Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Llorando

This post on EW's PopWatch got me thinking, but I don't want to get enmeshed in their comments, so I thought I'd raise the question here and see if anyone is brave enough to reply.

What songs make you cry?

Now, I realize the EW post is really about the world's saddest songs, and sad songs don't necessarily make people cry. They may make some want to slit their wrists. Or, perhaps, laugh hysterically at their overbearing earnestness. (I'm looking at you, Mr. "Meat Is Murder" Morrissey!)

But there are a few songs that, if I listen to them at the wrong time, will just make me bawl. One is "When She Loved Me" from "Toy Story 2," which I am loath to admit to because I really hate Sarah McLachlan (and don't care much for Randy Newman, for that matter). The really pathetic thing is, I cry because when I hear the song, I don't think about lost love or something, I actually hear it like one of my old stuffed animals is singing it about me.

Shut up!

Another tearjerker is "The Tigers Have Spoken" by Neko Case. Here's a sample of those lyrics:

They shot the tiger on his chain
In a field behind the cages

He walked in circles 'til he was crazy

And he lived that way forever

And he lived that way beside them,

Separate from the other tigers
He did not know another tiger
...
It was the last time he had felt alive

When he saw that brown-haired lady

She fed him with a bottle as a baby
And he recalled her face and smile

They shot that tiger on his chain


Songs about sad animals? You're killing me! Elvis' "Old Shep" can also bring me to tears.

So come on, you! There have got to be some songs that bring on the waterworks, either because of lyrics, or associations you have with the song. Fess up! Don't leave me crying here by myself!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"He stopped loving her today" by George Jones. It's sappy, and manipulative, and I don't even like country music, but there you have it.
some other songs make me cry too, but they have more to do with association -- for example, I listened to PJ Harvey's album "Dry" repetitively after a high-school break up, and it was years before I could hear any songs from that album without tearing up.
Now you can go look at your Christmas tree some more!

Rain said...

*Phew* Thanks! I was begining to think I was the only sap left in the world.

Jess Hutch said...

I've been thinking on it. The cover of "Crying" by Rebekah Del Rio from Mulholland Drive (referenced in your blog title?) makes me cry, it's so beautiful... that Neko song you mentioned kills me softly... "Christmas Time is Here" from the Charlie Brown special... "Big John" by Jimmy Dean gets me choked up... Dolly Parton's original version of "I Will Always Love You"... and, um "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House. I can't believe I just admitted that.

There are many many more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my noggins.

Anonymous said...

holy shit Rain,
those photos are so touching; I worked with your father for years and I knew he was a hipster but damn, what a pimp. Could you and your Mom have been any more beautiful? not hardly. Merry Christmas--that was really cool to see.
Tell Alan Ted Mattes says hello.