Everyone needs a good cry from time to time. Sometimes, my Sjogren’s gets in the way with that as my eyes are too dry to cry, and other times, other emotions make it challenging, but music is always something that can give me that cathartic release.
In honor of that, here are my Top 10 Songs That Make Me Cry. Because I want to talk a bit about the songs and such, this post is going to be lengthier than most. There’s also a bonus track at the end. 😉
NOTE: I’m going to embed the videos here as well as link to them. For reasons I don’t understand, the page is putting a huge space between the text and the embedded videos. Sorry about that. My site is going to be updated this summer but for now, you’ll need to scroll a bit between songs in this list. In no particular order:
1: Brontë by Goyte
I don’t know what spurred Goyte to write this song, but it definitely has to be a song about loss. Throughout this journey with DiNozzo of late, this song as been stuck in my head. I can’t hear it without ugly crying. I mean…
Now your bowl is empty
lyrics to brontë by goyte
And your feet are cold
And your body cannot stop rocking, I know
It hurts to let go
Since the day we found you
You have been our friend
And your voice still echoes in the hallways of this house
But now, it’s the end
(We will be with you)
When you’re leaving
(We will be with you)
When you go
(We will be with you)
And hold you ’til you’re quiet
It hurts to let you go
The video is a serious tear-jerker. You can watch it and/or listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le34ygtODfI or below. Just scroll.
2. Goose Snow Cone by Aimee Mann
I promise not all of these picks will be about animals and pets, but yeah, this one. Oof. This one was actually written about Aimee’s kitty who got sick while she was away. While it has a happy ending, it still hurts.
Our pets’ lives are so short compared to our own. No less important, but definitely shorter. I hate seeing any creature in pain and this song & its video is a reminder of why.
You can see the video, complete with kitty, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhThS-PJOFE or here, just scroll.
3. Gold Dust by Tori Amos
There are several Tori songs that can make me cry, especially depending upon what’s going on in my life and the world around me, but this one from moment one has always made me sob.
It’s a song of reflection and a life well lived, but it’s bittersweet. It’s a reminder that with every birth, there is death, and that our lives are limited in length.
“How did it go so fast?”
GOLD DUST by TORI AMOS
You’ll say as we are looking back
And then we’ll understand
We held gold dust in our hands
You can listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeSj1Fk1xmg or below. (Scroll)
4. With or Without You by U2
Some folks might not get this one but my first exposure to this song was in an 80’s movie with Matthew Broderick called Project X, which was a sci-fi movie about the military’s secret experiments on chimpanzees. I was 10 when this movie came out and they played this song during a pivotal scene in the movie. Matthew Broderick’s character is crushed by what will happen to the animals in his care. Even though the movie has a positive ending of sorts, I know it isn’t a happy ending for animals used in animal testing. This movie opened my eyes to that at a very young age.
I can’t hear this song anymore without seeing that part of the movie and thus, I cry. A lot. Great movie, great song, but cue the waterworks.
You can hear the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujNeHIo7oTE or below. Just scroll.
5. The Night We Met by Lord Huron
This song is just beautiful. One particular line hits me: I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you. The writing is so well done but the emotion of such a line. I can link this idea to so many relationships and while I know it’s not what the song is about, it makes me think about diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. The way we can lose people even when they are right in front of us. Yep, this song makes me cry.
I had all and then most of you
The Night we met by Lord Huron
Some and now none of you
Take me back to the night we met
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do
Haunted by the ghost of you
Oh, take me back to the night we met
You can hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtlgYxa6BMU or listen below. Remember to scroll a bit.
6. Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday
This song makes me cry for a different reason than most of these. I’m not thinking about grief or loss–not exactly anyway–but the brutality of this song and the fact that so many years later, we’re still in a world and a country full of hate makes me weep. The fact that people like our current President would remove all people of color from this country if they could or just enslave them all over again is heartbreaking. This song makes me weep with the grief of what this country could have become if only folks would stop hating.
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Strange fruit by billie holiday
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
You can listen to this song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Web007rzSOI or you can below. Just scroll.
7. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Cover by Tori Amos
Don’t get me wrong, the original by Nirvana is heartbreaking in its own way, but there’s something about the way Tori covers this that brings an ache to it that wasn’t as visible with the guitars. I love alternative rock but some of the best covers I’ve heard are those songs stripped down until all that remains is the melody and the haunting lyrics. This song is like that.
You can hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB2c7_vyBSM or below. Just scroll.
8. Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole
Brother Iz was one of a kind and his version of these two songs is breathtakingly beautiful. Knowing that he died so young makes it even harder to hear this song, but it’s too beautiful to avoid. It just makes me cry and gives me a new appreciation for the originals.
You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I or below. Just scroll.
9. River by Joni Mitchell
Some people consider this a holiday song because it’s winter in the song and there are references to winter activities but I find this song too sad to listen to during the holidays. This is such a sad, sad song to me. There’s nothing in it specifically that makes me cry but Joni’s voice is so haunting and sorrowful in this song that it turns on the waterworks every time.
You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHxxBTl71I or below. Just scroll down.
10. Full of Grace by Sarah McLachlan
The lyrics to this are a bit on the cliché or trite side, but the song is beautiful nonetheless. I mostly ignored this song when it came out, but it was used in a particularly moving scene in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show and for whatever reason, hearing it in that moment, the song finally resonated with me.
As a neurodivergent person who suffers from anxiety and PTSD, this song hits really close to home. I can’t hear this song now without tears. I am very bad at having grace with myself, something I am working on. Sometimes this song reminds me to do that.
I feel just like I’m sinking
Full of Grace by sarah mclachlan
And I claw for solid ground
I’m pulled down by the undertow
I never thought I could feel so low
Oh darkness I feel like letting go
If all of the strength and all of the courage
Come and lift me from this place
I know I can love you much better than this
Full of grace
You can listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w26YH0uCj64 or listen below. Just scroll.
BONUS: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Tori Amos
I didn’t put this as #10, though I wanted to, because I already had two songs by Tori on here and I already have a holiday song on the list. The way Tori sings this + the instrumentation is just full of longing and sadness. It’s a reminder that the holidays aren’t always happy for everyone. Beautiful version. <insert chef’s kiss here>
You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnKtkcziEBo or below. Just scroll.
