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When you put together a list of songs about being lonely and alone, you quickly realize those feelings spill over into the bigger emotions, too, the depression, the sadness, and the sorrow. That opens the door to an enormous pool of music, hundreds of thousands of songs where anguish, pain, and suffering sit right at the center. Now, of course, when I think about songs like this, my mind goes straight to the big ones, the famous tearjerkers about being alone, like Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” or Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself.” But since everybody already knows those, why bother putting them on the list? I’d rather dig a little deeper and shine a light on songs that aren’t as obvious, the ones you might not think of the first time the subject comes up. So there is a real mix here. You’ll find some popular ones, but you’ll also find some deep cuts. We feel that it’s the most entertaining way to do stuff like this.
Top 20 Songs About Being Lonely And Alone
# 20 – Tea For One – Led Zeppelin
We open up our list with one of our favorite tracks from the Led Zeppelin album Presence. This is the way to make a very creative statement about being alone.
# 19 – Solitude – Black Sabbath
This one, written by Geezer Butler, the band’s bass player, basically lays it on the line, pretty much assuming that after this really hard breakup, there is nothing left to live for. And that feeling has left him completely alone.
# 18 – Alone Again….. – Love
I love the cover version that UFO did of this classic song by Love. But I thought it would be more appropriate to showcase Arthur Lee’s original.
# 17 – My Lonely Sad Eyes – Maria McKee
Well, speaking of Love, we now turn to the sensational Maria McKee, the half-sister of Bryan MacLean, who was the band Love’s guitarist.
# 16 – Martha – Tom Waits
This is an old story that many people have gone through, calling up an ex on the phone late at night, hoping somehow to get back together. You can hear the desperation and the sadness, and above all, the loneliness in Tom Waits voice.
# 15 – Lonely Boy – Andrew Gold
It’s so interesting how a song that sounds so happy musically is all about the sadness of being young and alone.
# 14 – Loneliness – Grand Funk Railroad
Mark Farner sings about the loneliness that one feels during a time of War, and how Vietnam seemed to make no sense, leaving everybody feeling isolated.
# 13 – A Lifetime of Loneliness – Jackie Deshannon
A common theme we see in many songs about loneliness is the fear of being lonely for the rest of one’s life. Jackie DeShannon breaks your heart as she sings this beautiful and sad song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
# 12 – Lonely Avenue – Van Morrison
It’s amazing how Van Morrison just makes singing sound so easy to do, yet he’s always in perfect pitch, and his groove is just undeniable. He covers the famous Doc Pomus song on his 1993 album, Too Long In Exile.
# 11 -We All Have To Be Alone – Carole King
Just the title alone on this one is difficult to listen to. Do we really all have to be alone? Well, on her follow-up album to Tapestry, entitled Thoroughbred, Carole King seems to make that point.
# 10 – Something In The Night – Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen is searching for something in the middle of the night, driving that car down the Highway called loneliness. The music, the lyrics, and a harrowing vocal performance make this legendary track from the Darkness on the Edge of Town album hard to ignore.
# 9 – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely – The Main Ingredient
The Main Ingredient put forth a pretty strong argument against being left alone in this classic soulful track released in 1974.
# 8 – Loneliest Soul – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Now this one is dark. Listen to those background vocals that seem to haunt Grace throughout the entire song. She actually says she wants to be alone in this song, but does she really mean it?
# 7 – Loneliness Is Just A Word – Chicago
Ladies and gentlemen, the late Terry Kath. What a talent he was.
# 6 – I’m Cryin’ – Stevie Ray Vaughan
Even though Stevie Ray Vaughan opens up the song with the line that he’s so lonely, so blue, and crying, it’s his guitar that really does the crying. I’ve never heard anybody make a guitar cry as Stevie Ray Vaughan did.
# 5 – Living Inside Myself – Gino Vannelli
I was glad when Gino Vannelli had some pop success on the charts in the late seventies. This man could sing, and a lot of people didn’t realize just how progressive his earlier stuff was. Is there no better way of talking about loneliness than by singing the words “living inside myself”?
# 4 – All I Want – Joni Mitchell
We probably should put the entire Blue album on this list.
# 3 – One – Three Dog Night
One is the loneliest number. You can’t say it better than that. Three Dog Night had a huge hit with this Harry Nilsson song.
# 2 – Someone to Lay Down Beside Me – Linda Ronstadt
When Linda sings, she wants someone to lie down beside her; you wonder how she could actually even have a problem with that. Her recording of the Karla Bonoff song was released on the Hasten Down The Wind album. This one is not to be missed
# 1 – Lonesome Loser – The Little River Band
We close out this list with this classic by The Little River Band. Despite just how much trouble the character in this song is having finding love and being lonely, he never gives up, and that’s how we want to close it out, with a touch of hope for all those out there who are lonely and alone.
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