There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)

The song is about someone deeply in love who hopes the person they care for will return that love. At first, the speaker feels uncertain, wondering whether the other person is thinking about someone from the past. As the song develops, that doubt sits alongside hope: the speaker imagines their hearts joining and is willing to wait for the moment their love is shared.

Love songs are presented as powerful because their words can reach “the very heart” and make someone cry. The tears may come from sadness, but the songs also give the speaker a way to express love and perhaps help a new relationship begin. The image of “two hearts in perfect harmony” suggests two people feeling and responding to each other as smoothly as musical notes. Calling love “like a river running so deep” emphasizes its strength and depth.

The lyrics leave the other person’s feelings uncertain. The speaker asks whether an old lover still occupies their memory, so the imagined happy future is not yet guaranteed. “Sad songs” could reflect the pain of longing, but they also seem capable of creating closeness by expressing feelings that are hard to say directly. Overall, the song holds sadness and optimism together: the speaker aches with uncertainty but continues to believe that love may be returned.