Well, this is probably NOT the song you requested, but two things strike me about it that cause me to give it to you anyway. One is the "Janie/Joanie don't you know" similarity -- not many songs will have that strong a connection unless they're the same song. The other is the crying/dying part, which is the point of the song I have here, if not the words themselves.

If this is the WRONG song, ignore it. If it's the right one, great! Whichever, it's a good song. Here it is:


TURNING TOWARD THE MORNING
(Gordon Bok)
As recorded by Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett on "Turning Toward the Morning" (1975)

1. When the deer has bedded down and the bear has gone to ground,
And the northern goose has wandered off to warmer bay and sound,
It's so easy in the cold to feel the darkness of the year
And the heart is growing lonely for the morning.

CHORUS: Oh, my Joanie, don't you know that the stars are swinging slow,
And the seas are rolling easy as they did so long ago?
If I had a thing to give you, I would tell you one more time
That the world is always turning toward the morning.

2. Now October's growing thin and November's coming home.
You'll be thinking of the season and the sad things that you've seen,
And you hear that old wind walking, hear him singing high and thin.
You could swear he's out there singing of your sorrow. CHORUS

3. When the darkness falls around you and the north wind come to blow,
And you hear him call you name out as he walks the brittle snow,
That old wind don't mean you trouble; he don't care or even know.
He's just walking down the darkness toward the morning. CHORUS

4. It's a pity we don't know what the little flowers know:
They can't face the cold November; they can't take the wind and snow.
They put their glories all behind them, bow their heads and let it go,
But you know they'll be there shining in the morning. CHORUS

5. Now, my Joanie, don't you know that the days are rolling slow,
And the winter's walking easy, as he did so long ago?
And if that wind should come and ask you, "Why's my Joanie weeping so?"
Won't you tell him that you're weeping for the morning? CHORUS

Hope I've been of help. This is from the Digital Tradition, by the way, which has recording references as well.