Has a Song Ever Made You Cry?

I heard Tracy Chapman once in person, pretty long ago, and didn't cry but was probably just stunned. Heard Baez at the San Diego something or other, and cried at an a capella rendition of... what? I forget now. The tears were at the voice by itself in that space.

there's something about war songs, especially when they're about the futility of battle and the waste of life

here's 2, by canadian musician corb lund, from his album horse soldier, horse soldier



I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before
I wanna good mount when the bugle sounds and I hear the cannons' roar
I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war

I wanna horse in the volunteer force that's riding forth at dawn
Please save for me some gallantry that will echo when I'm gone
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long

I'd not a good foot soldier make, I'd be sour and slow at march
And I'd be sick on a navy ship, and the sea would leave me parched
But I'll be first in line if they'll let me ride, by god, you'll see my starch
Lope back o'er the heath with the laurel wreath underneath that vict'ry arch

Let me earn my spurs in the battle's blur where the day is lost or won
I'll wield my lance as the ponies dance and the blackguards fire their guns
A sabre keen, and a saddle carbine and an army Remington
Where the hot lead screams with the cold, cold steel let me be a cav'lryman

Let 'em play their flutes and stirrup my boots and place them back to front
For I won't be back on the rider-less black and I'm finished in my hunt
I wanna be in the cavalry if I must go off to war
I wanna be in the cavalry, but I won't ride home no more



I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before

Courageous at first we took their worst, our positions we held stout
We clung to belief and we hung on the speech from our trusted leaders' mouths
Overwhelming odds and a hopeless cause and our cities overrun
There were them that said we was badly led and God were we outgunned

I lost count of the worthy mounts that from under me were cut
My favourite mare with her head in the air took the cannons in her gut
In the first two weeks on that bloody creek my brother lost his arm
Was only sixty days till all we prayed was get us home unharmed

O for the day that we signed our names and the well that we were wished
The men's congrats and the pats on the backs and the ladies that we kissed
The band that played and the grande parade and the patriotic shouts
All faded fast, didn't even last till the uniforms wore out

And there were none to replace nor to help us face the winters cold and bleak
That chilled to the bone the pneumonia prone and froze our bootless feet
Then the typhoid hit with its fevered fits, TB and dysentery
That proved in the end to have killed more men than the vilest enemy

We were finally forced to feed on horse and carcass we could scrounge
When the wagons stopped and we'd burnt their crops to charred and barren ground
With morale in doubt and our pride run out no honour did I see
All I seen were a thousand dreams piled dead in front of me

I wanna be in the cavalry if the send me off to war
I wanna be in the cavalry but I won't ride home no more


the album begins with i wanna be in the cavalry, and ends with the reprise and taps

Well, I knew and very much liked some of his music, but didn't know the author or the connections between the various pieces. You've opened a new door for me and beyond it I've found more things to like. Thanks.

Yeh, I'm generally a Morricone fan too.

Given my druthers I always watch credits. One of the last movies I went to involved a near spit fest with a friend's husband who wanted to leave and me catching all the names. (I'm from a film industry family, it's an old habit that dies hard.)

There are many emotional approaches to war songs, and a few have already been posted here. Here's one I first heard in 1970 as my squadron was getting ready for a Westpac carrier deployment during a fairly hot period in that conflict. I had a couple of very close friends in that outfit, one of whom didn't make it back from a strike we were on together. The song brings it all back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmL3m2zcoOI

Ah, George.

the end of summer:

(Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it's so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night






(Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)



Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it's so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet nightbe]

Michigan songs make me cry. Cried the first time I heard The Wreck of the Edmund Fitz Gerald.

If you want to hear something else by him from his solo career with the same sort of power , listen to the song below, which he wrote for his five year old son shortly before being shot:

How is Eric Bogle doing these days? I saw him in concert long ago. WUMB, now, more of an adult mix station than a folk station, doesn't seem to play his music any more.

I didn't sob but I love Les Mis and go on Les Mis binges from time to time.

Sorry, POM, I didn't see your question till just now ...
I honestly don't know what he's doing these days. He seems to have disappeared from the music scene here, too.
Same situation regarding air play of his music.
Odd, really. I have no idea of why this is the case.

Snow Patrol - Run - makes me think of my Dad- I picture him singing these words to me as he had to say good-bye to me for the last time:



and me singing these words back to him:

Music does this to me more than I'm comfortable with. But yea, here are a few...

Moving music almost *must* include a Bach or two...


Avenged Sevenfold; love a lot of their stuff


Blue October...


There's a ton more, but any such list would have to include this gem...

REM - Find the River



Find The River Lyrics
(Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)

Hey now, little speedyhead,
The read on the speedometer says
You have to go to task in the city
Where people drown and people serve
Don't be shy. Your just dessert
Is only just light years to go

Me, my thoughts are flower strewn
Ocean storm, bayberry moon
I have got to leave to find my way
Watch the road and memorize
This life that pass before my eyes
Nothing is going my way

The ocean is the river's goal,
A need to leave the water knows
We're closer now than light years to go

I have got to find the river,
Bergamot and vetiver
Run through my head and fall away
Leave the road and memorize
This life that pass before my eyes
Nothing is going my way

There's no one left to take the lead,
But I tell you and you can see
We're closer now than light years to go
Pick up here and chase the ride
The river empties to the tide
Fall into the ocean

The river to the ocean goes,
A fortune for the undertow
None of this is going my way
There is nothing left to throw
Of ginger, lemon, indigo,
Coriander stem and rows of hay
Strength and courage overrides
The privileged and weary eyes
Of river poet search naivete
Pick up here and chase the ride
The river empties to the tide
All of this is coming your way

Johnny Cash - Hurt

many times..."Patches" from the 70s, Billy, Don't Be a Hero (also 70s), Seasons in the Sun, Uncle Matthew (John Denver), usually songs about people dying...

The last track on the soundtrack to the film The Fountain, music by Clint Mansell

sad song

Here's a song of the Great Lakes. If nothing else, the mention of the Lakes will make me cry. From the late Stan Rogers, a tale of a storm on a lake ship, probably an ore carrier, and the tragedy for one young couple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_73Cc2typk