15 Popular Songs And Their Sad Stories Behind Them

Just because a song doesn't sound sad melodically doesn't mean the songwriter was in a happy frame of mind when they wrote it. Some of the most famous tunes of all time are upbeat and energetic, but the backstories are dark and devastating. Inspired by every horrible part of life from an overdoses and the perils of old age to terrible attacks, relationship breakdowns, depression, and even crime, the following songs have been loved by generations of fans. In some cases, you can tell by the music that the song deals with an uncomfortable subject. But in other cases, unless you sat down and listened to the lyrics and then dissected them, you'd probably have no idea that the song was about a father's grief for his lost song, or a singer's regret after losing his guitarist to an overdose. Pretty heavy stuff! Here are 15 popular songs that were influenced by tragedy.

15 “One Way or Another” - Blondie

Most people assume that Blondie's famous up-tempo track “One Way or Another” is about being determined to achieve something. Although it was clearly written about being determined to catch up with a person, many of us figured that was just a metaphor. But nope, this song really is about being determined to find a person, and was inspired by lead singer Debbie Harry's horrible experience of being stalked by an ex. “One way or another, I'm gonna see ya', I'm gonna meet ya', meet ya', meet ya', meet ya',” she sings. “One day, maybe next week, I'm gonna meet ya', I'm gonna meet ya', I'll meet ya'. I will drive past your house and if the lights are all down, I'll see who's around.” She also sings about monitoring who the person calls and where they shop. Lines like these are a lot creepier when you realize that they're being told from the perspective of a stalker!

14 “You Learn” - Alanis Morissette

We love a little Alanis Morissette when it's time to hear some hard truths about the world. “You Learn” is from her album Jagged Little Pill, which she wrote when she was just 19. The song is profoundly wise, teaching a whole lot of lessons: “I recommend getting your heart trampled on to anyone, I recommend walking around naked in your living room, swallow it down (what a jagged little pill), it feels so good (swimming in your stomach), wait until the dust settles.” So what inspired such wisdom from such a young girl? As it turns out, Alanis went through some pretty tough times, including being robbed at gunpoint in LA. The attack left her with PTSD and she was even hospitalized. While she was recovering, she was also going through a terrible breakup. But she definitely learned a lot from her struggles and passed on those lessons to the world.

13 “Polly” - Nirvana

Some songs are inspired by true events, but Nirvana's “Polly” is about an awful incident that took place in 1987. In Tacoma, Washington, a 14-year-old girl was on her way home from a concert when a thug abducted her, took her back to his mobile home, and had his way with her. He also tortured her with a few weapons. Yikes. Thankfully, she managed to escape when he took her for a ride and stopped to get gas. Also thankfully, he was arrested and sent to jail. The girl's name wasn't actually Polly, but the band changed her name in order to protect her identity. The lyrics of the song describe the ordeal she had to suffer through: “Polly wants a cracker, I think I should get off her first, I think she wants some water, to put out the blow torch.”

12 “Waterfalls” - TLC

Thanks to its laid back tempo and catchy melody, “Waterfalls” by TLC was definitely your childhood go-to song for relaxing on a long summer afternoon, or maybe you even choreographed a dance to it back in middle school. What was the influence behind this tune? It wasn't a single event, but rather, a number of issues affecting society, none of them positive. What really inspired this song was the AIDS epidemic and rampant crime in urban areas. The girls sang, “… he makes his money the best way he know how. Another body laying cold in the gutter," describing a boy turning to crime to make money. Their lyrics about the effects of contracting AIDS are even more disturbing: “She give him loving that his body can't handle… he goes and takes a glimpse in the mirror, but he doesn't recognize his own face.” The song is a plea for young people to be careful in life and avoid this kind of fate.

11 “Hey Jude” - The Beatles

Just about every Beatles song has been overanalyzed with fans searching for hidden messages. John Lennon penned "Hey Jude” and the song was originally going to be called “Hey Jules." John found inspiration on a long car ride and wanted to write this song to help his son Julian Lennon because it was widely reported that John neglected his son when he started dating Yoko Ono. John opened up about the track when he sat down with Rolling Stone: “I was going out in my car, just vaguely singing this song and it was like, 'Hey, Jules… ' And then I just thought a better name was Jude. A bit more country and western for me.” He revealed how the song was intended to be a message of hope for Julian: “'Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you're not happy, but you'll be OK.'”

10 “Loser” - Beck

Beck's “Loser” definitely falls under the category of favorite '90s hits for a lot of people. Let's face it, a lot of us can relate to the self-deprecating tone that runs throughout the song. The lyrics go, “Savin' all your food stamps and burnin' down the trailer park… I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me?” In truth, the singer wasn't trying to appeal to the masses with his humble ramblings. This song emerged from the dark feelings he had about his life. In the 1990s, Beck was a struggling musician who was working low-wage jobs to feed himself, and at one point, was homeless. He failed in New York City and moved to Los Angeles where the crowds at his gigs would talk over him. He began freestyle rapping just to see if they were listening to him, and realized he was terrible at it, which prompted him to write the song.

9 “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” - Rupert Holmes

That's right: The Pina Colada Song isn't as happy as everybody thought. The song tells the story of a man who is tired of living with his wife, and he then responds to a personal ad in the paper in order to cheat on her. However, when it comes time to meet the mysterious lady, he learns that his wife is actually the one who placed the ad. It's all presented hilariously, and the two just laugh off the mix-up. In reality, though, this song is about the breakdown of a marriage that has lost itself in routine. “I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long, like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song… I didn't think about my lady, I know that sounds kind of mean, but me and my old lady had fallen into the same old dull routine.” The sad thing is Rupert Holmes drew inspiration from a real personal ad.

8 “American Pie” - Don Mclean

No matter what generation you're from, chances are you have heard Don Mclean's famous song “American Pie." However, if the song was written quite a while before you were born, you probably don't really know what Don's talking about when he refers to “the day the music died.” In 1959, a horrific plane crash killed music legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson. The pilot, Roger Peterson, lost control of the light aircraft thanks to the poor weather, and crashed into a cornfield, killing everybody on board. “American Pie” was written in 1971 and discusses this fateful day at the end of the '50s: “I can't remember if I cried, when I read about his widowed bride, something touched me deep inside, the day the music died.” After that, the beat picks up and the song moves on to exploring American culture in the period directly after World War Two.

7 "The Way” - Fastball

Fastball had one hit song, but it was a hell of a hit! You only have to hear the line, “Where were they going without ever knowing the way?” and the entire song is stuck in your head! Most people get so lost in the catchiness of this song that they don't stop to wonder what the song is actually about, and it's probably better that way. As it turns out, this song is actually about Lela and Raymond Howard, two older people who left home to attend a festival in Texas in 1997, and never came back. Raymond had recently undergone brain surgery, and Lela was suffering from Alzheimer's. It isn't clear exactly what happened, but their bodies were found at the bottom of a ravine two weeks later. They had wandered to Hot Springs, Arkansas, a very long way from where they intended to travel to. Suddenly, we don't want to sing along!

6 “Love Will Tear Us Apart” - Joy Division

It's no secret that “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division is a pretty blue tune. It's all about the demise of what was once a strong relationship, detailing the breakdown of love through lyrics like, “Why is the bedroom so cold, turned away on your side? Is my timing that flawed, our respect run so dry?” But what makes this truly sad is that unlike other break up songs, it wasn't just loosely inspired by real events or even the talented imagination of the songwriter. The song was actually about the decaying relationship between singer Ian Curtis and his wife Deborah. The song is now widely regarded as one of the most bitter love songs of all time, and the most heartbreaking part of this story is that after Ian's death, Deborah had the title of the song inscribed on his tombstone. So this issue haunted Ian in life, and then became his epitaph.

5 “Shiny Happy People” - REM

REM's “Shiny Happy People” doesn't seem like it was inspired by anything unhappy. After all, the band sings, “Everyone around, love them, love them, put it in your hands, take it, take it, there's no time to cry, happy, happy, put it in your heart where tomorrow shines, gold and silver shine." With lyrics like that, the notion that this song isn't actually that chipper sounds like total nonsense! But the title of the track actually comes from the translation of a Chinese propaganda poster from the era of Chairman Mao, which read, “Shiny happy people holding hands.” Less than a year before the band wrote the song, the Tiananmen Square protests occurred, and it is estimated that around 2,600 pro-democracy protesters were killed by government troops. This event had a huge impact on the band (as it did on a lot of the world), and inspired the song, which was finally released in 1991.

4 “Tears in Heaven” - Eric Clapton

“Tears in Heaven” is one of the most famous examples of real, devastating events inspiring a popular song. This is all about Eric Clapton's son Conor, who fell to his death from a 53^rd-floor New York City apartment window in 1991. Eric had just arrived at the hotel and moved straight past the crowd gathered at the bottom, with no idea that they were investigating the incident. Something like that would obviously change a father's life forever, and Eric's feelings couldn't be contained in one song. His song “Circus” from his 1997 album Pilgrim is also about Conor. Inspired by the last night that Eric spent with his son and the last time he saw him, “Circus” tragically tells of how the singer took Conor to the circus the night before he died: “Little man with his eyes on fire, and his smile so bright, in his hands are the toys you gave, to fill his heart with delight.”

3 “Elizabeth on The Bathroom Floor” - Eels

You probably could have guessed that “Elizabeth on The Bathroom Floor” by Eels has a sad story behind it. The song is about Mark “E” Everett's sister, who ended her life, and he discovered her body. His sister had left a diary entry after repeatedly trying to end her life, and she succeeded the ninth time around. “Laying on the bathroom floor, Kitty licks my cheek once more, and I, I could try, but waking up is harder when you wanna die,” he sings. The song appeared on the album Electric Shock Blues, and the whole thing was similarly bleak, with most of its tracks largely inspired by the tragedy. Although losing a sibling in such a tragic way is an unthinkable loss, Mark had to deal with more pain at the time. His mother also died of terminal lung cancer, after Mark had dedicated his life to looking after her, following the 1982 death of his father from a heart attack.

2 “The Needle and The Damage Done” - Neil Young

From the 1972 album Harvest, “The Needle and The Damage Done” is blatantly about addiction and death from an overdose. However, few people realize that Neil Young actually penned this song about his friend and guitarist Danny Whitten, who was addicted to some terrible substances. The issue plagued the entire band, but Danny, in particular, was losing his battle. Neil fired him after he couldn't keep up with his bandmates during rehearsals, and as the story goes, he gave the guitarist a plane ticket for LA and 50 dollars. Later that night, Danny died from the lethal combination of alcohol and Valium. The lyrics go, “I hit the city and I lost my band. I watched the needle take another man, gone, gone, the damage done.” Neil's sense of sadness for his lost friend, and perhaps a sense of regret for the way they left things before Danny's death, really come through in the heartbreaking lyrics.

1 “Jeremy” - Pearl Jam

“Jeremy spoke in class today” is the continuous hook in Pearl Jam's “Jeremy”, but you might not grasp what that means if you're not a huge Pearl Jam fan. The line is actually a metaphor for a boy taking his own life in front of his class at school. This song would have been tragic enough if it were just exploring the concept of school shootings in general, but it was actually based on two real shootings. The main inspiration was a 15-year-old boy named Jeremy Delle who shot himself in front of his classmates at school in January 1991. Jeremy had recently transferred to Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas from Dallas, and he pulled out the gun after he was asked to get an admittance slip for missing a class. The song was also inspired by Eddie Vedder's classmate Brian, who went on a shooting rampage in a San Diego classroom. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in that incident.