Great Dedication Songs of Grieving

Great Dedication Songs of Grieving by Roxanne McDonald

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel; you were famous, your heart was a legend. You told me then you preferred handsome men, but for me you would make an exception. Aw, but you got away, didn’t you, babe? You just turned your back on the crowd. You got away, I never once heard you say, “I need you,” “I don’t need you,” and all of that jivin’ around. Leonard Cohen; “Chelsea Hotel #2”; for Janis Joplin

I was thinking how when I lose a loved one, the one tribute “song” I fall back on to read at the services is the most powerful grieving piece I know: “Funeral Blues”, by W.H. Auden.

But there are so many more dedicated love and loss pieces one might read, listen to, use to pay tribute, or use to get through the healing process.

Leonard Cohen “Chelsea Hotel” on The Essential Leonard Cohen–a cheeky renaissance song for Janis Joplin

Eric Clapton “Son & Sylvia,” on Reptile—a song for his departed uncle; and “Tears in Heaven,” on –as a response to the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who died after falling from an open window. Or…, another argument holds that Clapton wrote it about his mother, while yet another…. Whatever. The song is evocative.

L.A. Guns “Ballad of Jayne,” on A Night on the Strip—written about and in tribute to 50s pin-up girl and silver screen star Jayne Mansfield

Elton John “Candle in the Wind,” on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road—written for Marilyn Monroe and later re-dedicated as “Goodbye English Rose” to Princess Diana

Notorious B.I.G. “Miss You,” on Life After Death—a song dedicated to a “lost friend”

Diana Ross “Missing You”–a striking and evocative song for Marvin Gaye

Puff Daddy, Faith Evans, and featuring 112 “I’ll be Missing You,” on No Way Out—written and performed for legendary rapper Notorious B.I.G., who was gunned down in 1997 [and whose murderer has still not been identified]

Guns ‘n Roses “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”—while not written by Guns ‘n Roses [written by Bob Dylan], became a moving tribute song for Freddie Mercury, Oueen frontman who died of AIDS. [Guns n’ Roses performed the song when they played the Wembley Stadium in London. You can see and hear the complete song performance at Kewego
http://www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoaftMQH.html
Mike and the Mechanics “The Living Years”—not written for anyone in particular, but performed at the funeral of the legendary Jerry Garcia [The Grateful Dead]

Cream “Crossroad Blues” done by several bands since, the song is interpreted in various ways—as an allusion to original author Robert Johnson’s “selling his soul to the devil”, as Wikipedia cites it; and as reference to an African-American speaker who is expressing fears of being caught at the crossroads and lynched.

Vince Gill “Go Rest High on that Mountain;” on Vince Gill: When Love Finds You—not sure who the song was written for in particular, but from what I read around the net, it is played at funerals all around the country [if not the world].

Beverly Mitchell “Angels” wrote the song for a friend who had died when Mitchell was young. [This is all hearsay, though, so any updates would be appreciated.]

Sarah McLachlan “In the Arms of an Angel” –written, reportedly, for Jimmy Chamberlain, Smashing Pumpkins drummer who died of a heroin overdose in 1996.

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