Manly Tears in music.
- "Cry Like A Man" by Dan Penn (covered by Christy Moore):Those deep emotions you keep in the dark
If you don't let them out they're going to freeze up your heart
You'll never be in love again
Until you cry like a man - "Rise" by Disturbed is basically about the energy of a performance. It ends on this note:I cannot stop this
Pure emotion
Falling from my eyes
You were vindicating, liberating
Saviors of my soul - "Man Enough to Cry" by AcceptI am man enough to cry
Hearts are burning
I am man enough to cry - "Growing Young" by Rich MullinsAnd everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
Well I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms - The title track to the Lost Dogs album, Real Men CryDo real men cry?
I never thought that it was true
Maybe I could tough this one out
Be strong enough to make it through
But now there's tears in the eyes of this stubborn fool
Do real men cry?
Baby, now you know that real men do- The album title is also a Double-Meaning Title; while the song is ostensibly about a romantic relationship, the album Real Men Cry was the first album released after the death of founding member Gene "Eugene" Andrusco.
- "Grown Men Don't Cry" by Tim McGraw is actually an aversion of the Men Don't Cry trope. The singer describes several sad scenes, including bumping into a homeless family and having a bad relationship with his now deceased father, and the chorus is, "I don't know why they say grown men don't cry" which implies that Manly Tears are being shed at each of these instances.
- Creed's "With Arms Wide Open", about a man welcoming his newborn into the world:Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is gonna change
I close my eyes, begin to pray,
And tears of joy stream down my face - "I Heard it through the Grapevine", when sung by a man:I know a man ain't supposed to cry
But these tears I can't hold inside
Losing you would end my life, you see
'cause you mean that much to me - "Teargas" by Katatonia:What is it in my eyes
A piece of broken glass
Is this the time I should be on my knees for you
Is this your way of telling
Another has been found
Now I know it's teargas in my eyes - "Boys Don't Cry" by KCAT. The singer states that "it takes a real man to show you what's inside", and that the difference between a boy and a man is that boys are too afraid to show who they are.
- "Tell Me Why" by The Beatles:If it's something that I've said or done
Tell me what and I'll apologise
If you don't I really can't go on
Holding back these tears in my eyes - From the Jonathan Coulton song "Soft Rocked by Me":Have you ever been in love with a man who's sensitive?
Have you ever spent the night with a man who cries?
Well that's me, I'm sensitive
And I cry, I'm crying right now
In a manly way - Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Under the Bridge":Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partnerSometimes I feel like my only friendIs the city I live in, the City of AngelsLonely as I am, together we cry
- Bruce Springsteen worked on the studio version of "Land Of Hope and Dreams" after the death of saxophonist Clarence Clemons. Since Clemons wasn't there, a pre-recorded version of his solo was added to the record. Springsteen said later that he cried when he first heard the completed version of the song.
- In this performance from the 2000 "Reunion" show in New York
Bruce himself starts to cry as he is singing. - This live version of "Blood Brothers" from the E Street Reunion Tour; he's really fighting to stay composed during the last verse.
- In this performance from the 2000 "Reunion" show in New York
- Korean boy band MBLAQ's song ''Cry'' is all about this. The music video features every member shedding very dramatic manly tears in the rain.
- Referenced in ''"Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun?", a comedic World War II song by Noël Coward. Colonel Montmorency apparently shed such at the thought of the Home Guard's lack of proper weapons.
- The first verse of Terri Clark's "Everybody's Gotta Go Sometime" is about an 18-year-old girl leaving home and contains the line, "It's the first time she's seen her daddy cry."
- Inspired by a newspaper article lauding the medical-technological advances made possible by the Iraq War, and nowhere mentioning the pain and anguish of the wounded soldiers, Neil Young wrote several of the songs in 2006's Living with War, including "Families" — about a dead soldier's spirit reaching out to his loved ones — in a few hours. He called his wife to play them for her but was crying so hard he couldn't sing or speak. On the "Raw" version you can hear him crying as he sings.
- Trent Reznor openly admitted to shedding tears when he first heard Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt".
- While it's unclear if his song "Cry" is asking a man or a woman to "cry on [his] shoulder", James Blunt himself often looks/sounds like he's genuinely this close to breaking down sobbing during live performances, especially of the songs "Goodbye My Lover", which makes a break-up sound like the singer is a newly bereaved widower, and particularly the anti-war song "No Bravery". Note that while James Blunt may not exactly look like the manliest of men, he really is a war veteran, so the latter song was probably written from personal experience.
- Will Smith says there's no shame in this in his version of "Just The Two Of Us", which he sings to his son Jaden Smith.
- Teddy Bear by Red Sovine is a heartwarming narrative about a trucker talking to a paraplegic boy over a ham radio whose father had died in a trucking accident and dreams of riding in an 18 wheeler one day. The song tells of the narrator trying hard not to cry as he promises to make the little biy's dream come true. By the end of the song, you can hear him start to break down as the song cuts out.I tried hard to swallow a lump just wouldn't stay downAs I thought about my boy back in Greenville town
