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Being away from the one you love can feel like an irreparable loss. Yet, it often appears as if nothing sparks joy and the hole in your heart remains empty. In dark moments, you might need a dose of emotional support to help you weather the storm and remember that you're not alone.
We’ve compiled a list of the 16 best songs about missing someone you love. Hopefully, they’ll remind you that you can still find comfort amidst the heartbreak.
Best Songs About Missing Someone You Love
1. I Miss You, Blink 182
via blink-182
“And as I stare, I counted the webs from all the spiders
Catching things and eating their insides
Like indecision to call you and hear your voice of treason
Will you come home and stop this pain tonight?”
This 2004 hit captures the tender yearning for your other half and the struggle of coming to terms with the end of a relationship. Time will pass and heal most wounds, but from time to time, the scars might start to itch. The bittersweet sting will make you recall the love you used to share. The memories are often painful, making you wonder how someone could abandon you so quickly. Even when you move on, you might still catch yourself longing for what've you lost.
2. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
via Pink Floyd
“How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found? The same old fears.”
Pink Floyd dedicated this iconic track to ex band-member Syd Barret after he left the group to pursue other ventures. The song has since touched the hearts and minds of many people. We've all had to work through someone leaving us behind to follow their own path. As you experience life and become wiser, you realize that the highs and lows don't matter unless you have someone to share them with.
3. Goodbye My Lover, James Blunt
via James Blunt
“I am a dreamer and when I wake you can't break my spirit
It's my dreams you take
And as you move on, remember me
Remember us and all we used to be.”
Blunt's heartfelt track encapsulates the bitterness of understanding that life goes on, even as relationships fall apart. The hopes and dreams you invested in another person break down as you're forced to go your separate ways. Life can feel empty and purposeless, especially when you remember how everything felt right when the love was alive. Although there's nothing else you can do, you'll miss the good times you had together.
4. You Much, Janet Jackson
via Janet Jackson
“I'm rushing home
just as soon as I can.
I'm rushing home to see your smiling face and feel your warm embrace
It makes feel so g-g-good.”
I think we can all agree that distance makes the heart grow fonder. When you're in love, you long to spend as much time as possible with your partner. When you're apart, the longing can often be unbearable. Dealing with distance can strain most relationships but remembering that it's temporary makes it easier to bear. As you wait for the moment to arrive, you'll feel your loved one's affection and your head will become dizzy with happiness and joy.
5. I Can Dream About You, Hall & Oates
“In my dream we're still happy,
And you are still part of me
I can dream about you and when you’re in my mind's eye
You are a sweet memory.”
Missing someone can make you feel unbearably lonely. Often, the only way to alleviate the pain is by thinking about the happy times you shared. This underrated Hall & Oats song conveys the message that heartache doesn't have to carry only regret, pain, and disappointment. Instead, it can offer you an escape from loneliness. Thinking of the tender moments instead of bad events will help you appreciate love more.
6. So Far Away, Carole King
via Carole King
“Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
It would be so fine to see your face at my door
Doesn't help to know you're just time away.”
King's earnest exploration of how physical distance can test a relationship is a tune many can relate to. The time and space between partners looks endless and makes them dream about when they were together and carefree. As the song progresses, it touches upon the emotional distance that can imprison your mind. Spending time apart is challenging enough, but when you start feeling emotional isolation, you begin to question the foundations of your relationship.
7. Pictures of You, The Cure
via The Cure
“I've been looking so long at these pictures of you
That I almost believe that they're real
I've been living so long with my pictures of you that I almost believe
That the pictures are all I can feel.”
Our memories can become prisons, stopping us from experiencing life to the fullest and shunning all future happiness. Spending too much time reflecting on what might’ve been darkens our mood and encourages a pessimistic outlook on life.
The Cure’s dark track delves into how hard it is to break away from the past and make peace with a failed relationship. The more we cling on to painful memories, the more challenging it is to heal and move forward. Instead of being joyful reminders of past experiences, the pictures of someone you loved become a weight that’s difficult to bear.
8. Missing You, Steve Perry
via Steve Perry
“You gave much more than I did
I gave what I had to give
If I could you know I would
I'd make it up to you. Instead, I'm missing you.”
When things fall apart, we might regret our behavior towards another person. Loneliness teaches us how to appreciate their kindness and love, and we wish we could turn back time and make everything right. The poignant lyrics explore this theme and how missing someone makes you to examine your past actions. You often don’t realize how poorly you’ve treated someone until it’s too late.
9. Ain’t No Sunshine, Bill Withers
via Bill Withers
“Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
and she's always gone too long anytime she goes away.”
Wither’s soulful ballad likens happiness to the sun shining. His joy depends on the woman he cares for, and it blooms when the two of them are together. But when they are apart, he aches for her return so that he can feel whole again.
Our relationships can make us forget how to spend time alone. Being separated from our partner brings sadness and worry, and the absence of our partner feels too heavy to bear. When they return, it feels as though gentle sunshine is hitting our faces, dismissing the gloomy thoughts.
10. I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself, The White Stripes
“Planning everything for two,
doing everything with you.
And now that we're through,
I just don't know what to do.”
The White Stripes version of the popular Burt Bacharach song describes how the end of a romantic relationship can leave us feeling disorientated. There's comfort in knowing that no matter what happens, you'll always have someone to lean on. But when that security is shattered, you're left to pick up the pieces of your life and have to try and move on as best you can.
11. See You Sometime, Joni Mitchell
via Joni Mitchell
“Why do you have to be so jive?
O.K., hang up the phone
It hurts, but something survives, though it's undermined
I'd still like to see you sometime.”
Getting used to the end of a relationship is challenging. You're torn between rebuilding your life and being pulled back by the love you still feel. Mitchell's song chronicles this transitional period as she tries to move on while grappling with the lingering emotions. She experiences happiness with friends and can put on a brave face.
But she longs to hear her ex-partner’s voice to make her feel like everything is alright again. While she knows that the separation is for the best, there are still these pangs of longing that persist and make her restless. The relationship may be over, but the memories live on in her heart and will continue to haunt her until she fully heals.
12. Missing You, Green Day
via Green Day
“I searched the moon, I lost my head.
I even looked under the bed
I punched the walls, I hit the street
I'm pounding the pavement, looking … I'm missing you.”
Being left behind by a loved one leads to overwhelming emptiness in our lives. Whatever we do and wherever we go, there's a sense that reality has been thrown out of balance. Accustoming yourself to being alone is unsettling and makes you feel like you’re missing out on an incredible experience. The narrator of this track recalls how he tried to recapture the magic he felt when he was with his partner but to no avail.
13. How I Miss You, The Foo Fighters
via Foo Fighters
“Do you miss me like I miss you?
If you miss me never go away
Hopefully, you'll come stay someday.”
This rock track expresses the intensity of missing someone once the bond between you is broken. You can’t get the way things ended out of your head, and your emotions are as strong as ever. The memories of the relationship stop you from moving on, and you hope that the other person misses as much as you miss them. Sentiments which anyone who has love and lost before will surely relate to.
14. I Lost a Friend, FINNEAS
via FINNEAS
“I'll be lying awake,
Countin' all the mistakes I've made,
Replayin' fights
I know I'll be alright, but I'm not tonight.”
Losing a friendship can be just as painful as the breakdown of a romantic relationship. As the singer of the song reflects on how the connection got severed, he tries to pinpoint the moment it all went wrong. While he wishes that his friend was still a part of his life, he comes to understand his contribution to why they drifted apart. The memories still cause him to stumble, but he's hopeful that one day he’ll get over the loss and be alright again.
15. How Come You Don’t Call Me, Alicia Keys
via Alicia Keys
“I keep your picture beside my bed,
and I still remember everything you said.
I always thought our love was so right.
I guess I was wrong.”
Keys’ rendition of this Prince classic captures the frustration of missing someone who seems to have moved on too quickly. Making peace with the fact that the love is gone is challenging, especially when the other person appears completely unaffected. You wonder whether their heart was truly in it and keep waiting for a sign that the relationship you shared mattered to them too.
16. Unchained Melody, The Righteous Brothers
via Righteous Brothers – Topic
“And time goes by so slowly.
And time can do so much.
Are you still mine?”
This timeless track has touched the hearts of many listeners over the years. The lyrics deal with missing your loved one and anticipating the days when you'll be together again.
Time seems to slow down when you're away from your partner, and the days can't go fast enough. It feels as if fate has conspired to keep you separated from your other half. Doubt creeps in, and you wonder whether the other person is willing to wait it out and stay committed to your relationship. However, these worries fade away once the two of you are reunited and able to enjoy each other's company again.
Final Thoughts on Songs About Missing Someone You Love
Being away from someone and wishing you could see them again is a natural part of all relationships. Maybe you’ve just ended a relationship or fallen out with a friend. Regardless of the situation, we hope these 16 songs about missing someone you love will help you process the complicated emotions. Make sure you check out these tracks and click the links for a reminder that you're not going through this alone.
For more songs to cry or emote to when you're in a dramatic mood, here are other roundups:
Finally, if you want to use these songs to make a lasting change to your life, then check out these 100 LIFE GOALS that can help you wake up each morning with a sense of enthusiasm about making progress toward what's important..
