10 emotional songs that are hard to listen to
Most people want to feel uplifted while listening to music. Even though not every song is meant to be peppy from start to finish, the spirit behind every classic track is what really makes fans want to sink their teeth into it, thinking that it speaks to them. However, certain creations by Fleetwood Mac and Johnny Cash should have come with an emotional content warning.
While each of these efforts is phenomenal in its own right, they are not for the heavy-hearted, being ready to tear hearts out of chests once listeners start paying attention. From telling heartbreaking stories to having some of the saddest melodies in pop music, every one of these songs mentioned below weren’t looking to pull punches when they came out.
However, not every song on this list is about the morbid side of life either. Despite having some allusions to death and destruction, some of these tracks hit that much closer to home because of how hard life can be from day to day.
While a passing glance might already get fans a little bit misty-eyed, it’s different when they learn the devastating backstories behind these songs, with artists putting themselves through hell to get their heart and soul down onto the final tape. Although music is supposed to boost morale, listeners might want to keep tissues handy whenever these songs come up.
10 emotional songs that are hard to listen to
‘Landslide’ – Fleetwood Mac
Half of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest tunes are defined by emotion. Throughout their album Rumours, each songwriter came up with their best material because of the tension going on between their breakups with their partners. While ‘Landslide’ wasn’t on Rumours, it’s as heartwrenching as anything else in the band’s oeuvre.
Although this song originated on the Mac’s self-titled album, the version from their live album The Dance is superior, with a delicate vocal performance from Stevie Nicks and the raw intimacy between her and the audience. This version might be a little rough around the edges compared to the original, but in the case of these lyrics, that’s not a bad thing at all.
‘Landslide’ is about someone wise beyond their years and looking back on their life. Since Nicks was in her 20s when she wrote the lyrics, understandably, it has a lot more significance when she revisited the tune decades later, finally reaching that reflective age and knowing that she can’t stop time from rolling.
‘Black’ – Pearl Jam
Grunge rock had an unwanted reputation for being nothing but whining in its early days. As much as Kurt Cobain hit on something powerful when he sang, there were more than a few people thinking that these scrubby misfits from Seattle were just complaining about nothing. When they stripped away all the grime of the guitars, though, there were more than a few broken hearts.
Although Eddie Vedder never intended for ‘Black’ to be released as a single, Pearl Jam fans sought it out because of how much of a gut punch it is when they look at the lyrics. While most of Ten has to do with serious topics like homelessness and teen suicide, ‘Black’ is a down-and-out tale about a man coming to terms with losing the love of his life. It might be implied that his girlfriend dumped him, but this is more than a typical breakup. Vedder is truly lost in this song, as if this girl has taken everything from him now that she’s gone, and he’s left to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.
His pain is only answered by Mike McCready’s guitar lines, almost sounding like the internal crying that may have gone on behind the scenes to get this take. The most powerful moment of the song comes right at the end, where Vedder hopes that this girl has a beautiful life after him, but regrets not being able to share in that beautiful life anymore. The exposure of the tune felt like Vedder picking at a raw wound, and he even went out of his way not to play it as much when they played live.
‘True Love Waits’ – Radiohead
Radiohead don’t specialise in pick-me-ups. While their music made for some of the best moments in modern rock, Thom Yorke’s voice has also left a few people in shambles, like his disembodied crying on tracks like ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ and ‘High and Dry’. ‘True Love Waits’ belongs in that company, but the version on this list was 20 years in the making.
While the Radiohead classic was initially a live staple during the band’s 1990s prime, a studio release wasn’t made until 2016 on A Moon Shaped Pool. This is a more piano-driven affair without the central acoustic guitar, as Yorke’s keyboard work and Jonny Greenwood’s arrangement swirl around the speakers. Though nothing about the lyrics has changed, the circumstances have. During the making of this record, Yorke had separated from his wife, who would pass away a few months after their separation.
While this might not have been written with that in mind, it’s hard for fans to keep their composure listening to Thom sing these words, trying to do everything he can for the love of his life only if she promises never to leave him.
‘Here Comes a Regular’ – The Replacements
The Replacements held no aspirations to be the biggest band in the world. As the post-punk and new wave movement was happening, the sounds of college rock started taking over the underground, and these drunks from Minneapolis were looking to cause absolute mayhem. Underneath those gritty guitars and gallons of beer, there was a lonely soul who knew the shape of his heart.
Closing out their classic album Tim, Paul Westerberg is completely alone on ‘Here Comes a Regular’, playing a high-strung acoustic guitar and singing about all of the opportunities that pass him by when he’s alone at the bar. While the bar may have been a safe haven for Westerberg in the early days, it’s a shell of what it used to be in this song, as he talks about being greeted by the bartender and wallowing in his sadness once he gets some liquid courage in him.
It might not be an uncommon story in the world of rock and roll, but the gut punch comes in the final verses when he realises it’s the holidays and he’s the only one at the bar. He might be a regular, but when all of his fellow regulars go home to their families, it’s hard to cope with feeling that loneliness. Rock and roll might like to celebrate drinking one’s troubles away, but under all of that, alcohol is a hole in his soul that never really goes away.
‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ – Pink Floyd
The entire second act of Pink Floyd was defined by the loss of Syd Barrett. While the band began life as a wild psychedelic band with Barrett at the helm, his struggles with mental health led to him being asked to leave the group. It’s never easy to see a friend spiral, but it’s another matter when that friend isolates themselves.
After the colossal success of Dark Side of the Moon, the members of Floyd were not talking to each other, feeling more uncomfortable with what fame had done to them. Finding inspiration in their old friend, Wish You Were Here became a tribute to Syd’s memory, with ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ as its centrepiece. With the keywords in the title being an anagram for SYD, this sprawling epic is about capturing everything that Barrett meant to them during their glory years, from commenting on why he had to leave to the different good times that they had to incorporate a little bit of their first hit ‘See Emily Play’ to the second act of the song. The drama behind it took on further weight when they were greeted by a ghost from the past.
During the sessions, Barrett showed up without saying a word, taking in the music they were making before leaving without a trace. This was the last time that any of the members would see Barrett alive, but every time that main guitar lick of the song starts, his spirit lives on.
‘Mother’ – John Lennon
After The Beatles broke up, John Lennon was not in good shape. While his creative juices hadn’t failed him, he had been doping himself on heroin and was about to undergo primal therapy to address his emotional issues. Like every strong emotion he had, Lennon directed that into his songs.
Opening up his first solo album, ‘Mother’ is one of the most harrowing songs Lennon would ever write, addressing the emotional damage he had from his parents. Since his father wasn’t in the picture due to being a merchant during World War II, Lennon was brought up by his auntie after his mother thought she couldn’t raise him. Once Lennon was on better terms with his mother in his teens, she was taken from him again when she was killed by a drunk driver before The Beatles took off.
Channelling all of that negative energy into song, Lennon is practically crying on this record, letting go of all the anger he has at his parents and thinking that he had done something wrong to drive them away. By the time he gets to the final chorus of ‘Mama, don’t go,’ he sounds like he’s trying to split his larynx in two trying to let out all his emotion. Lennon had talked about wanting to move on past ‘The Fab Four’, and once he found his footing, he was ready to air his dirty laundry.
Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
Everyone is going to have to deal with death at some point in their lives. No one is immortal, and dealing with a family member passing on is never easy. It’s an entirely different story when there’s the death of a child.
Despite his problems with drugs, Eric Clapton was trying to get a handle on himself in the ‘90s when he got the horrible news that his son had passed away. After no one was looking after him, Clapton’s son Connor tragically fell out the window of a hotel room while the musician was on tour half a world away. While nothing was going to heal that kind of pain, Clapton took all of his grief and put it into ‘Tears in Heaven’. As much as he is a disciple of the blues, this song is a simple ballad of a conversation that Clapton wishes he could have had with Connor should he see him again.
This is not a pleasant song to listen to, as Clapton talks about not belonging in heaven with his son after not being there for him. While he might be struggling, he does see the silver lining of the situation, too, knowing that Connor is at peace wherever he is and that he’s not in any pain on the other side. This is one of the hardest things any parent should have to go through, but it takes a lot of strength to carry on. It might get easier over time, but it’s never going to be a walk in the park.
‘Here Today’ – Paul McCartney
There was a pipe dream among fans that the Beatles were going to go on forever. ‘The Fab Four’ had become different people by the end of the ‘60s, and the band lashed out at each other once their business interests went in different directions. While John Lennon and Paul McCartney had their tense moments with each other, things changed once one of them isn’t here anymore.
After going off on his own without Wings, McCartney was heartbroken to hear of Lennon’s passing in 1980, and ‘Here Today’ is one of the only songs that he wrote about the brotherly bond he had with his songwriter friend. Written as a conversation he wishes he could have had with Lennon, McCartney is holding nothing back on this song, knowing that Lennon’s wit wouldn’t show real emotions but also remembering the good times. Underneath all of that anger and the round-rimmed glasses was a warm and gentle person, and Macca isn’t afraid to shed a tear knowing that he’ll never be able to write another great song with his best mate.
With an additional string quartet from former Beatles producer George Martin, McCartney opens up in the final verse and tells Lennon that he loves him and is grateful that he came into his life. They had their fair share of dust-ups over the years, but in the history of pop music, this is about as close to musical soulmates as rock music could get.
‘Mother Love’ – Queen
No one really expected Queen to go on much longer after Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDs. While it was made a secret to the public, Mercury was in poor health during the last few Queen records and was determined to deliver whatever he could to his fans. Even though ‘The Show Must Go On’ is one of the high points of the final years of his life, the most gripping moment of their catalogue comes after Mercury’s passing.
In the waning months of his life, Mercury would spend hours writing as much music as possible, asking his bandmates to help him finish the songs once he passed away. Although Mother Love starts off fairly subdued, Mercury is far from a shell of himself, reaching his highest register towards the middle of the track before giving way to an instrumental break. When the next verse comes in, every Queen fan’s heart breaks in two when they hear Brian May singing.
While this was Mercury’s brainchild, he didn’t survive long enough to finish it, with May taking over for his fallen bandmate and giving an equally brilliant performance to close out the tune. Queen might have been campy for some, but they were never less than genuine on any of their releases. And when it came time for Mercury to venture to the other side, he did it with more bravery than any other rock star before him.
‘Hurt’ – Johnny Cash
Hurt by Nine Inch Nails is already a pretty harrowing song without the context. After coming out of The Downward Spiral, Trent Reznor wrote this song as an alternate ending to his dark masterpiece, as the character who killed himself reflects on what he could have done better or what he could do differently if he were to live his life over again. Reznor might have known that kind of pain, but it takes on a different meaning when put into life as inspiring as Johnny Cash’s.
After spending his twilight years making albums full of cover songs, the raw pain of this song struck a nerve with Cash, who recorded this version with only an acoustic guitar and a bit of piano here and there. Recorded shortly before his death, Cash’s version acts as a dissection of his entire life, replacing Reznor’s crown of shit with a crown of thorns, placing himself among the religious martyrs that have done more harm in the world than good. Even as he’s looking back on his life, Cash is acknowledging that none of the material he made over the years matters when it comes time to look at his soul.
After hearing this version, Reznor ended up disowning his song, thinking that Cash had taken it to a place no one else could touch. While Nine Inch Nails may have been trying to find some sort of peace at the end of The Downward Spiral, this version is the sound of a man trying to plead his case to God that he deserves to be at rest.
