Top 5 Songs That Make Me Cry

Maybe I don’t out and out cry, but I tear up a little bit. Even just telling someone about the song can get me going. You’ll notice there aren’t a lot of worship songs. For me even badly written or performed worship songs can get to me if I’m in the right frame of mind.

1. Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own (U2) – My relationship with my father is pretty good, so I don’t know why this song affects me so. I just feel it when I hear two people who want to love each other, but really good at it. The nice thing about love between men is that it doesn’t have to be complicated, not a lot has to be said. The downside comes when things do need to be said and you’re not sure how.

   Trigger: I don’t need to hear you say / That if we weren’t so alike / You’d like me a whole a lot more
   lyrics and music

2. These Things Are True of You (Tommy Walker) – This song names the attributes of God then turns it around as a prayer to be more like him. This is the first song I sang when I was invited back to sing for the church service. I was banned from participating in church-wide events after being late one too many times. I have a keen awareness of my shortcomings. I guess I’m attracted to songs that let me express that.

   Trigger: You never give up on the hopeless ones and every refrain of Make these things true of me too
   lyrics and music

3. Vincent (Don McLean) – A song about Vincent Van Gogh. I romanticized the painter as a misunderstood seer. I wanted to see what he saw; I’d take my glasses off and look at the city lights blur and swirl in the dark.

   Trigger: I could have told you, Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
   lyrics and music

4. Dandelions (Five Iron Frenzy) – So first you have the image of a boy bringing flowers to his mom—only they’re not flowers, they’re weeds. Still she loves them. Then you move to an image of us bringing our gifts to God and having them accepted in a similar way. That’s two good cries if you do it right.

   Trigger: She holds them to her heart / keeping them where they’ll be safe / Clasped within her very marrow
   lyrics and music

5. Coin-Operated Boy (Dresden Dolls) – I heard about this duo from NPR. They’re kind of piano-based punk with an early 20th century German cabaret flair. This is the first song I heard.

   I know, I know. You can take the song in a purely frivolous way and snicker like a 12 year old (which I’m not above doing) because it’s naughty. I just don’t think that’s what the song’s about. It gets to me because I sympathize with the struggle to be intimate when you desperately want to remain safe. She’s content to have a pretend beau rather risk hurt with a real relationship.

   Trigger: Coin-operated boy / he may not be real / experienced with girls / but he says he loves me
   lyrics and music