“When Hope is Gone Just Hang On”: More Songs Against Suicide

“Sad songs,” the line goes, “say so much.”

And there are thousands of them. Many sad songs intensify a melancholy mood; some even extol suicide as a solution. Fewer and farther between are the songs that, while acknowledging the intense pain that fuels suicide, offer hope, encouragement, or inspiration to stay alive.

In an earlier post (“Oh, I’m Begging You, No”: 18 Songs Against Suicide), I listed songs that urge the listener to resist suicide. Many people left comments or sent me emails suggesting other songs with an anti-suicide message. Not all of the suggested songs spoke directly to suicide, and some songs actually glorified suicide. But there are, alas, many more songs that suicidal people can turn to for a soothing message.

It’s true that sad songs say so much. Sad songs for the suicidal sometimes say even more. Here are almost 30 of them.

24 Floors

By The Maine (Alternative rock)

You don’t wanna die tonight
Take one more breath to clear your mind
Every moment’s relevant
Bittersweet and delicate
Tomorrow may not come again
Tonight is all there is

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Adam’s Song

By Blink-182 (Rock)

Tomorrow holds such better days
Days when I can still feel alive
When I can’t wait to get outside
The world is wide, the time goes by

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Battle Scars

By Paradise Fears (Alternative rock)

You’ve had enough,
But just don’t give up.
Stick to your guns,
You are worth fighting for.
You know we’ve all got battle scars.
Keep marching on.

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Cut the Cord

By Shinedown (Rock)

Don’t be a casualty, cut the cord…
Cause victory is all you need
So cultivate and plant the seed
Hold your breath and count to ten, just count to ten

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Don’t Close Your Eyes

By Kix (Metal)

Don’t close your eyes
Don’t sing your last lullaby…

Hold on – Hold on tight
I’ll make everything all right
Wake up – Don’t go to sleep
I pray the lord your soul to keep

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End of the Movie

By Cake (Alternative rock)

People you hate will get their hooks into you
They’ll pull you down…
But you still don’t like to leave before the end of the movie
No you still don’t like to leave before the end of the show 

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Friend, Please

By Twenty One Pilots (Alternative rock)

Friend, please remove your hands from
Over your eyes for me
I know you want to leave but
Friend, please don’t take your life away from me

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Hang On

By Guster (Rock)

We break
We bend
With hand in hand
When hope is gone
Just hang on
Hang on

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How to Save a Life

By The Fray (Rock)

Where did I go wrong?
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

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I Walk Beside You

By Dream Theater (Rock)

Oh, when everything is wrong
Oh, when hopelessness surrounds you
Oh, the sun will rise again
The tide you swim against
Will carry you back home
So don’t give up, don’t give in…

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Let Go

By Everest (Rock)

So take a breath
My dear friend
Take it slow
And let go
And rise again
You’re not done yet…

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Make It Stop (September’s Children)

By Rise Against (Punk rock)

Make it stop,
Let this end,
All these years pushed to the ledge,
But proud I stand, of who I am,
I plan to go on living

(This is one of those anti-suicide songs that is both inspiring and depressing. Written for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans youth, it captures the bigotry, misery, and deaths that occur, along with the need to go on living.)

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Missing You

By All Time Low (Alternative rock)

Now don’t lose your fight, kid,
It only takes a little push to pull on through,
With so much left to do,
You’ll be missing out, and we’ll be missing you.

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No Giving Up

By Crossfade (Metal)

There’s no giving up now
Do you really want to give this all away
Can’t you ever see things in a different way…
You should think things through
Over and over again

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The Pass

By Rush (Hard rock)

All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor’s edge
Don’t turn your back
And slam the door on me

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Remember We Die

By Gemini Syndrome (Hard rock)

Remember we die
But you’re still alive
So don’t let go
‘Cause it’s the only thing you know
There’s plenty of time
To see the other side

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Sacrifice

By Aurelio Voltaire (Rock)

There’s a place where you and I looked in each other’s eyes and promised we’d be free someday.
So please tell me why you sacrificed all that you would be.
You threw away your dreams.
So much life to live…
So much love to give…
So much life to live…
So much love to give…

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Stay Alive

By Andy Black (Rock)

Stay alive for the good times
Stay alive through the bad
Stay alive for the hopes and the fears and the dreams
The best that we ever had

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Stay Alive

By Smile Empty Soul (Hard rock)

Stay alive, stay alive,
Because it’s almost over now
Stay alive, stay alive,
Better days to come around

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Story of My Life

By Backstreet Boys (Pop)

Everybody falls, everybody cries
Everybody feels like a nobody sometimes
You get up again, give it one more try
Everybody’s got what it takes on the inside

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Suicide; Stigma

By The Color Morale (Metal)

I want you to live.
Suicide doesn’t end the pain,
it passes to the ones you love and remains.
Take yourself out of the equation
And the problem stays.

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The Sun is Rising

By Britt Nicole (Christian pop)

When life has cut too deep and left you hurting
The future you had hoped for is now burning
And the dreams you held so tight lost their meaning
And you don’t know if you’ll ever find the healing
You’re gonna make it
You’re gonna make it
And the night can only last for so long

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Sunrise

By Our Last Night (Rock)

When the night is cold and you feel like no one knows
what it’s like to be the only one buried in this hole
You can make it to the sunrise.

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Survive

By Rise Against (Hard rock)

Life for you, has been less than kind
So take a number, stand in line
We’ve all been sorry, we’ve all been hurt
But how we survive, is what makes us who we are…

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Truce

By Twenty One Pilots (Alternative rock)

Stay alive, stay alive for me
You will die, but now your life is free
Take pride in what is sure to die

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Wonderful Life

By Hurts (Pop)

Don’t let go
Never give up.
Don’t let go
Never give up, it’s such a wonderful life.

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You are Loved

By Set It Off (Rock)

It’s a permanent solution to a temporary problem
We all have issues not knowing how to solve them
And when you feel you’re at your worst,
Remember all these words

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You’re Gonna Be Ok

By Brian and Jenn Johnson (Christian pop)

When the night, is closing in
Don’t give up, and don’t give in
This won’t last, it’s not the end, it’s not the end
You’re gonna be ok

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You’re Only Human

By Billy Joel (Pop)

Sometimes you just want to lay down and die
That emotion can be so strong
But hold on
Till that old second wind comes along

(This song is unnervingly cheerful for an anti-suicide song. But it is so explicitly against suicide that this list wouldn’t really be complete without it.)

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Do You Know of Other Anti-Suicide Songs?

If you know of a song that’s not in the current post or the original one (“Oh, I’m Begging You, No”: 18 Songs Against Suicide), please submit the name of the song in the Comments below, and say a little about it, too, if you wish.

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© Copyright 2017 Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW, All Rights Reserved. Written for Speaking of Suicide. Top photo purchased from Fotolia.com.