Songs about suicide can be hard to listen to, but they often come from very real places. Across decades and genres, artists have written about loss, grief, mental health struggles, or the pain of losing someone. Some were written as warnings, others as memorials, and some as honest confessions during dark times.
Be sure to check out the Songs About Suicide Playlist at the bottom of this page.
Songs About Suicide & Suicidal Thoughts
1. “1-800-273-8255” – Logic ft. Alessia Cara & Khalid
Lyric Sample: “I don’t wanna be alive, I just wanna die today, I just wanna die.”
This 2017 hip-hop track takes its title from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now 988). It tracks a person’s journey from wanting to end it all to finding a reason to keep going.
Related: Songs with Numbers in the Title
2. “Suicidal Thoughts” – The Notorious B.I.G.
Lyric Sample: “Throw the Magnum to my head, threaten to pull shit.”
Biggie closed his 1994 debut album with a phone call where he talks about wanting to end his life. His friend on the other end tries to talk him down.
3. “Before You Go” – Lewis Capaldi
Lyric Sample: “Was there something I could’ve said to make your heart beat better?”
Capaldi wrote this pop ballad about the aftermath of a loved one taking their own life. He describes the guilt and questions left behind for those still living.
4. “Fade to Black” – Metallica
Lyric Sample: “No one but me can save myself, but it’s too late.”
This 1984 thrash metal classic describes a person who feels they have lost everything and has no will to continue. The narrator has a growing sense of emptiness as the song progresses.
Related: Songs About Death
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5. “Jumper” – Third Eye Blind
Lyric Sample: “I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend.”
A massive hit from the 1990s, this alt-rock track is about urging someone to reconsider their choice to take their own life.
6. “Listen Before I Go” – Billie Eilish
Lyric Sample: “Take me to the rooftop, I wanna see the world when I stop breathing.”
“Listen Before I Go” is a 2019 song about someone who has made up their mind and knows there’s no way out.
7. “Adam’s Song” – Blink-182
Lyric Sample: “I never thought I’d die alone, another six months, I’ll be unknown.”
This 2000 pop-punk track reads like a teenager’s suicide note. The song shifts in the final verse to hope for better days ahead.
Related: “Adam’s Song” Song Meaning
8. “Jeremy” – Pearl Jam
Lyric Sample: “Jeremy spoke in class today.”
Based on a true story from 1991, this grunge classic tells the story of a boy who ends his life in front of his classmates. The song lists bullying and parental neglect as the reasons behind his decision.
Related: “Jeremy” Lyrics Meaning
9. “Whiskey Lullaby” – Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss
Lyric Sample: “He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger.”
This 2003 country ballad tells the story of a man who kills himself with alcohol after a breakup, followed by his ex doing the same.
Related: CMA Awards – Single of the Year
10. “Last Resort” – Papa Roach
Lyric Sample: “Would it be wrong, would it be right, if I took my life tonight?”
Papa Roach’s 2000 nu-metal hit is about self-harm and contemplating suicide when everything feels like it’s falling apart. The song became one of the most recognizable tracks about hitting rock bottom.
11. “Gloomy Sunday” – Billie Holiday
Lyric Sample: “My heart and I have decided to end it all.”
Known as the “Hungarian Suicide Song,” this 1941 jazz standard was once banned by the BBC for being too depressing. The lyrics describe a person waiting for death to reunite with a lost love.
12. “Hurt” – Nine Inch Nails
Lyric Sample: “I focus on the pain, the only thing that’s real.”
Trent Reznor wrote this industrial track about the isolation of addiction and self-destruction. Johnny Cash later covered it, adding a layer of age and weariness to the message.
Related: “Hurt” Lyrics Meaning
13. “Asleep” – The Smiths
Lyric Sample: “Deep in the cell of my heart I will feel so glad to go.”
This 1985 track is a plea to be sung to sleep and never woken up. It sounds like a lullaby, but with a very dark theme.
14. “Hey Man Nice Shot” – Filter
Lyric Sample: “I wish I would’ve met you, now it’s a little late.”
“Hey Man Nice Shot” is a ’90s rock song about Pennsylvania politician Budd Dwyer, who shot himself on live TV during a press conference in 1987.
15. “Ode to Billie Joe” – Bobbie Gentry
Lyric Sample: “And now Billie Joe MacAllister’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.”
Gentry’s classic tells a story of a family casually discussing a local boy’s leap from a bridge during dinner. It shows how people can overlook the pain of others in their own community.
Related: “Ode to Billie Joe” Song Meaning
16. “Lithium” – Nirvana
Lyric Sample: “I’m so happy ’cause today I’ve found my friends, they’re in my head.”
In “Lithium,” Kurt Cobain sings about a person using religion and medication to try to keep suicidal tendencies at bay.
17. “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” – The 1975
Lyric Sample: “There’s no point in buying concrete shoes, I refuse.”
This 2018 track describes how mental health struggles can be overwhelming one moment and gone the next.
18. “The Pass” – Rush
Lyric Sample: “All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer by the stars.”
Rush’s 1989 song is about teenage suicide and the way young people sometimes see it as noble or dramatic. It’s about how killing yourself isn’t heroic and that everyone goes through darkness at some point.
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19. “Bullet” – Hollywood Undead
Lyric Sample: “My legs are dangling off the edge, the bottom of the bottle is my only friend.”
Despite its upbeat sound, this 2011 song contains incredibly dark lyrics about a person preparing to jump off a 20-story building.
20. “Richard Cory” – Simon & Garfunkel
Lyric Sample: “Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head.”
Based on a famous poem, this folk song tells of a wealthy man who seems to have everything. Its message is that money and status don’t protect a person from internal suffering.
21. “Ghost” – Badflower
Lyric Sample: “Take the blade away from me.”
Badflower’s 2018 rock track describes multiple suicide attempts in brutal detail.
22. “Coming Down” – Five Finger Death Punch
Lyric Sample: “You will never see what’s inside of me.”
This heavy metal song is about being pushed to the breaking point by the world around you. The band released a music video alongside it to raise awareness for teen suicide prevention.
23. “I’m Sorry” – Joyner Lucas
Lyric Sample: “I mean, I need extra love, and that ain’t even enough.”
“I’m Sorry” is a rap track that features two perspectives: one from a man writing his final note and another from his grieving friend.
24. “The Last Night” – Skillet
Lyric Sample: “This is the last night you’ll spend alone.”
In this 2006 rock song, the narrator acts as a support system for a friend who wants to give up. He promises to stay by their side and help them through the night.
25. “Never Too Late” – Three Days Grace
Lyric Sample: “Even if I say it’ll be alright, still I hear you say you want to end your life.”
This mid-2000s rock song is a message of hope directed at someone in a dark place. It encourages the listener to keep fighting because it’s never too late to change things.
26. “Screaming Suicide” – Metallica
Lyric Sample: “Keep me inside, my name is suicide.”
Released in 2023, “Screaming Suicide” personifies suicidal thoughts as a voice that whispers self-doubt and fear. The song was written to bring the topic out of the shadows and into open conversation.
27. “Tomorrow Is Today” – Billy Joel
Lyric Sample: “I don’t have to see tomorrow, ’cause I saw it yesterday.”
Joel wrote this after a 1970 suicide attempt following the breakup of his band and a relationship. The song walks through his thoughts during that moment when he felt like there was no reason to keep going.
28. “Everybody Hurts” – R.E.M.
Lyric Sample: “When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this life, well hang on.”
R.E.M.’s hit is all about holding on when you’ve had enough. It reminds people that pain is something everyone experiences.
29. “Guns for Hands” – Twenty One Pilots
Lyric Sample: “But there’s hope out the window, so that’s where we’ll go.”
“Guns for Hands” is about channeling self-harm urges into something else. Its message is to redirect that energy outward rather than on yourself.
30. “Suic*de” – Ren
Lyric Sample: “Fallen through the cracks of the night sky.”
Ren’s song is about losing a friend who jumped off a bridge. It’s about the guilt of arriving too late and how that loss changed everything.
31. “Inside the Fire” – Disturbed
Lyric Sample: “Release your life, take your place inside the fire with her.”
David Draiman wrote this song about the suicide of a girlfriend from his youth. The lyrics depict a devil-like figure tempting a grieving person to join their loved one in death.
32. “Cemetery Gates” – Pantera
Lyric Sample: “I will unlock my door, and pass the cemetery gates.”
This 1990 metal ballad is about grief and wanting to follow a deceased loved one into the afterlife.
33. “Last Stop: This Town” – Eels
Lyric Sample: “You’re dead, but the world keeps spinning.”
“Last Stop: This Town” is about lead singer Mark Everett’s sister Elizabeth, who died by suicide. He imagines her flying over the town one last time, looking down at everything she left behind.
34. “Alone Again (Naturally)” – Gilbert O’Sullivan
Lyric Sample: “To think that only yesterday, I was cheerful, bright, and gay.”
“Alone Again (Naturally)” is a 1972 pop song that sounds cheerful, but it actually describes a man standing at the top of a tower after being left at the altar.
Related: Songs About Loneliness
35. “I Can’t Carry This Anymore” – Anson Seabra
Lyric Sample: “But mama don’t know what it’s like to want to die.”
This 2019 piano ballad describes the exhaustion that comes with long-term mental health struggles. It’s an honest look at feeling like you’ve run out of strength to keep going.
36. “How Do You Get That Lonely” – Blaine Larsen
Lyric Sample: “How do you get that lonely? How do you hurt that bad?”
“How Do You Get That Lonely” is a country song that looks at a teenage suicide from the perspective of a stranger reading the news. Larsen asks questions about what leads a person to such a final decision.
37. “Headfirst for Halos” – My Chemical Romance
Lyric Sample: “And I think I’ll blow my brains against the ceiling.”
“Headfirst for Halos” uses a fast, almost happy tempo to mask lyrics about taking pills and wanting to end it all. It describes the chaotic mind of someone struggling with their thoughts.
Conclusion
Music provides a way for people to talk about things that are often too hard to say out loud. Whether these songs about suicide offer a warning or a hand to hold, they remind us that these feelings are very real and experienced by many.
Similar lists you might like: Songs About Loneliness, Songs About Death, and Songs About Growing Up.
