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- “Gone Too Soon” By Daughtry. Our first track is a tear-jerker by Daughtry. “Gone Too Soon” deals with the profound grief of loss. Specifically, it’s about the heart-wrenching experience of losing a child.
- “Tears In Heaven” By Eric Clapton. A deeply moving song, Eric Clapton‘s “Tears in Heaven” was written as a tribute to his son, who tragically passed away at the age of four.
- “Ashes” By Céline Dion. Recorded by the renowned Canadian singer Céline Dion, “Ashes” is a powerful song that was featured in the soundtrack of the 2018 film Deadpool 2.
- “Ain’t No Sunshine” By Bill Withers. When someone leaves you, it can certainly make your day cloudy. Bill Withers’ song “Ain’t No Sunshine” echoes this sentiment.
- Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton. Eric Clapton wrote this song after the tragic loss of his four-year-old son, Conor, in 1991. “Tears in Heaven” is known for its emotional depth and Clapton’s heartfelt lyrics.
- Slipped Away, Avril Lavigne. Avril Lavigne wrote “Slipped Away” in memory of her grandfather. Featured on her 2004 album, Under My Skin, the song reflects feelings of loss and longing through its poignant lyrics.
- I’ll Be Missing You, P. Diddy ft. Faith Evans and 112. A tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G., “I’ll Be Missing You” by P. Diddy and Faith Evans was released in 1997.
- Wake Me Up When September Ends, Green Day. Written by Green Day’s lead vocalist, Billie Joe Armstrong, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” is a tribute to his father, who passed away when Armstrong was a child.
- Mount Eerie – ‘Death Is Real’
- Johnny Cash (Nine Inch Nails) – ‘Hurt’
- Nick Cave – ‘Ghosteen Speaks’
- Jackson C. Frank – ‘Marlene’
- Jimi Hendrix – ‘Hey Joe’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Masters of War’
- Bobbie Gentry – ‘Ode to Billie Joe’
- The Smiths – ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’
- David Bowie – ‘I Can’T Give Everything Away’
- Leonard Cohen – ‘You Want It Darker’
Mount Eerie’s album Death is Realdeals with tragedy and grief in one of the most candid, raw, and heartfelt ways ever put to record. Mount Eerie is the musical moniker of Phil Elverum, who tragically lost his wife to cancer, very suddenly, when his daughter was only a few months old. Unlike almost any other song ever written ‘Real Death’ is permeat...
Sometimes a cover is so great that it seems the fate of the song all along was to end up in the hands of its grateful inheritor. That is not to besmirch the Nine Inch Nails original, it is just that the song seems to yearn for the weary tones of a careworn voice. It is a tale of ageing that transitions from apathy to exultation. Consequences and re...
Speaking about the loss of his son, Arthur Cave, Nick Cave wrote, “Language falls short before the immensity of grief,” adding, “One desperate morning […] I called upon my son by name […] I said ‘you are my son and you are beside me’.” In the song ‘Ghosteen Speaks’, those four little words, “I am beside you”, hold the weight of all language, but em...
In ‘Marlene’, Jackson C. Frank sings about the harrowing incident in his youth when a fire broke out after a furnace exploded at Cleveland Hill Elementary School in Cheektowaga, New York. The resulting blaze killed fifteen of Frank’s classmates including his girlfriend Marlene. Frank was in 6th-grade music class at the time. He emerged from the inf...
For better or for worse in modern society death is not always dealt with from a moralistic standpoint. However, ‘Hey Joe’ isn’t overly gratuitous about it for the sake of it either. Instead, he takes a blues taleand exposes the grim realities of it in a blunt fashion that shows how flippantly society sometimes is about violence. This message of cal...
Naturally, ‘Masters of War’ was never going to be a tale of sunshine and rainbows. With Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell message of guarding against “the acquisition of unwarranted influence… by the military-industrial complex” still ringing in the air, the song was set to be a million miles from some sanguine songsmiths hopeful rally cry, but when ...
Bobbie Gentry is one of the greatest songwriters of all time and that has been said nowhere near enough. With ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ she crafted a mystery for the ages that alluring begs a million more questions than it answers, but unlike some Netflix series it leaves you the antithesis of frustrated. The death, in this instance, is dealt with the sa...
As the aforementioned Nick Cave once beautifully said, “It seems, that if we love, we grieve, that’s the deal, that’s the pact,” and while that isn’t at the forefront of most of our minds at the point when we’re falling head over heels, that didn’t stop The Smiths from celebrating love in a rather morbid light. On the surface, the song might seem s...
More than an album closer, ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’ was the last line of an entire back catalogue. And that wasn’t a matter of happenstance either; David Bowie was well aware that this track would be his last, and, in the most Bowie way possible, he made art out of death and parted with a sparkling statement. With refrains from his career gon...
Leonard Cohen looked at death like almost nobody else. He stared it down unflinchingly, weakened its defences and, in the end, just sort of cosied up to it as a sort of benevolent final chapter to life. He penned a heart-touching letter to Marianne on the subject, and he also illuminated its ways in this tower of a song. Often singers lose their vo...
- Simple Twist of Fate – Bob Dylan. Legendary songwriter Bob Dylan has denied his songs from the album Blood on the Tracks are biographical. However, his son Jacob Dylan (frontman of The Wallflowers) has previously stated in interviews that he feels songs like ‘Simple Twist of Fate’ represent his parents “talking to each other.”
- Instant Destiny – Tame Impala. “No destiny is too far.” Artist Tame Impala explores his future with the song ‘Instant Destiny.’ Written around the same time he married his wife, the song acts as an ode to her as he describes them tying the knot.
- The Wheel – Jerry Garcia. “If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will.” This “cycle-of-life” song was a stream-of-consciousness song luckily recorded during a Garcia jam session.
- The Circle Game – Joni Mitchell. To tell a coming-of-age story, thunderstorms, fireflies, and catching dragonflies are all symbols Joni Mitchell uses in ‘The Circle Game.’
- The Notorious B.I.G. "Ready to Die" (1994) The title track from Biggie's debut is as ominous and doom-obsessed as anything ever put to wax before it (or after it).
- R. Kelly "I Wish" (2000) Although it's been "four long years" since Kelly's friend passed, he's still having a hard time coping with the loss. Reminiscing on everything from partying to playing basketball with his pal, R. Kelly's putting his pain and grief on full (and sometimes agonizing) display.
- The Smiths "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (1986) In the mod-rock band's mid-'80s classic, the narrator—Morrisey—has been kicked out of his home, and rather than go crawling back to his family, he'd prefer to continue riding shotgun in his comrade's car.
- Bob Dylan "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (1973) Nobody nails metaphors like Dylan. True, Clapton's version of this song ended up as the more popular (or at least: widely-regarded) version, but the stately organ and harmonies in Bob's original rendition call to mind a funeral dirge or a hymn sung at a funeral (and has indeed been used for many a funeral).
Apr 11, 2023 · Music can be amazing therapy and these 40 powerful songs about death, loss and grief will be sure to help you feel less alone while you're in mourning.
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5 days ago · Over 100 music fans have voted on the 10+ Best Songs About Destiny And Fate. Current Top 3: Made in Heaven, The Circle Game, Is This My Destiny?
