a weeper, just because of her delivery. A brave dive into a sensitive topic. Well done !
Thank you 😉
I've felt tears welling up in my eyes from two songs. Culture (a Jamaican roots reggae band) Stop the Fussing and Fighting and The Pretenders Birds Of Paradise. Also felt tears from a part of Stravinsky's Petrushka
Whiter Shade of Pale - Back in the early 90s i grieved the dissolution of a relationship - 17 months. I love hhe haunting music. As I mentioned, i grieved my mom's passing to Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man.
A Whiter Shade Of Pale is such a powerful track. There’s really nothing like it. The Hammond B3 and Brooker’s vocal bring out a range of emotions. Ballad Of A Thin Man is an all time top 5 Dylan track for me personally.
How could I forget Oh Yeah (on the radio)
, by Roxy Music, beautiful song.
Great topic. It's a pity party up in here!
Mysteries Of Love - Julee Cruise (Blue Velvet sdtk)
Cold Morning Light - Todd Rundgren
The Same Situation - Joni Mitchell
How Can We Hang On To A Dream - Tim Hardin
Superstar - The Carpenters
Save It For A Rainy Day - The Jayhawks
Why Does It Always Rain On Me - Travis
Holding Back The Years - Simply Red
Sweet Surrender - Sarah McLachlan
A Fond Farewell - Elliott Smith
Cold Morning Light definitely can well up the eyes a bit. Great track.
One album that has not one, but several moving tracks is the Sparklehorse album, It's a Wonderful Life. Apple Bed, Eyepennies, More Yellow Birds. To name a few.
Totally Agree
Sparklehorse such a special artist
Broken my heart when we lost Mark and Vic Chestnut in a matter of months
Never heard it. I’ll add it to my list.
Hey Cape! School days...Kinks! One of my top 3 bands...And Summer Of Love..Jefferson Airplane...Both make
me reminisce to the max!!!
Fleetwood Mac- Beautiful Child.
The Band- Unfairhful Servant
..And I don't know why but the last chord and Agnethas singing on the very last part of Head over heals always bring a tear to my eye.
Can't help it😂
The Leonard Cohen song that pierces my heart is "Seems so long ago Nancy". Tom Rapp does an amazing cover of it.
While we're on the subject of Tom Rapp, how about Rocket Man, by Pearls Before Swine. With its pained lyric (inspired by a Ray Bradbury short story) about a boy longing for his distant and deceased father, and its weeping arrangement, this song very sad and beautiful.
That is a heavy Cohen track. Quite a weeper…
Yeah, "Northern Sky" gets me every time. I don't know if that keyboard is a piano -- I think it might be a celeste.
I've got just the thing for this installment, Tom -- a weepy CD I made for an old girlfriend. Every song's a weeper.
01) Doris Day -- For All We Know
02) Dwight Twilley Band -- You Were So Warm
03) Tim Hardin -- How Can We Hang On To A Dream
04) Brenda Lee -- The Crying Game
05) Los Straitjackets w/Leigh Nash -- The End Of The World
06) Oysterband w/June Tabor -- Love Will Tear Us Apart
07) Hearts And Flowers -- A Road To Nowhere
08) Superette -- Knowing Me Knowing You
09) Billy Bragg -- Walk Away Renee
10) Dummy -- Walk Away Renee
11) Dave Alvin -- Fourth Of July
12) Jayhawks -- Blue
13) dBs -- Black And White
14) Sleater-Kinney -- One More Hour
15) Muck And The Mires -- I Never Got Over You
16) Magic Numbers -- Love Me Like You
17) Badfinger -- Baby Blue (U.S. single mix)
18) John Doe -- The Unhappy Song
19) Carol King -- A Road To Nowhere
20) Rodolphe Burger -- Love Will Tear Us Apart
21) Crazy Horse -- I'll Get By
22) Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby -- I Still Miss Someone
23) Orioles -- For All We Know
It's supposed to be a catharsis, and yes, it all fits on one disc, and the repeated songs do work, and if you can get through the whole thing without crying like a baby, you're a stronger person than I am.
Ha! Great mix. The original version of Walk Away Renee by The Left Banke can get the tears flowing. For me it’s nostalgic.
Thought about it, but went with the sarcasm of Billy Bragg (it's a spoken word piece that uses only the music), combined with the brutal thrash of Dummy's version. And no, her name was not Renee. 😉
Johnny Cash singing “Hurt” (by Trent Reznor) after the death of his wife, not long before his. It’s enough just to hear it in my mind. Good God that’s powerful when you have regrets and have lost loved ones.
No doubt. That is one heavy track. Incredible stuff.
at 65, i pretty much skip any sad song because i just don’t want to relive the heartache or nostalgia of things i loved but can’t get back. sometimes it’s a bittersweet memory, sometimes it’s a regret. most of the time i focus on the more feel good, uplifting tunes from the old records. speaking of sandy denny, “who knows where the time goes” could be a contender for a weeper song. same with “the greatest discovery” from elton’s eponymous album, and john prine’s “souvenirs”. “she’s leaving home”, “father and son”, “landslide”, “sometime in the morning” (monkees), “crazy love”, “squeezing out sparks”, “ballad of el goodo”, “levon“, have all punctured my heart at one time or another.
I agree with all your choices. Sometime In The Morning is a total weeper. 😉
Another great topic.
I love a melancholy tune.
I will think it over and reply with mine.
Off the top of my head...
Brook Benton - House is Not a Home - classic bacharach
Crazy Horse - I Dont Want To Talk About It
John Hiatt - Tip Of My Tongue
Elloitt Smith - Everything Means Nothing to Me
Steve Earle - Goodbye
Check em' out , if you dont know them.
I’ll check em’ out. 👍
A lovely selection of tunes, Tom. Here's a few that grab me: One Step Up-Bruce Springsteen, Find The River-REM, To Be Without You- Ryan Adams, So Far Away Carole King.
So Far Away is gorgeous.
Tom Waits has written so many weepers that he made an entire album called Bawlers (part of the Orphans collection). Tom Traubert's Blues is possibly his best-known weeper, but the one that always gets me is Ruby's Arms, from the Heartattack and Vine album. I saw him perform it live, and you could hear practically the entire audience reaching for their Kleenex.
Waits has definitely written his share of weepers. The Heart Of Saturday Night can make the eyes moist depending on my mood.
"Martha" is one of my favourites.
The ultimate for me: “Old and Wise”. Alan Parsons Project w Colin Blunstone on incredible vocals
Here’s a few more weepers:
Joni Mitchell’s Two Grey Rooms
Neil Young’s Pardon My Heart
Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work
Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush’s Don’t Give Up
Fleetwood Mac’s Why (Christine McVie)
Gerry Rafferty’s The Right Moment
Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven
Richard and Linda Thompson’s Dimming of the Day
Richard and Linda Thompson’s Down Where the Drunkards Roll
Sinead O’Connor’s cover of She Moved Through the Fair
Crazy Horse’s I Don’t Want to Talk About It (Danny Whitten)
Linda Ronstadt’s Talk to Me of Mendocino
Linda Ronstadt’s Heart Like a Wheel
Emmylou Harris’ Till I Gain Control again
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris’ If This Is Goodbye
Ray LaMontagne Such a Simple Thing
Beatles’ Now and Then
Angus and Julia Stone’s Santa Monica Dream
Angus and Julia Stone’s I’m Not Yours
Tom an excellent topic. Songs can travel across time and evoke bittersweet -painful memories that often have little in common with the songwriter's lyric subject. I have a cluster of early 70s songs - 'The Only Living Boy in New York' by Simon and Garfunkel - 'Albatross' by Fleetwood Mac - 'Across the Universe' - Beatles, 'Name of the Game' , Badfinger - 'The Actor' , Moody Blues - 'The Wind', Cat Steven - 'I Have You Anytime', George Harrison - 'Who Knows Where the Times Goes' - Sandy Denny, 'Costafine Town' - Splinter, ' When the Healing has Began' Van Morrison, 'I Don't Want to Know About Evil' - John Martyn, and some post 70s stops 'You and Me' -Neil Young, As Wise as a Serpent' - Gerry Rafferty, '''Bubble' - King Creosote & John Hopkins, 'Blue Ridge Mountains' - Fleet Foxes, 'Stacks' - Bon Iver, 'Just One Thing' - My Morning Jacket
Almost put The Only Living Boy In New York on the list. 😉
My weeper: Jackson Browne - Sleeps Dark and Silent Gate.😊
Great topic and loved your choices
Petty easy to come up with a list as they are some of my favorite songs , have to be right ?
1 Trouble : Cat Stevens
If you know the scene where it plays in Harold and Maude you are probably welling up right now
2. Stay with Me ( Baby ) : Lorraine Ellison ; list has to have a soul song and this is unmatched vocal.
3. Couldn’t Love you More : John Martyn ; for my wife ! Sometime you need someone else words to express how you feel . This one get every time even as we approach our 30 anniversary
4. My Madrigal : Patti Smith
Patti was not so lucky and lost her husband the great Fred Smith way too early ; the refrain of “ til death do us part “ is heartbreaking
5. I Try : Macy Gray
This relates back to when my son was born ; magical times
Loved this post
Thanks 😉
There's a song on Belle and Sebastian's hit and miss 4th album, Fold Your Hands Child... called Chalet Lines that is written from the perspective of a rape victim. Brutally realistic and devastating in the way the narrator attempts to recount the memory. That's number one. Others include:
The Kids- Lou Reed
If You See her, Say Hello- Bob Dylan
The Losing End- Neil Young (I think he has a few weepers)
Solitary Man- Neil Diamond, but my preferred version is Johnny Cash's cover
Leaving on a Jet Plane- John Denver (this last one is a weeper because my parents used to play John Denver on 8-track when I was a kid. I remember this song getting played a lot and this was in the pre-divorce days, representing the "young and innocent days" so it's a personal weeper because of the added nostalgia factor)
Operator- Jim Croce (Another artist my parents used to play. His guitar playing combined with the story and imagery in the lyrics just gets me every time!)
Note: Time in a Bottle is another one of his= honorable mention
Operator is such a great song. There’s a video by Rick Beato talking about why it’s so good. He mentions that it packs so much information about the narrator’s life into just a few short lines.
Operator is a masterpiece of a song. Just perfect in every way. I’d say all the tracks you mentioned are the epitome of weepers. 😉
Great topic, Tom. My number one weeper would have to be Brompton Oratory by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the music and those lyrics, man, they just get me every time. Nobody thinks of Steely Dan as an emotional band especially, but Deacon Blues can bring me to tears. Some more: My Finest Hour by the Sundays, waterworks guaranteed; Bad by U2, especially after you realize the lyrics are about the death of an actual friend of Bono's; Birds of Paradise by Pretenders; Ten Years Gone by Led Zeppelin, the quiet parts, Jimmy's guitar; Dreamin' Man by Neil Young; Wreck on the Highway by Springsteen; and The Bed by Lou Reed. Not a surprise that a common theme among many of these is loss. Man, I'm tearing up just thinking about these songs, so I'd better stop!
My Finest Hour is a joyful weep. Incredible track. That guitar solo on Ten Years Gone is one of my fave Page solos. Kinda understated and emotional.
One of my favorite weepers is Father and Son by Cat Stevens of off Tea for the Tillerman. Hearing Cat sing both parts of the father and son in different octaves, slays me. Both Sides Now from Joni Mitchell is another weeper.
"Father and Son" does bring tears to my eyes. "Both Sides Now?" I don't know if it gives me tears, because it is such a masterfully crafted song, with its metaphor of the clouds being a parallel to life. I get lost in the beauty of the lyrics and poetic construction, and I might forget to "feel" the lyrics.
Indeed. Both are classic weepers.
Speaking of "masterfully crafted song", we haven't even gotten to 10CC 's "I'm Not In Love", or Graham Gouldman's "No Milk Today" (please, not the Herman's Hermits version). Gouldman really is a master of this genre, yet I shed no tears -- the master's hand shines through.
@@simonagree4070 Those are well crafted tracks. I’m Not In Love has that distinction of sounding like nothing else. Brilliant.
@@simonagree4070 I'm a huge fan of Graham Goldman's songwriting. I sort of remember a story Graham Nash told about Goldman. The Hollies were being nagged by someone who wanted them to visit her nephew who wrote great songs. They finally relented. When they arrived, not expecting much, they were disappointed to find a mere kid of, like, 16 years old: Graham Gouldman. He played for them ""Bus Stop." They were stunned, and said, "we''ll take it." Then he played, "Look Through Any Window," and they said, "We''ll take that, too. Do you have any more?" Gouldman said, "well, there's 'No Milk Today', but I already promised it to Herman's Hermits." Another story: Graham Gouldman's dad came back from a walk and told Graham about the empty milk bottle he saw with the note, "No milk today" written in it. He told Graham he should make a song about it. Graham told his father, "No way could that be a song." His father explained how a story could be woven around it, with the empty bottle as a symbol. Graham Gouldman understood, and made a great song. Ace records has a nice Graham Gouldman compilation. called "Listen People." You can get it along with their Tony Hatch compilation, "Colour My World," my dream come true album.
'White Bird' by It's a Beautiful Day comes to mind, for me.
Love that track.
I consider myself a tough guy. One of the few songs that I literally wept to after hearing it, is the beautiful and heartbreaking song Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens.
Good pick the Illinois album has some tearjerkers for sure.
Bonnie Raitt's heartbreaking version of John Prine's Angel from Montgomery, and Jackson Browne's Song for Adam, Dire Strait's Brothers in Arms, and Over the Hill (too close to home!), by Ten Years After.
Thanks for this video. I may add almost all songs from the first Album by Cowboy Junkies. And “Joey’ by Concrete Blonde, ‘Jonny Mathis’ Feet’ by The American Music Club. And then add almost all Songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake.
Good pick, Cowboy Junkies.
"The Grand Tour"- George Jones, "Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue"- Old 97s
My choice for George Jones would be "He stopped loving her today." Perhaps a bit too much on the maudlin side.
Bonnie Raitt - I can't make you love me. Right after I got dumped, that song always set me off.
Hey Tom, another thought provoking video ... pretty much anything off of "Things we lost in the fire" by Low but Sunflower and Medicine Magazines are brilliantly sad. Spring by Angel Olsen from her All Mirrors lp is pretty melancholic.
Interesting topic! Two songs I would include are Song for Adam by Jackson Browne about what it's like to lose a friend to suicide and Don't It Make You Want to Go Home by Gene Clark and Carla Olson about memories and the security of youth. The song, written by Joe South, features a soulful harmonica.
Interesting topic and great picks in Northern Sky, Melissa, Young & innocent days, Tom!
Here's mine:
"Separate Ways" - Elvis
"Man of the World" - Fleetwood Mac
"Signed DC" - Love (Out Here version)
"Who knows where the time goes" - Fairport Convention
-"Nights in white Satin" - Moody Blues
"Reason to believe" - Tim Hardin/Rod Stewart
"The working life" - Bruce Springsteen
Signed DC and Reason To Believe are all time faves of mine.
Brown Earth (1970) by Laura Nyro. A song of innocence, hope and love. Absolutely beautiful.
Georgia on My Mind, sung live by Ian Moss 1983, guitarist for Australia's best ever rock band, Cold Chisel, from their Barking Spiders album. The definitive version, the video of the performance is amazing.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow circa 1997, by rock legend Billy Thorpe, live in a radio station with just two acoustic guitars. The definitive version. Thorpe was a child singing prodigy and one of rock's greatest vocalists. His 'Mama' live on GTK (1971) is mindblowing. McCartney and Grohl ripped it off for their Grammy winning Cut me Some Slack.
brown earth is a great choice and more people should hear it. personally, i find it more uplifting or joyful, but i can see how it might be a weeper in that way, too 😊
@@kurt11110 Yep, a weeper because its joyful, and when those harmonies kick in...Cheers.
That’s one of the few Nyro albums I don’t have. I need to pick that up. 😉
@@tomrobinson5776 You probably know that Duanne Allman plays on the track Beads of Sweat along with Chuck Rainey and Cornel Dupree. Lots of greats on that album, also Alice Coltrane, Richard Davis.
The kiss by Judee sill is the most beautiful song ever written and I always struggle to get through to the end it’s perfect 😢
Indeed. I’ve been obsessed with her first album the past few years. Just perfection from start to finish.
What a great idea.
Judy Collins had to drag Leonard Cohen onstage to get him to sing in front of an audience for the first time. Then Leonard Cohen, in turn, got her to finally write a song of her own:
Since You Asked (1967) Judy Collins
Nature, passing of the seasons, timeless themes:
Sometimes in Winter (1968) Steve Katz (BS&T)
After Halloween (1972 demo version) Sandy Denny
Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most (1962) Mark Murphy
River Man (1969) Nick Drake
River (1971) Joni Mitchell
Will to Love (1976) Neil Young
I Can't Make It Anymore (1967) Richie Havens
Laughing (1971) David Crosby
Old Friends (1968) Simon and Garfunkel
Many years ago we were about to get out of the car when my 4 year old son heard a song begin on the radio, and for the first and only time, he insisted we stay and listen to the song. So now it always gives me an extra emotional twinge whenever I hear the song:
Leaving on a Jet Plane (1967) Peter, Paul & Mary
Leaving On A Jet Plane is the ultimate weeper. 😉
Tom Waits - Shiver Me Timbers
Tom Waits - On The Nickel
Tom Waits - Soldiers Things
Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat
Jim Croce - Hey Tomorrow
Cat Stevens -Trouble
Elton John - Daniel
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
David Sylvian - Orpheus
Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues
Famous Blue Raincoat is all time Cohen fave of mine.
Kinks- Rosie won't you please come home.
Jack Bruce- Folk Song.
Iain Matthews-Never Ending.
Great list Tom, I need to check out a few of yours including the corresponding catalogs. I’ll throw some into the mix:
Never My Love • The Association
From The Flagstones • Cocteau Twins
Such A Shame • Talk Talk
I Want To Live • This Mortal Coil
Also I Don’t Believe You from the next Talk Talk album.
Never My Love really brings me back to a simpler time.
Days - The Kinks
Drive All Night - Springsteen
Summer's Gone - Beach Boys
most songs from Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
Hurt - Johnny Cash
For A Dancer - Jackson Browne
Shiver Me Timbers - Tom Waits
Mason Proffit's album Wanted has a song called "You Finally Found Your Love" that makes me misty. It also has their song "Two Hangmen" on it for starters.
Yet another awesome video Tom👍🏻
I would have to say some of those weepers that get me every time would be...
Souvenirs from the group Switchfoot😢 another tearjerker would have to be Paul McCartney's song an instrumental Junk😢 then there's Jim Croce's
Photographs and memories😢 .. Gordon lightfoot's , If I could read your mind 😢 how about Perry Como's, and I love her so....
@@psychedelicpunkster6840 I agree with all your selections. 😉
Thank you 😉
"No Man's Land" by Eric Bogel (ofyen erroneously called "Green Fields of France" )
A couple of weepers for me: Bridge Over Troubled Water/Simon & Garfunkel and I Need To Be In Love/The Carpenters.
Forever from Sunflower, by The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson so underrated.
1. Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell (orchestral version)
2. I'll Be Home - Randy Newman (he wrote so many weepers !)
3. The Kiss - Judee Sill
4. You've Got A Friend - Carole King (James Taylor version)
5. Wailing Wall - Todd Rundgren
6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Neil Young
7. Madge - Stephen Bishop
8. Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) (Billy Joel)
9. Au Lait (Pat Metheny)
10. Milonga Del Angel (Astor Piazzola)
...and a few others...
That is a fabulous list of weepers. All great. 😉
I can only think of 6 weepers
1 the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald- Gordon lightfoot
2 stay with me til dawn- Judie tzuke
3 how wonderful you are- Gordon Haskell
4 English rose-the jam
5 will you- hazel o Conner
6 alone again- the glitter band
Close Watch by John Cale, I think the ‘82 version from Music For New Society is the best. The song The Kick inside, by Kate Bush is pretty effecting as well.
Tom
This is a crazy co incidence
Around 6.30 heading home from work i was passing the corner where After The Goldrush cover was shot
I passed by this corner a million times but today for some reason i stopped and took a photo
I was going to talk to my daughter about it and then you hold up the album ( mind blown )
Its the corner of 3rd Street and Sullivan but south of Washing Square Park NYC
That’s really cool. 😉
"melissa", "birds" and "farewell, farewell" are three of the most moving songs ever. i'd probably go with "this is where i belong", "black eyed dog" and "snow in san anselmo" by the three artists you mention but a great list as always.
When you mentioned 'Arthur' I thought you were going to mention "Some Mother's Son" which hits me in the feels.
Big time. That is an incredible song that brings out a lot of heavy emotion. Those lyrics, the melody. Only Ray could write a song like that. Masterpiece.
I was *so* tempted to throw in "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" by Frank Zappa. Aren't you glad I didn't? 😂
Maybe you should have..😉
The Long and Winding Road by The Beatles, Vincent by Don McLean, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, and Don't Cry Daddy by Elvis Presley.
Some songs aren’t that sad lyrically, but something about them hits you…a harmony, bridge or solo. Every Time it Rains by Randy Newman gets me.
How about Old Man off Sail Away? Bring out the tissue…
Little Feat "Voices on the Wind" from Let It Roll. Features Linda Ronstadt as well as Craig Fuller on vocals. Speaking of LR I always lose it whenever I hear "Long Long Time."
That’s a weeper for sure.
Great list. Just listened to Wendell Gee the other day!
For some reason "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve brings me to tears every time. Associate it with a happy period in my life which feels like it's a hundred years away.
100 Years by The Rolling Stones is another.
Perfect Circle by R.E.M.
Chime of the City Clock by Nick Drake
Journey Through the Past by Neil Young
Leaving New York by R.E.M.
Visions of Joanna by Bob Dylan
Oh, Sweet Nuthin' by The Velvet Underground
Soon by Yes
I Talk to the Wind by King Crimson
Orange Skies by Love
great idea for a video!! Thank you.
Great list on your end. Orange Skies is pure magic. Oh Sweet Nuthin, Visions Of Johanna, etc. All amazing.
Bonnie Raitt, Just Like That
The Beach Boys, Disney Girls
Porcupine Tree, Way Out of Here
The Dutchman by Steve Goodman
Another Kinks weeper for me is "I'll Remember" from Face To Face. Phoebe Bridgers cover of Mark Kozelek's "You Missed My Heart" on Stranger in the Alps.
"Young and Innocent Days" certainly has brought many a tear to my eyes. What about songs that bring tears of joy to one's eyes? I feel that, often. Some ABBA songs can do that to me. Probably some ELO songs, too. It's a great feeling. Some songs give me goose bumps.
I hear ya. Just understated parts in songs can bring tears of joy. Subtleties in a track can be more powerful than overstated ones.
Great thread, Tom. How about "Desperados Waiting for a Train" by Guy Clark. - About his grandmother's boyfriend.
I’ll have to check that one out.
On Larry Graves they mentioned Hurt by Cash: yeah that I agree with. Julia on the White album always leaves me stunned and speechless.
Julia is just downright gorgeous. That version of Hurt is heavy.
Agree on Little Green, for the Kinks mine would be Oklahoma USA. Fables my Favorite REM album, but the weeper for me is Good Advices
Two all time “ weepers” for me are “ Half Past France by John Cale and “ April Fool” by Ronnie Lane of the Townshend/ Lane Rough Mix album
I agree on Oklahoma USA. Gets me every time.
Rickie Lee Jones : On saturday afternoons in 1963.
Fountains of Wayne : Sick day.
The Kinks : The way love used to be.
The Smiths : Well i wonder
Echo and the Bunnymen : Ocean rain
CSN : Just a song before i go
.......and many more !
Those are great picks. Love Sick Day by Fountains of Wayne. That whole album is solid. The Kinks, The Smiths, incredible tracks.
When my mother died, I put on Nick Drake's 'Ode to Blue'...
Needless to say...
I've got to go with Tank Park Salute by Billy Bragg. About BB losing his Dad at 16
Good topic. There was something similar just recently on a Stones fansite, about 'darkest songs', and I realized how subjective these choices are.
As weepers I'd say "Twilight" by the Band;
Van Morrison, where to start? It could even just be a certain version of one of his cuts.
A song that really gets me is "Substitute for Love" by Madonna. I;m not even sure that's the title.
"Kentucky Ave" by Tom Waits. Not the most original choice.
"Love is a losing game' by Amy.
I agree on Love Is A Losing Game. A weeper indeed. 😉
Well, you know, as Robert Smith tells us, boys don't cry. So l'm no weeper. Ha. Some of my choices are as follows:
"Camera", by REM. They wrote that one in honor of a friend of theirs who died young. I think of those l have lost when l hear it. Not a maudlin experience at all, but joyful. But loss sure fucking hurts.
"New York City Serenade" by Bruce Springsteen. The last part of the song, featuring a surreal image of dawn breaking over Manhattan and a junkman all dressed up in satin, singing. It gets me and l don't even know why. Yes, l play this tune every September 11, in an overserved state. And l lose my shit a little bit.
"Sixteen Blue" by the Replacements. The very first time l listened to Let it Be, l rocked along to the uptempo tunes, bopped along to the silly joke songs, and midway through "Sixteen Blue", l realized there were tears pouring down my face. Who IS this Paul Westerberg, l wondered, and what kind of mind control is this? What a ride the Mats were! So glad to have been young then.
"Fall" by the Miles Davis Quintet. Because l'm just a little teeny bit of a stone cold atheist. But during Wayne Shorter's solo, l realize there really might be a God, and if so, all His or Her frightened, confused, lonely children get to go home. ALL of them.
I become Niagra Falls.
Sixteen Blue is my personal fave off Let It Be and that guitar solo at the end is the icing on the cake. Simple but so effective. Camera is another great early REM ballad with an incredible vibe.
How about "Magdelene" by Procol off "Shine on Brightly"..... has a wonderful sympathetic piano track w/great vocal by Gary. Definitely a sweeper keeper in the Procol cannon.
Epic track with a haunting vibe. A great lead in to In Held ‘Twas In I.
He stopped loving her today - Conway Twitty
I will always love you - Dolly Parton
Seagull - bad company
All my tears by Emmilou Harris
Linda Ronstadt "Long, Long Time"
John Lennon "Just Like Starting Over" It was released just before his murder.
It was hard to listen to that Lennon song after that senseless tragedy.
Hi Tom, I have a whole record weeper, "Overcome by Happiness" by the Pernice Brothers from 1998. Thanks for the video.
Agree . Its a fantastic album
I’ll have to check that out. I’ll have a box of Kleenex ready in case…😉
Can't find my way home by Blind Faith.
A Barnyard Tale by Procol Harum.
I thought of throwing in "Sea of Joy', Blind Faith, also.
What a fantastic video have a wonderful day also happy valentine's day also happy birthday to air sir Paul McCartney ❤😊
Have a wonderful day as well and Happy Birthday Paul!
I love sad songs, so ... Nina Simone's George Harrison cover "Isn't it a pity", Sinead O'Connor and Matt Johnson "Kingdom of Rain" are two off the top of my head.
Oh and a real favourite is Je n'en connais pas le fin by Piaf - beautifully covered also by Jeff Buckley.
Great channel btw
I need to hear that cover of Isn’t It A Pity by Nina Simone. Such a great track.
@@tomrobinson5776 If you like Nina Simone and George's songwriting, you are in for a treat.
Mine include Eva Cassidy "Over The Rainbow" and Brandi Carlile "The Joke".
Hey Tom
I was meaning to mention and book I really like
This will end in Tears ( A Miserabilist Guide to Music ) by Adam Brent Houghtaling
Its a guide to the saddest songs of all times with essays on the top 25
From Edith Piaf to Joy Division
Essay on Gloomy Sunday amd its origins all way to what was voted the saddest piece Adagio for Strings : Samuel Barber
Its a really great read
Sounds interesting. I’ll check out that book. 😉
You Set the Scene by Love from Forever Changes is the track that always turns on the waterworks. It's the arrangement and words that have a certain effect as it closes the album. Triggers the emotions for sure.😪
That is an awesome track.
Leave me alone. New Order.
Love Vigilantes is pretty sad…
I need to check that out.
Tom, I've been enjoying your videos! Just out of curiosity...how many albums do you own? 🤔
Have you done any videos on the 60's and 70's "modern" blues albums?
(I used to play with Johnny Winter, but only when he was doing clubs and cover songs. I was not with him when he became nationally known.)
Thanks!
Hi Buzz, I’ve never counted, maybe close to 2000. That is so cool you played with Johnny Winter. He doesn’t get enough credit these days. The guy was just brilliant and that slide playing is incredible. Love the Progressive Blues Experiment album the best.
Melissa makes you weep but not "Fire and Rain"?
Never weeped for Fire And Rain. Long Ago And Far Away off Mud Slide Slim is a different story. 😉
I Misunderstood / Richard Thompson Couldn't Make Her Stay / Foghat Stop Your Sobbing / Pretenders (Kinks)
That Thompson song is a good choice. Not a happy song
My list of personal weepers
ua-cam.com/play/PLTkHJ3DxFNY3n5jovC8zFAQ-9k6zlXqOX.html&si=stD28JgZKy8WPXKw
Those are definite weepers. 😉
Speaking of Nick Drake, the song "Things Behind the Sun" from Pink Moon really affects me in a melancholy way. There is something existential about the lyrics and the chord structure is also strangely disturbing to me. I find it difficult to listen to. Nevertheless, it is a great song. Cheers.
Pink Moon is one hell of a dark album, but I love it.