SONGS ABOUT GRIEF Soothing Music for Memorials & Remembering
Songs about grief...
Music has a way of touching your soul like nothing else can. There is no
thinking involved, just pure emotions. If you are already a musician, take the
time to indulge yourself by playing or even creating a song in tribute to your
lost loved one.
If you have always wanted to play an instrument, maybe now is the time to
take guitar or piano lessons. It will give you a new focus for your energies and
help to soothe your grieving heart.
Even if you don't create your own music, this special and beloved art form can
provide you with emotional support during your bereavement. Buy a few CDs of
your beloved's favorite music, or songs you two shared during happy times
together.
When you feel the need to reconnect with him or her, wrap yourself in your
music. There will eventually come a time when you no longer have a need to do
this. Then you can store these musical memories in your special grief box in the
closet.
Songs about grief...
Singers, songwriters and musicians often create special music to express
their grief or as a tribute to a lost loved one.
Songs about grief...
"Tears in Heaven" was composed and performed by Eric Clapton as a tribute to
his young son, Connor, who died tragically in a fall from a high-rise apartment
building in Manhattan in 1991. Years later, he talked about the tragedy. He says
that he has little memory of the details immediately after his son's death.
“It becomes like someone else's life in a movie," he said. “I went into shock.
It felt like I shut down, and consequently, I have a very scant memory of doing
those things where I had to go to the hospital where his body was. Then I had to
go to the morgue and then I had to go to the undertaker to deal with the
undertakers."
When asked if it was hard for him to write the memorial song, he responded:
“The writing of the song is the therapy. The toughness is doing nothing. From
the time where everyone said goodbye to one another at the funeral and I was
left at home — from that time to the time the song was finished, it was harder
if I didn’t play the guitar. Playing the guitar was actually the solution. The
tough part was actually being in the knowledge and the moment of what happened.”
Songs about grief...
"Fly" by Celine Dion, was an expression of her grief and emotions as her niece
Karine died from Cystic Fibrosis.
At a young age, Celine began promoting public awareness of cystic fibrosis, as
her niece fought the deadly disease. Through the years, Celine has given many
benefit concerts and TV commercials for the cause. In 1993, Karine died at the
age of 16 in Celine’s arms while she was singing "Vole" (French for "Fly") to
her.
Years later, Celine had this to say about life and death, in an interview with
Reader's Digest:
"We’re all going to lose people that we love. We lose our mothers and we lose
our fathers, and sometimes I think that if I go first, maybe it would be better.
But it’s not better. It’s not the way it works. Hopefully, we can be together as
long as possible. Every day we have is fortunate. Live for the moment.
Even though sometimes (death) goes through your mind, it’s not really something
that you say, “What am I going to do if...?” You deal with this if and when it
happens and you’ll have to find the strength. Everybody goes through some things
like that. That’s life. Life is death; death is life— it’s part of it,
unfortunately. Life's just been given to us for a small moment."
Songs about grief...
The senseless shooting of John Lennon in 1980 prompted Paul McCartney to write
"Here today" in his memory.
He had this to say about the song:
"...When John died it was so weird for everyone and... there was the obvious
sort of thing; is anyone going to write a song about John? Certainly we all felt
deeply enough and normally when we felt deeply enough we committed it to song.
I was wondering if I was going to do it but I thought, I'm not going to sit
down and try to do it, but if anything comes sometime I'll do it. So I was one
day just sitting quietly with my guitar and these chords started coming out and
I started having these thoughts as if I was talking to myself, to John about our
relationship and stuff..."
Songs about grief...
Elton John wrote "Empty Garden", also as a tribute to John Lennon.
He later rewrote "Candle In the Wind" and performed it at the funeral of
Princess Diana after her tragic car crash in 1997. The recorded version, "Candle
in the Wind 1997", then became the fastest- and biggest-selling single of all
time.
The huge profits from the song, about £55 million, were donated to the Diana,
Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It won Elton the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop
Vocal Performance. Elton hasn't performed the song since her funeral, stating he
would only perform it once, as it was so special.
By all accounts, he grieved mightily when Diana died. An American portrait
painter, Louis Briel, was so moved by Elton's expressions of love and grief on a
TV interview that he gave him a posthumous portrait of her. Elton took the oil
painting on tour with him for a year, and talked to it daily.
Songs about grief...
Singer-songwriter Alan Schaefer leads an up-and-coming rock band based in
Atlanta. But Five Star Iris is a little bit different, offering a
"modern version of classic rock", and it's all from the heart. Their songs
deliver not only great music, but an important message as well.
Alan recently sent sent us an unsolicited email in which he told us a story
about one of his favorite songs. He wrote "Is There Something I Can Do?" after
several people in his life were in the process of losing or had lost loved ones.
Alan told us that over the years, this song has touched thousands of people, and
he has received an amazing response from the public, from so many folks who have
found comfort from it. And he wanted to share it with whoever needs it, so he
offered it for free download here on our website.
You can preview the song on this Amazon widget, but can download it for free below
that.
Access this song free and save it to your harddrive, by clicking the link below
and choosing "Save", (or right-click the link and "Save Target As"):
We love the sound of this band, and believe that Alan's rich vocals will steer
this one to superstardom! Learn more about this gifted and caring singer and
Five Star Iris at their website: http://www.fivestariris.com. And Alan
also said he would be happy to hear from you about his song, just hit the
"Contact" link on his website to email him.
Songs about grief...
Here is a poignant collection of songs commemorating death and grief that are
often played at memorial services.
To preview the song, click on the big arrow:
"Tears In Heaven" (If I Saw You In Heaven) by Eric Clapton
