And, topping the list is Kill Yourself by S.O.D.
Can’t have a thread like this without a song from the never-explicitly-suicidal-but-damn-if-you-don’t-you-get-that-impression Elliott Smith. From the posthumously released King’s Crossing:
Given Elliott’s persistent struggle with drugs, I’ve always thought the skinny Santa was referring to one of those “needles on the tree”, and the rich white lady was one of his drugs of choice, heroin. Basically a self-destructive anthem that will culminate with a trip to the morgue (dead men talking to pretty nurses, instruments on a tray), and a final cry to not let himself do it.
In the end, he did it (stabbed himself twice, in the heart). 
Now I feel like an idiot. I had always been told the song was about suicide, and I have no freaking clue why. It’s just one of those things I accepted as a fact, and seems to be completely untrue.
Shakes my fist at forgotten guy in forgotten pub decades ago.
I seem to recall an article or interview that mentioned the song being about Idol’s sister. He was unhappy that she was getting married just because she was pregnant. Now that I think about it, it may have been Pop Up Video on VH1.
Anyway:
U2 - Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
Bloodhound Gang - Hold Your Head Up High (and Blow Your Brains Out)
Zeromancer - Doctor Online
Nirvana - You Know You’re Right
Guster “Rocketship”
*They’ll find it on the stairs
Politely placed in there
Been so unkind without a hint
A warning sign for them
Read my apology
Their hope of disbelief
But no denial changes things
No remedy ahead
I am not to be martyred
I am not to be worshipped
Did it not to be strong, strong, strong
Implicate no others in this crime
I’m off on a rocketship
Prepared for something new
I’m off on a rock-it-ship
Ecstatic with the view
I am scared for the things upcoming
And I want for the things I don’t have
Cannot stand to be one of many
I’m not what they are*
For subtly it’s hard to top “Raining Next Door” by Ringside
All the early stanzas about the neighbor say
and she says good night,
but I heard her through the walls, crying
there’s nothing I could do for the girl
'cause it’s always raining next door
but the last says
then she said, I’m expecting a call
it’s gonna be my man’s, I don’t wanna miss this one
I think he’s coming home, soon
and then she says goodbye,
but I heard her through the walls, crying
there’s nothing I could of done for the girl
cause it’s always raining
It takes a couple of listens to catch onto the change, but the implication that she killed herself is definitely in those slight changes.
Don’t give up the fight to stay alive and even if you have to
Find the reason of another’s pain if they lose you
If not for yourself then those around who care like I do
One day you’ll see the clear blue
Beyond the Gray Sky
Nick Hexum, singer/songwriter on the song:
Also, Pantera’s Suicide Note Part II. I have no idea what he’s saying but it fuckin’ rocks.
The Beatles, A Day In The Life
I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, i just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn’t notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They’d seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of lords
This must be the best. But, if I were doing it I would be playing this.
The Violent Femmes have a few good ones, Country Death Song and Kiss Off. Rocking music, awesome bass, and that batshit crazy force of nature that is Gordon Gano. Just listen to his voice! And his psychotic death stare! How can he not be totally insane?
That song’s a (bad, IMO) translation of Jacques Brel’s Le Moribund which is just about a dying man talking to his buddy.
Another great one is Disturbed’s “Into the Fire”. This link only shows the lyrics as it looks like the video has been pulled, but it’s easy enough to find on Youtube. Certainly not subtle, but it sure does rock (if you like that sort of thing). Apparently it’s based on a real life incident from the lead singer’s past. That may explain a few things about him.
Suicide is in there, but the song is about death in general.
Jim Carroll “People who died”
*
Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died*
Boston - “Hitch A Ride”
What, no love for The Monkees?
U2’s A Day Without Me, which happens to be one of the U2 songs I actually really like:
I’m starting a landslide in my ego
Look from the outside to the world I left behind
I’m dreaming, you’re awake
If I were sleeping, what’s at stake?
A day without me
A couple of weeks ago I was feeling a tad bit suicidal for the first time in 6 years (don’t worry, I’m over it), and I got pretty obsessed with Nirvana’s Milk It:
I am my own parasite
I don’t need a host to live
We feed off of each other
We can share our endorphins
Look on the bright side of suicide
Lost eyesight I’m on your side
Angel left wing, right wing, broken wing
Lack of iron and/or sleeping
No, not at all. I was hoping you *did *have the story behind this song as I can’t make heads or tails out of it.
Is Kiss Off about suicide? I thought maybe just drug abuse. “It would be bad to do it all the time.” I’m not a Femmes scholar, tho.
I do think their song Johnny is about suicide, tho. Singing to a friend who killed himself. I remember I was really into the Femmes when one of my friends’ friends killed himself. Very sad.
The Eels’ “Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor”, inspired by Mark O. Everett’s sister’s suicide.
Yes, it’s about his father who committed suicide.
The line is from “In the Line of Fire,” btw.