Meaning of "The Man Who Couldn't Cry" by Loudon Wainwright III

The song explores the idea of emotional repression and the consequences of not allowing oneself to process and release feelings. The man in the song, who is unable to cry, represents a stoic individual who suppresses his emotions to the point where it becomes dangerous for his health. The tragic events that befall him only serve to highlight the importance of acknowledging and expressing emotions in a healthy way. Through his inability to cry, the man in the song shuts himself off from his own humanity, resulting in a tragic end. The ironic twist at the end, where after his death everything that had gone wrong in his life is magically fixed, suggests that the man's inability to cry led to his undoing and prevented him from truly living.