"Somebody's Crying" is a song by American musician

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. Noted for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range, he is popularly known for his breakthrough hit and sig ...

from his fifth album, '' Forever Blue'' (1995). The song was released as the album's first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on May 15, 1995, reaching number 45 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

and becoming a top-five hit in Australia and Canada. It also appears on his 2006 '' Best of Chris Isaak'' compilation. A live version is included on Isaak's 2008 '' Live in Australia'' album.

Inspiration and lyrics

Isaak wrote the song shortly after a breakup with his girlfriend. Isaak had attended a friend's party, but soon realized that he did not want to be there. He went inside a

walk-in closet A walk-in closet ( North American) or walk-in wardrobe ( UK) or dressing room is typically a large closet, wardrobe or room that is primarily intended for storing clothes, footwear etc., and being used as a changing room. As the name suggests, wa ...

, closed the door, grabbed a guitar that was leaning against the back wall, and wrote "Somebody's Crying." Lyrically, the song describes one's yearning for a former lover, and the fear of communicating again with that person. In a 1995 interview, Isaak compared the lyrics to a way children often speak:

Release and reception

"Somebody's Crying" peaked at number 45 on the US ''

in August 1995, making it Isaak's second-highest-charting single after "

Wicked Game "Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak from his third album '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). It was released as a single to little attention in July 1989 but became a sleeper hit when Lee Chestnut, an Atlanta radio station ...

", which reached number six in 1991. "Somebody's Crying" also peaked at number 27 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart, number 34 on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart, and number 36 on the Top 40/Mainstream chart. Elsewhere, the song peaked at number five in Australia and number 22 in New Zealand, marking Isaak's highest chart placement in the former country. It charted the highest in Canada, climbing to number four on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' 100 Hit Tracks chart. The single was not as commercially successful in the United Kingdom, reaching number 81 on the UK Singles Chart. "Somebody's Crying" received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination for

Best Male Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award presented to male recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre. Originally called the Grammy Award for Best Ro ...

in 1996, losing to

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

's "

You Don't Know How It Feels "You Don't Know How It Feels" is a song and the lead single from American musician Tom Petty's 1994 album, '' Wildflowers''. The track features candid lyrics describing the songwriter's desire for personal and professional autonomy.Greenwald, Mat ...

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Somebody's Crying" was released in 1995 and was directed by

Bill Pope Bill Pope, A.S.C. (born June 19, 1952) is an American cinematographer known for his collaborations with directors Sam Raimi, The Wachowskis and Edgar Wright. He has also photographed and directed numerous music videos for artists like Chris Isaak ...

. In contrast to the song's melancholy lyrical content, the video presents a more upbeat story of a summer romance, and features Isaak riding a surfboard, a favorite pastime of his. Isaak said, "I thought it would be more fun to do. More and more I'm trying to keep a little bit of fun in what I'm doing." Actors Jennifer Rubin,

Jenna Elfman Jenna Elfman (née Butala, born September 30, 1971) is an American actress. She is best known for her leading role as Dharma on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC sitcom ''Dharma & Greg'' (1997–2002), for which she received the Golden Glob ...

Zen Gesner Zen Brant Gesner (born June 23, 1970) is an American television and movie actor. He is perhaps most recognized for his roles as Sinbad in the syndicated television series ''The Adventures of Sinbad'', and was a regular cast member on the ABC d ...

, and

Chris Penn Christopher Shannon Penn (October 10, 1965 – January 24, 2006), credited as Chris Penn after 1991, was an American actor. He was the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. Noted as a skilled character actor, he was typically cas ...

appear in the video. The video received a 1995

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Video Music Award nomination for

Best Male Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video was one of four original general awards that have been handed out every year since the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, though, the award was briefly renamed Male Artist of the Year, and ...

but lost to Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels".

Track listings

Standard 7-inch, CD, and cassette single # "Somebody's Crying" – 2:46 # "Changed Your Mind" – 3:50 UK and Australian CD single # "Somebody's Crying" – 2:46 # "Changed Your Mind" – 3:50 # " The Little White Cloud That Cried" (written by

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

) – 2:19

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

In popular culture

The song was played during parts of two episodes of the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

television series ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American teen and family drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000, with a total of six seasons consisting of 142 epis ...

'' in 1995. It was also featured in a 1995 episode of

's ''

Beavis and Butt-head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, Stupi ...

''. An acoustic performance of the song by Isaak is included in the 2000

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

compilation, ''MTV Unplugged: Ballads''.''MTV Unplugged: Ballads''
Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 22, 2009.

References

{{Authority control 1995 singles 1995 songs Chris Isaak songs Reprise Records singles Song recordings produced by Erik Jacobsen Songs written by Chris Isaak