Angel (Sarah McLachlan)
1998
Piano, upright bass, a drum machine, and McLachlan writing about a Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist's overdose with startling tenderness.
★ 3.9
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Let Her Cry
1994
Rucker flipped the genders when he wrote it; by his account the addiction in the song was his own.
★ 4.3
The Pusher
1968
Hoyt Axton's mother held the publishing back over its language; Easy Rider then made Steppenwolf's version unavoidable.
★ 4.8
KicksPaul Revere & the Raiders
Kicks
1966
Mann and Weil wrote it about Gerry Goffin's drug problems, by Mann's account; the Raiders took it to number four.
★ 5.2
Not Afraid
2010 · From Recovery
Boi-1da's beat, Resto's keyboards, and Eminem setting the Slim Shady mask aside; it debuted at number one.
★ 5.3
Whiskey Lullaby
2004
Two verses, two voices, and Jerry Douglas's Dobro; Bill Anderson and Jon Randall wrote country's bleakest modern ballad.
★ 5.8
How to Save a Life
2004
Slade wrote it after mentoring a troubled teenager at a Denver camp, and Grey's Anatomy did the rest.
★ 5.8
Needle in the Hay
1995 · From Elliott Smith
Cut in September 1994 at bandmate Tony Lash's house, trumpet and harmonica stripped away until only guitar and dread remain.
★ 5.8
Semi-Charmed Life
1997
An answer song to "Walk on the Wild Side," mistaken for a summer hit; its real subject is addiction.
★ 6.0
Halcyon and On and On
1992
Named for the tranquilizer the Hartnolls' mother took, with Kirsty Hawkshaw's vocal reversed and stretched across nine minutes.
★ 6.2
Get By
2003
Kanye West built the beat from Nina Simone's "Sinnerman", and Kweli turned survival into his commercial breakthrough.
★ 6.2
Interstate Love Song
1994
Robert DeLeo worked it out as a bossa nova on nylon strings; Weiland nailed the Atlanta vocal in one take.
★ 6.3
Scar Tissue
1999 · From Californication
Frusciante's slide guitar on his first record back with the band, then sixteen weeks atop Billboard's modern rock chart.
★ 6.4
Pusherman
1972 · From The Anthology 1961-1977
Master Henry Gibson's percussion over Lucky Scott's bass, Mayfield indicting the drug trade where the film saw only glamour.
★ 6.5
Between the Bars
1997 · From Either/Or
A lullaby melody hiding a song about alcohol, and one of three Either/Or tracks in Good Will Hunting.
★ 6.5
The Needle and the Damage DoneNeil Young
The Needle and the Damage Done
1972 · From Harvest
Two minutes on addiction, taped live at UCLA's Royce Hall in January 1971 and placed unchanged on Harvest.
★ 6.7
Would
1992 · From Dirt
Cantrell wrote it for the Singles soundtrack while grieving Andrew Wood; Starr's bass line and two voices doing the mourning.
★ 6.9
Say It Ain't So
1994 · From Weezer (The Blue Album)
Cuomo's working title was "The Classic Rock Song"; Ocasek produced, and the clean offbeat chords carry a family's addiction.
★ 7.0
Fire and RainJames Taylor
Fire and Rain
1970 · From Sweet Baby James
Kunkel's brushes, Carole King's piano, and three verses that hold a death, an addiction and a band's collapse.
★ 7.3