Songs that discourage suicide....

Cafe Society
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Many years ago I attempted suicide - and I’ve only tried once.

I was in the process of gassing myself using my car’s exhaust fumes. I put on the radio to help the time pass quicker. I heard two songs. One was “Gamble Everything For Love”

I also heard “You Get What You Give”

I decided not to go through with it…

It is very unlikely that I’d hear two of the most appropriate/meaningful songs I can think of. Especially the song “you only get what you give”. I guess there could have been many people in my situation except I was just the lucky one that heard the right songs and ended up alive.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16029691&postcount=69
Richard Pearse replied:

In order to investigate how likely that situation was I’ve started a new thread…

Here are lists of popular songs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_considered_the_best

I don’t think many of them would include some lyrics that discourage suicide… maybe 10% or less? If so, then two songs in a row is 10% of 10% which is 1%.

I’ve tried thinking of any song that discourages suicide.

BTW in my case I didn’t care what other’s thought, I was tired of trying to change my life, I just wanted to give up. It was only years later that I had my first two kisses (at a party with an engaged woman - her idea). It was only a year after that that I romantically hugged/held hands with a girl (who later became my wife).

“Gamble Everything For Love” seemed to be challenging me to take a chance - using love - and somehow things would turn out alright.

“You Get What You Give” reminded me that I hadn’t offered the world much. I was scared to step out of my comfort zone. The song repeated says to keep trying and “You’ve got a reason to live”. Most of the rest of the song has fairly meaningless lyrics though.

I thought that maybe Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All” might fit… “Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all”. But when I was suicidal I might have thought that if I was self-centered (not the same as self-love though) I’d want to end my suffering as soon as possible…

So anyway are there any other popular songs that might qualify? I think it might be less than 10% of all songs… but that still would mean thousands of songs. I suspect there aren’t that many songs.

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BTW this is in particular about songs heard on the radio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_considered_the_best#Radio_airtime

Five songs have received more than 7 million plays over the radio.

“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” – The Righteous Brothers

“Never My Love” – The Association

Sounds like infatuation (which I’ve had with various girls)

“Yesterday” – The Beatles

“Stand by Me” – Ben E. King

Well I was alone in the girlfriend department so that song would make me feel bad.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” – Otis Redding

The 5 most popular radio songs wouldn’t have discouraged suicide in me…

3

First: I’m glad you’re still around.
I don’t think this song ever got much radio play . . . and I don’t know that it would have saved your life had you heard it at that moment, but the first song that came to mind seeing the Thread title was:
Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It)

Might this do better in Cafe Society?

4

“Don’t Try Suicide” by Queen (The Game album)

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“You Only Get What You Give” is a good one, but there are so many! Here’s a few:

Stuck in a Moment - U2

Everybody Hurts - REM

Fix You - Coldplay

Second Wind - Billy Joel

Hide in your Shell - Supertramp

Wild Horses - Rolling Stones

Lovely Day, Lean On Me - Bill Withers

Love is the Answer - Todd Rundgren

I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

I’m Still Standing - Elton John

Look a Little on the Sunny Side - The Kinks

That’s Life - Frank Sinatra

Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) - Kelly Clarkson

Feeling Stronger Every Day - Chicago

Dog Days Are Over - Florence & The Machine

Hold Your Head Up - Argent

I Just Want To Celebrate - Rare Earth

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles

6

Big Fun! :wink:
Heathers is one of my favorite movies.

7

Kind of related / hope it’s not too much of a hijack:

I have a CD by the metal band Wolfsbane (Down Fall The Good Guys) and in the cover notes it states “There are no hidden or subliminal messages on this disk. Don’t do suicide, do life. It’s mega even when it hurts.”

I put it on and read it once in a while when I’m tempted to play sad songs.

8

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip have a song on the album Angles called Magician’s Assistant which is anti-suicide. The song is performed in a mocking tone so don’t take the lyrics at face value without hearing the performance.

Lyrics: Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip - The Magician's Assistant Lyrics | SongMeanings
Song: dan le sac vs scroobius pip - Magicians Assistant - Angels - YouTube

9

Back in the late '80’s (I think) I heard a song on the radio a couple of times that spoke against suicide. When I say “spoke,” I mean that literally: it was more like a monologue backed by music, in a style similar to “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).” The speaker was rattling off a list of reasons not to commit suicide, and it was geared toward young teens.

Anybody know the name of it?

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Traffic’s (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired

Not sure how much play it got though.

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In The Middle - Jimmy Eat World

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I think their “Just Keep Passing the Open Windows” also qualifies.

The other first ones I thought of have already been mentioned: Don Dixon’s “Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It)” and Billy Joel’s “Second Wind.”

Not all the songs on camille’s list as explicitly about/against suicide, even if they’re positive and life-affirming.

The Christian song “Friend In You,” by Stevie Wonder-soundalike Jon Gibson, also springs to mind.

I don’t think the Kinks song “Life Goes On” really fits here, but I am still reminded of its lyric:

And I have myself been (perversely?) encouraged by their song “Misery”:

13

I was never suicidal but the line in that Traffic song of “There is no reason for not failing” was the one that really helped me out when I was way down on myself as a teen/young adult. Something about changing the bar to “not failing” just did it for me. That seemed realistic, while “everything will be wonderful tomorrow” kind of thoughts fell flat.

14

That is a good one!

Another one:

311 - Beyond the Grey Sky

And, I can’t believe Jumper - Third Eye Blind hasn’t been mentioned yet!

15

Don Henley’s “New York Minute” is a very dark song that comes into the light at the end.

A bit obscure, but David Benoit has a vocal piece on the “Urban Daydreams” album, sung by Jennifer Warnes, that is about as powerful a “talk you down” song as I’ve ever heard. “When the Winter’s Gone” is the title. ETA: Formal title is “Song for a Stranger.” I have my issues with Jennifer Warnes, but apart from one fillip she does a beautiful job with this song.

16

Streetlight Manifesto’s “A Better Place, A Better Time” is a giant anti-suicide song. A 6.5 minute one, in fact

In the middle verse they also capture some of the frantic feelings involved:

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Jumper is the first one I thought of. I credit that song with keeping me from a suicide attempt.

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Alice Cooper
Hey Stoopid

19

I suppose the Peter Gabriel song “Don’t Give Up” could be interpreted as discouraging suicide.

20

I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned “Try” by Pink – it’s about not giving up on love, but could also be about not giving up on life:

Where there is desire there is gonna be a flame
Where there is a flame someone’s bound to get burned
But just because it burns doesn’t mean you’re gonna die
You’ve gotta get up and try try try

Also, I always thought of “Hey Jude” as uplifting.