It’s no wonder there are so many songs about being alone. Loneliness comes in many forms. Sometimes you’re lonely because someone you love has left you, other times the loneliness comes from not having anyone to love at all. There’s the actual real physical lonely of being the only one in a room, on a beach, in a house, in your car on a long empty stretch of highway.
Then there’s the loneliness of a Friday night with nothing to do and nowhere to go, or of nobody to call when you have something you want to say. There are the times when you’re surrounded by people, in a big city or a crowded room and you feel lonely because nobody’s there with you (Well, not really anyway, not in the way that counts.)
You can be lonely in a relationship, when the person you’re with is there physically but distant somehow. There’s the loneliness of being the only one to think or feel a certain way. The loneliness of having lost something or someone you were once close to. You can be lonely in the world―someone separate, solitary, and isolated from your fellow travelers. There’s road-weary lonely, stuck-at-home lonely, lonely and surrounded by strangers, lonely because you want to be, and lonely because you don’t know any other way to be.
Many would say that being lonely is part of the human condition. Perhaps that’s why so many artists and musicians have used it as the topic of some of their greatest works. From classic blues tunes by Memphis Slim or Eric Clapton to country songs from Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, and Patsy Cline, this playlist features some of the best lonely songs from a variety of eras and genres of music.
If you’re looking for songs about being alone, take a break from your own solitude to explore some of the songs from people who have felt a similar way and had something to say about it.
Songs About Being Alone: The Playlist
- Only the Lonely, Roy Orbison
- Lonesome, On’ry and Mean, Waylon Jennings
- Dreams, Fleetwood MacHe Called Me Baby, Candi Staton
- Lonely Avenue, Ray Charles
- How to Fight Loneliness, Wilco
- All Is Loneliness, Janis Joplin
- When Lonely Hits Your Heart, Loretta Lynn
- King of Pain, The Police
- Eleanor Rigby, The Beatles
- Lonely Teardrops, Jackie Wilson
- Lonesome, Dr. Dog
- Lonely People, America
- Gale Song, The Lumineers
- So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hank Williams
- So Far Away, Carole King
- Tired of Being Alone, Al Green
- Lonely, Emeli Sande
- Lonely Stranger, Eric Clapton
- Lonely Street, Patsy Cline
- Too Lonely, Neil Young
- Another Saturday Night, Sam Cooke
- Lonely Town, Lonely Street, Bill Withers
- I’ve Been Lonely Too Long, The Young Rascals
- All I Want, Joni Mitchell
- Goddamn Lonely Love, Drive-By Truckers
- What’s Good, Lou Reed
- Lonesome Dreams, Lord Huron
- Wake Up Alone, Amy Winehouse
- Lonesome Day, Bruce Springsteen
- Solitary Man, Neil Diamond
- Lonesome Tears, Beck
- I Get Lonely, Janet Jackson
- Lonesome, Memphis Slim
- The Lonesome Song, Jamey Johnson
- Are You Lonesome Tonight, Elvis Presley
- Blue and Lonesome, The Rolling Stones
- Shape of My Heart, Noah and the Whale
- Empty Chairs, Don McLean
- Whiskey Drink, The Lonesome Trio
- So Doggone Lonesome, Johnny Cash
- I Get Lonesome, Beck
- All Alone, Gorillaz
- Alone Again (Naturally), Gilbert O’Sullivan
- Solitude, Billie Holiday
- The Only Living Boy in New York, Simon & Garfunkel
- Another Lonely Song, Tammy Wynette
- Better Off Alone, Steve Earle
- Lonely Hearts, The Kinks
- The Long and Winding Road, The Beatles
- It’s Only a Paper Moon, Ella Fitzgerald
- Sleeping Single in a Double Bed, Barbara Mandrell
- Tea for One, Led Zeppelin
- Space Oddity, David Bowie
- Girl from North County, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
- When Will I Be Loved, The Everly Brothers
- People Are Strange, The Doors
- Isolation, John Lennon
- Under the Bridge, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- The Loner, Neil Young
- Lonely Boy, Paul Anka
- You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You, Dean Martin
- Lonesome Feelings, Bob Marley and the Wailers
- One, Three Dog Night
- Blue Bayou, Linda Ronstadt
- Drive, The Cars
- The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths
- i’Loneliness, Annie Lennox
- I Aint Got Nobody, Bessie Smith
- I Better Be Quiet Now, Eliot Smith
- I’ll Never Love, Micheal Kiwanuka
- It Makes No Difference, The Band
- Left Alone, Fiona Apple
- Out of Touch, Hall & Oates
- She Don’t Love You, Eric Paslay
- Single Women, Dolly Parton
- Solo, Frank Ocean
- Stealin’, Uriah Heep
- Lonely Old Lies, Neko Case
- The Road, Jackson Browne
- Tonight I Think I’m Going to Go Downtown, The Flatliners
- Hello In There, John Prine
- Traveling Light, Leonard Cohen
- Turn the Page, Bob Seeger
- Hungry Ghost, Hurray for the Riff Raff
- Voices, Ryan Adams
- 4 Seasons of Loneliness, Boys II Men
- Wherever I May Roam, Metallica
- Sad Memory, Buffalo Springfield
- This Empty Place, The Searchers
- Wild and Lonesome, Shooter Jennings
- Winter Winds, Mumford and Sons
- The Lonely One, Nat King Cole
- Lonely Days, The Beach Boys
- Saturday Night (Is the Loneliness Night of the Week), Frank Sinatra
- Desperado, The Eagles
- Lonely, Akon
- Glass, Concrete, and Stone, David Byrne
- I Need My Girl, The National
- Gnossienne No. 1, Erik Satie
- Sad Songs and Waltzes, Willie Nelson
- Wild Indifference, Joan Shelley
- Lonely Weekends, Charlie Rich
- A Woman Left Lonely, Janis Joplin
- Better Days, Graham Nash
Hopefully one of these songs about being alone helps to ease the hardship. Hang in there – it gets easier!