“Oh, I’m Begging You, No”: 18 Songs Against Suicide

Some songs portray suicide as a compelling option, even an outright solution. It is doubtful that listening to such songs can cause suicidal thoughts, but it might intensify them.

Consider that old adage: What you focus on, expands. Focus on songs that portray suicide positively, and positive thoughts about suicide can expand.

So, here are 18 songs that implore people to resist suicide. Some might call them anti-suicide songs.

Some of the songs offer comfort or hope. Others simply discourage suicide. None portrays suicide as romantic, harmless, or otherwise desirable.

Warning: These are not necessarily happy, uplifting songs. Some are quite sad. But their message ultimately is to stay alive.

A Better Place, A Better Time

By Streetlight Manifesto (Alternative rock)

So you’re tired of living
Feel like you might give in
Well don’t
It’s not your time…

*

Beyond the Gray Sky

By 311 (Alternative rock)

Don’t give up the fight to stay alive and even if you have to
Find the reason of another’s pain if they lose you
If not for yourself then those around who care like I do
One day you’ll see the clear blue
Beyond the gray sky…

*

Come Out Fighting

By Pennywise (Alternative rock)

Well I know there are times when you’re feeling close to the ground
and there’s times when you may feel there’s no place to call home
and there’s times when the only end in sight is the end you got to
Come out fighting…

*

Crazy Baby

By Joan Osbourne (Rock)

Oh, my crazy baby
Try to hold on tight
Oh, my crazy baby
Don’t put out the light…

(This song is pretty dark. If not for the stanza above, it would be a far cry from an anti-suicide song.)

*

Don’t Try Suicide

Queen (Rock)

You need help
Look at yourself you need help
You need life
So don’t hang yourself
It’s OK OK OK OK…

(Be warned that this song contains offensive language, and it makes insensitive statements, like “Nobody cares” and “Nobody gives a damn” if you try suicide. Ultimately, the song redeems itself, and I know quite a few people who have felt strengthened by it during vulnerable times.)

*

Everybody Hurts

By R.E.M. (Alternative rock)

Everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts
Don’t throw your hand, oh no…

*

Hold On

By Good Charlotte (Alternative rock)

Hold on, if you feel like letting go
Hold on, it gets better than you know…

*

Jumper

By Third Eye Blind (Alternative)

Everyone’s got to face down the demons
Maybe today we can put the past away
I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend
You could cut ties with all the lies, that you’ve been living in…

*

Life Left to Go

By SafetySuit (Rock)

Oh, I’m begging you, no
There’s more life left to go
Oh, I’m begging you, please
Cause I, I don’t want you to leave me…

*

Lullaby

By Nickelback (Rock)

Stop thinking about
The easy way out
There’s no need to go and blow the candle out
Because you’re not done…

(I considered leaving this song out, because I think it is simplistic and misguided to call suicide “the easy way out.” Yet the song is otherwise too powerful to omit from this list simply because of those few words.)

*

Never Too Late

By Three Days Grace (Rock)

Still I hear you say you want to end your life
Now and again we try to just stay alive
Maybe we’ll turn it around ’cause it’s not too late
It’s never too late…

*

Out of Control

By Oingo Boingo (New wave/pop)

Don’t throw it away
You’ve got too many things to say
If you throw away your life…
The world will never be the same…

*

Self Conclusion

By Spill Canvas (Alternative)

Yeah we all flirt with the tiniest notion
Of self conclusion in one simplified motion
You see the trick is that you’re never supposed act on it
No matter how unbearable this misery gets…

*

Staying Alive

By Cursive (Alternative)

I’ve decided tonight
I’m staying alive
Just kicking and screaming
I’m, I’m staying alive…

*

Suicide

By the Raveonettes (Rock)

Lick your lips and f*** suicide
Suicide
Not tonight
Suicide
Not tonight…

*

Waste

By Staind (Metal)

I’ve had doubts,
I have failed,
I’ve f***** up,
I’ve had plans,
Doesn’t mean I should take my life with my own hands…

*

Why

By Rascal Flatts (Country)

Who told you life, wasn’t worth the fight
They were wrong, they lied
Now you’re gone, and we cried
‘Cause it’s not like you to walk away in the middle of a song
Your beautiful song…

*

You’re Not Alone

By Saosin (Indie rock)

You’re not alone
There is more to this, I know
You can make it out
You will live to tell…

Do You Know of Other Songs Discouraging Suicide?

I created a follow-up to this post, called “When Hope is Gone, Just Hang On”: More Songs Against Suicide. If you know of a song that’s not in the current post or the newer one, please submit the name in the Comments below, and say a little about it, too, if you wish.

© Copyright 2014 Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW, All Rights Reserved. Written for Speaking of Suicide.