Super Duper Sad Songs

[ThatBeltyWhiteChic]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:27am

Hello again! I really need some fresh music, and I'm hoping to find some songs that, if sung properly, can make everyone cry. I'm an alto with a decent range. please give me as much as possible! thanks!

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:28am

Any song can make people cry... If you sing it bad enough.

[ThatBeltyWhiteChic]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:40am

haha. very funny. But I would like some HELPFUL advice, thank you very much.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:53am

No song will make EVERYONE cry, no matter how it's sung. And lots of songs don't have the same emotional impact out of context.


And if you didn't know you'd get snarky answers, you didn't do ANY research: neither about what you want NOR where you were asking for help.

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 2:53am

To give you a real response...
I'd say Losing My Mind, Not A Day Goes By, If He Walked Into My Life, No One is Alone, Send in the Clowns (overdone, but most people rarely do it well. The trick is to not over sing it), Being Alive. Stuff like that.

Although, I do agree that, out of context, some of these might not work as well.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 7:41am

"You'll Never Walk Alone" - Carousel.
"For Good" - Wicked.
"The Life I Never Led" - Sister Act.
"I Know Where I've Been" - Hairspray.
"Children Will Listen" - Into The Woods.
"No One Is Alone" - Into the Woods.
"Your Daddy's Son" - Ragtime.
"Back To Before" - Ragtime.

EDIT: I didn't read the post properly and included male songs, which would be odd sung by an alto.

Updated On: 8/7/12 at 07:41 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 8:08am

You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile
Put On a Happy Face
Hassa Diga Ebowai
Ya' Gotta Have Heart

[westcoast_wannabe]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 8:33am

You go out there and you give them SAD and hope 1800 people don't laugh thier asses off.

But a couple suggestions
Sun and the Moon
Tell Me On a Sunday
The Man That Got Away
You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore
Let Yourself Go
You Must Love Me
I Don't Know How to Love Him
I Miss The Mountains
Back to Before
Calling You
Get Here ( the Calling You / Get Here arrangement Patti performs is great)
The Rose

So many more great songs. My suggestion is you start listening to a lot of songs and see what you respond to emotionally and what you want to perform.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 8:55am

Goodnight by Scott Alan gets me every time

[followspot]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 9:01am

"Go Back Home" - The Scottsboro Boys

[Quiche2]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 9:15am

It's not really within you're range, but "For Good" from WICKED makes me cry everytime. It may not have the emotional impact out of context as others on this thread have said, but it truly is sad. I perform in plays/musicals alot, and for some reason I always end up with the part that has to cry in the show. When I have to do that I sing "For Good" in my head. I played it for my aunt once and she had never even heard of WICKED and it made her cry.

[That Groovy Guy]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 10:01am

Not sure about range, but how about:

Another Winter In a Summer Town (Grey Gardens)
On My Own or I Dreamed a Dream (Les Miserables) yeah, I know, done to death

[kmobs04]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 10:20am

I'd Give My Life for you - miss Saigon

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 12:30pm

"Legally Blonde" (the "Elle" in our show breaks my heart every night)

Depending on how they are sung....

Back to Before - Ragtime
Your Daddy's Son - Ragtime
Far From the Home I Love - Fiddler
The Party's Over - Bells Are Ringing

[Nettik]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 12:43pm

"Wait a Bit" - Just So
"Home" - Beauty and the Beast
"As Long as He Needs Me" - Oliver! (one of THE alto ballads, probably already in your repertoire)

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:03pm

"Days of Plenty" from Little Women gets to me.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:20pm

I Hate the Bus - Caroline, or Change
The I Love You Song - 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
You Have to Be There - Kristina

Updated On: 8/7/12 at 01:20 PM

[little_sally]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:50pm

How Could I Ever Forget from Next to Normal

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 2:03pm

Don't know anything about range either but these are always some tearjerkers for me. I think it's good not to go for the expected.

"Dyin' Ain't So Bad" - Bonnie & Clyde
"Fly, Fly Away" - Catch Me
"Everything I Know" or "Breathe" - In the Heights
"Still Hurting" and pretty much anything else from Last 5 Years
"So Anyway" - N2N
"The Hill" - Once
"A Way Back to Then" - [tos]
"Tell Her" - 13
"I'm Not Afraid of Anything" - Songs from a New World
"Perfect" - Edges

[WOSQ]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 2:07pm

Bus From Amarillo - Whorehouse
Lullaby From Baby To Baby - Runaways (although it is tricky)
My Coloring Book - early Kander and Ebb

and then any "I'm-a-good-woman-but-he-done-me-wrong" song.

My Man comes to mind; however comparisons will be made.
Or its counterpart The Music That Makes Me Dance.

Look at the Tammy Wynette songbook. She practically invented the above genre. Just because she was a country singer doesn't mean that all her songs have to be sung in a country style.

Hint: the song might seem 'sadder' if you sing it smiling through tears.

[TheaterBoy7777]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 2:08pm

With You-Ghost
Pretty Funny- Dogfight

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 7/22/16 at 3:09am

I just saw a production of The Boy from Oz tonight and the song "Once Before I Go" had me crying so much.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/22/16 at 1:49pm

But You Go On - Annie Warbucks

Time Heals Everything - Mack & Mabel

[BdwayLife]

Posted: 7/22/16 at 10:51pm

I Don't Need a Roof (Big Fish)

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 7/22/16 at 11:26pm

"The I love you song" from Spelling Bee. Not a solo but if done well it's heartbreaking