Okay, it may not be corny to you, but to many people it is. Three that still have me reaching for the tissue box (to wipe away tears, I hasten to add): "Puff the Magic Dragon" - Peter, Paul & Mary "Mr. Bojangles" - I have the Nina Simone version "In the Ghetto" - Elvis Presley
“I’ll be home for Christmas” “When the battle’s o’er” (Scottish bagpipe tune) Not corny but certainly sentimental.
“On Any Other Day”- The Police Stewart Copeland says at the beginning “you want something corny, you got it!” So that’s why I add that song to this list! Arguably Stewart’s greatest contribution to the Police’s formidable song canon.
Morning Town Ride by the Seekers: Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e4JXwd7XMo
These have produced actual tears for me on more than one occasion. "Beeswing" - Richard Thompson "Life Has Its Little Ups and Downs" - Charlie Rich "Who Wants To Live Forever" - Queen "One Man, One Woman" - ABBA "Mother" - Pink Floyd "Here Comes the Sun" - The Beatles "All About Our Love" - Sade "And You And I" - Yes "Coattails" - Low "Expecting To Fly" - Buffalo Springfield "Slowly Burning" - Neil Young "Comfortably Numb" -Pink Floyd
Mine would be "Take Up A Course In Happiness" by Stevie Wonder. It's firmly stuck between the old '60's Motown sound and where he was headed and the arrangement is pure schmaltz. However, his budding genius comes through in the huge hook that shows up in the chorus.
Carpenters - Top of the World, For All We Know Jim Croce - Time In a Bottle John Denver - Rocky Mountain High, Calypso Dan Fogelberg - Longer, Run For the Roses, Leader of the Band Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine Dan Seals and Marie Osmond - Meet Me In Montana Petula Clark - My Love, Downtown, Who Am I
Precious And Few (Climax) So Much In Love (The Tymes) 98.6 (Keith) Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes (Edison Lighthouse) Will You Be Staying After Sunday (The Peppermint Rainbow)
Vincent by Don McLean - absolutely shameless, paint-stripper-strong mawk, but it's repeatedly able to get me. It's the gloomy twist of the last two lines in no small part, I think—far more songs should suddenly rob the listener of hope at the end!