The list of country songs with heartbreaking lyrics could go on for days. There are plenty of sad songs with lines that push them over the top. Then, there are songs that seem like sweet love songs in their opening moments but will leave a listener in tears after a couple of gut-punch lines. Today, we’re going to look at some of the lines that turn great songs into sobfests.
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Longtime country fans won’t find any surprises here. However, the writing behind these songs is so solid that they remain effective no matter how many times you hear them. So, grab some tissues and prepare to dive in.
[RELATED: 4 of the Saddest Country Songs of the ’90s]
“The Grand Tour” by George Jones
George Jones was a master of sad songs and “The Grand Tour” might be the saddest one in his collection. The haunting loneliness that permeates the song is enough to put it on the shortlist. However, a couple of lines are so heartbreaking that they put it near–if not at–the top.
“The Grand Tour” is melancholy from its opening lines and continues to get sadder as it goes. Then, just when the listener doesn’t think it can get any worse, Jones gets to the final verse, revealing that he lost more than his wife.
As you leave you’ll see the nursery / Oh, she left me without mercy / Taking Nothing but / Our baby and my heart.
“Weary Blues from Waiting” by Hank Williams
Hank Williams might be the only country singer with more sad songs in his catalog than George Jones. Most genre fans are familiar with songs like “Cold, Cold Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” However, “Weary Blues from Waiting” might top both of those classics in the sadness department.
The song begins with the chorus which reveals that Williams is yearning for a lover who has left him. The opening verse serves a gut punch with perfectly timed wordplay. Listeners might think he’s going to keep his chin up and move forward. Then, he pulls the rug out from under them.
The snow falls ‘round my window / But it can’t chill my heart / God knows it died the day you left / My dream world fell apart.
“Concrete Angel” by Martina McBride
Martina McBride’s “Concrete Angel” is one of the most heartbreaking songs in country music. After all, there’s no way to make a song about child abuse happy. However, upon first listen one may believe that the song is about the little girl’s resilience in the face of her horrible home life. In the chorus, McBride sings about the girl standing “hard as stone” in the face of turmoil and how the child’s dreams give her wings. Then, the final verse comes.
McBride ends the story in the most heartbreaking way before the final chorus. In a masterful turn, the child’s death at the hands of an abusive parent isn’t the worst part of the song.
A statue stands in a shaded place / An angel girl with an upturned face / A name is written on polished rock / A broken heart that the world forgot.
“Don’t Take the Girl” by Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take the Girl” is among the sweetest love songs for the first couple of verses. A couple of kids have a chance meeting that leads to a fishing trip in the first verse. They grow up together, fall in love, and start dating in the second verse. Then, in the song’s final verse, she probably dies in childbirth.
Whether “the girl” survives or not is left open-ended. Fans have made solid points on both sides of the line since the song came out. However, her survival is irrelevant hear. The gut punch comes when “Johnny” begs God to take him instead which inspires the waterworks.
Take the very breath that you gave me / Take the heart from my chest. / I’ll gladly take her place if you let me. / Make this my last request / Take me out of the world / God, please, don’t take the girl.
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