Recovery Music

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1. “It’s Been Awhile” by Staind

Recovery has been a long road for the narrator in this 2001 rock song. He’s finally calling an old love whom he hurt with his addiction. He apologizes and explains that it’s been awhile since drugs didn’t control his life. It feels good to be clean again.

Best recovery lyrics:

And it’s been awhile since I can say that I wasn’t addicted
And it’s been awhile since I can say I love myself as well.

2. “Young Homie” by Chris Rene

Alcohol and drugs used to plague the guy in this 2012 song, but now he blisses out on being clean and sober. He wants other young people to know that life’s too short for addiction.

Best sobriety and recovery lyrics:

And I got the recipe, I don’t need no Hennessey,
Yeah, it’s been nine months now,
Haven’t had a drink and I’m starting to see clear now,
I’m putting all my fears down,
I can hear the cheers now,
Seeing peace signs when I look around.

According to The National Institute of Health, “Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her.” | Source

Share your story of addiction and recovery in the Comments Section below.

How long did you abuse alcohol/drugs? How did you realize you had a problem? What was the impact on your life and the lives of others? What motivates you during recovery? Any advice you’d offer others?

3. “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse

One of Rolling Stone’s “Greatest Songs of All Time,” this 2006 Motown-influenced hit is about the denial of addiction. The narrator insists that her problem isn’t all that bad — that she drinks because she fears a break-up with her soulmate.

She insists she doesn’t have the time for rehab, and there’s nothing new she can learn there. The autobiographically-inspired song was written after the singer’s 15-minute stay in rehab which she attended simply so she could tell her record label that she went. Sadly, the extraordinarily talented Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the age of 27.

Best addiction and dependency lyrics:

The man said, “Why do you think you here?”

I said, “I got no idea”

“I’m gonna, I’m gonna lose my baby

So I always keep a bottle near.”

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard, American author | Source

Common Signs and Symptoms Of Addiction

Sudden changes in appearance (e.g., weight loss or gain, dilated pupils, unusual smells on the breath or clothes)	Poor grooming (e.g., unwashed clothes, unbathed, teeth not brushed)	Memory gaps – (e.g., unable to recall what happened the night before)
New health concerns (e.g., headaches, excessive sniffing or runny nose, tremors, seizures, lack of coordination)	Lack of interest in sleeping or eating	Loss of interest in social activities that used to be enjoyable (e.g., school, hobbies, exercise)
Unexplainable paraonia or confusion	Unexplained need for money – may borrow or steal to get it	Personality changes – mood and attitude may reflect more irritability and anger
Missing work, school, or important engagements; having problems with work/school	Hyperactivity or underactive	Friendship groups may change – long time friends may be replaced by new ones, new activies and hangouts
Increased secrecy, demands for privacy, and defensiveness	Legal problems/involvement in criminal activity	Poorer stress coping

Each individual and situation is different. Seek professional advice if you suspect someone you love is substance addicted.

4. “Amazing” by Aerosmith

This 1993 power ballad describes the desperation of a life of pain, drugs, and sin. The narrator finally hit bottom, and when he got help, he was amazed at how his life turned around.

Best recovery lyrics:

It’s amazing
With the blink of an eye, I finally saw the light
It’s amazing
That when the moment arrives, you know you’ll be alright.

5. “High Cost of Living” by Jamey Johnson

From the inside of a prison cell, the guy in this 2008 country song is remorseful about his choices. He had a sweet wife who doubled as a best friend, a job, and he owned property.

However, he was running with the wrong crowd and traded the security of his life for “cocaine and a whore” when the police nabbed him in a local motel. From behind bars, he’s gained new appreciation and perspective.

Best lyrics about dependency:

I tell you the high cost of livin’
Ain’t nothing like the cost of livin’ high.

6. “Whiskey Lullaby” by Brad Paisley (featuring Allison Krauss)

This beautiful and tragic country ballad from 2003 tells the story of a broken romance that ultimately claimed two lives. After the woman he loved rejected him, the man spent years trying to drink her off his mind until one night he died by alcohol poisoning. Brokenhearted, she then repeated his self-destructive act.

Best addiction lyrics:

He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Life is short, but this time it was bigger
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees,

Addiction has a major impact on family members. The addict may lie and steal from them, break promises, not come home at night, get fired from work, and engage in behaviors they wouldn’t do if they were clean. Addiction breaks trust. | Source

7. “The A Team” by Ed Sheeran

After songwriter Ed Sheeran visited a homeless shelter and listened to others’ life stories, he wrote this 2011 song about a heroin-addicted prostitute. The woman has been on the streets since she was 18. Both her body and her soul have been hollowed out by the horrors of drug addiction and life on the mean streets.

8. “Dark Times” by The Weeknd (featuring Ed Sheeran)

The narrator in this 2015 song is on drugs and has another man’s blood on his clothes. He lives a fast-paced, dangerous and unpredictable life, and issues a warning to the woman he’s with: She should not fall in love with him. (That always works, right?)

Best addiction lyrics:

In my dark times I’ll be going back to the street
Promising everything I do not mean
In my dark times, baby this is all I could be
Don’t think my mother could love me for me
In my dark times, in my dark times.

” … Avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.” – Charlotte Brontë, American writer | Source

9. “Fallen” by Sarah McLachlan

The narrator in this Grammy-nominated 2004 song acknowledges that she’s made some big mistakes. She got caught up in the wrong crowd and she admits she has messed up.

Ironically, then those same friends rejected her, embarrased of what she had become. As she fights her way back, she seeks hope and redemption, not blame.

Best recovery lyrics:

I’ve messed up
Better I should know
Don’t come ’round here and
Tell me “I told you so.”

10. “It Ain’t the Whiskey” by Gary Allan

With last night on his breath, the narrator in this 2013 country song stands up in an AA meeting and tells the group that it’s not the whiskey, the cigarettes, or the the stuff he smokes that is killing him. Instead, he claims, it’s the memories of the woman who left him and the hole that is left in his heart. He’s tried in vain to fill it with addictions, topped with a double heap of denial.

11.”Sober” by Kelly Clarkson

In this 2007 song, the American Idol depicts a woman who has been sober for three months, having plucked the negative people and influences out of her life in order to focus on her well-being. The narrator is not comparing or second guessing herself. She feels fortunate to be taking one day at a time.

Clarkson herself is not alcoholic. Instead, she used alcoholism as a metaphor for the addictions each person faces.

Best sobriety lyrics:

Three months and I’m still sober
Picked all my weeds but kept the flowers
But I know it’s never really over.

12. “The More I Drink” by Blake Shelton

In this 2007 country song, a bunch of guys are sitting in a bar and they notice one of their own is enjoying a regular Coke. They begin to tease him, asking him why he won’t have a few drinks with them? (What is wrong with them? But also, what’s he doing in a bar?)

The guy explains that he cannot help himself; he doesn’t stop at just one. One drink leads to 13, he explains, as well as to a lot of other unwanted behavior.

13. “Just As I Am” by Brantley Gilbert

The alcoholic narrator in this 2014 country song has found his bottom, so he takes his bottle of bourbon to the church and pours it out as an offering to God. Tired of living this way, he asks for divine help to become the man he can be and to face the world without the crutch of alcohol.

14. “Your Glass House” by Atmosphere

This 2008 hip hop song describes the morning after the party, when a woman once again wakes up alone. She is half-clothed in a strange house, wondering what she did last night and who she upset this time. Through the shame, she’s throwing up, ignoring her phone, and trying to compose herself to call in sick to work.

15. “Walk A Little Straighter, Daddy” by Billy Cunningham

Told from the perspective of the son of an alcoholic, this 2003 song is a touching reminder that the children of an alcoholic are impacted tremendously by the disease. In the song, the young boy waits for his father to come home from work, but when he does, the man is drunk and passes out.

Years later, when graduating from high school, the teenager sees his drunk father leave the auditorium before he even receives his diploma. The son vows never to put his own children through the trauma of what he experienced growing up as the child of an alcoholic.

16. “Jane Says” by Jane’s Addiction

This catchy 1987 rock song was written about an actual young woman named Jane who shared a house in Hollywood with a group of struggling musicians. She came from a well-to-do family, had a heroin habit and an abusive drug dealer boyfriend.

As referred to in the song, she often talked about saving money to go to Europe. When she got angry, she’d take a swipe at one of her 12 or so other housemates. When the tv or other items came up missing in the house, the roommates would blame it on “Jane’s addiction,” thus they named their group after her. The real Jane finally kicked her habit years later.

In predicting addiction, how fast and how often drugs get to the brain can be more important than how much. Smoking, injecting, snorting or ingesting a drug directly affects how fast it gets to the brain. | Source

17. “Slow Suicide” by Scott Stapp

The narrator in this 2006 song sees drugs, booze, and toxic relationships for what they truly are: a form of slow suicide. Having previously suffered by his own hand, he realizes that life is short and precious, and he refuses to engage in self-destruction.

Best sobriety and recovery lyrics:

I can’t let this life pass me by
In a blink of an eye it ends
I can’t let my tomorrows decide
What I am in this life
It’s like committing slow suicide.

18. “Life is Beautiful” by Sixx AM

There’s a powerful message behind this 2007 song: You can change your self-destructive ways rather than seeking experiences like drugs that will put you in a coffin before your time. Don’t wait until it’s too late to learn how to live.

Best sobriety and recovery lyrics:

Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful.

Call 1-800-662-Help (4357)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) operates a National Helpline for individuals and families facing substance use and/or mental health disorders. It is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service, available in English and Spanish.

Binge drinking is the most common form of excessive drinking. It involves the consumption of 4 or more drinks during a single occasion for women or 5 or more drinks during a single occasion for men. | Source

19. “Dope” by Lady Gaga

For all her weirdness, Lady Gaga actually has an impressive voice, and this 2013 love ballad demonstrates it. The protagonist tells her lover “I need you more than dope” and begs them not to leave because her heart would break and she might not wake up.

Best addiction lyrics:

Each day, I cry
Oh, I feel so low from living high.

“No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.” – George Chakiris, American dancer | Source

20. “Gravity” by A Perfect Circle

Feeling lost, broken and weary from being bound by the chains of addiction, the narrator in this 2003 song feels vulnerable. Unable to quit alone, he’s asking for help with recovering from his habit.

Best recovery lyrics:

Catch me, heal me, lift me back up to the sun
I choose to live.

Heavy drinking involves the consumption of 8 or more drinks per week for women or 15 or more drinks per week for men. | Source

Even More Songs About Addiction, Dependency, Sobriety & Recovery

Song	Artist	Year Released
21. Starting Over	Macklemore and Ryan Lewis	2011
22. An Old Friend of Mine	Joe Nichols	2009
23. Don’t Leave Home	Dido	2004

Song	Artist	Year Released
24. Animal That I Have Become	Three Days Grace	2006
25. Wise Up	JAimee Mann	2004
26. Man On The Rocks	Mike Oldfield	2014
27. Monkey	George Michael	1988
28. Running To Stand Still	U2	1987
29. The Last Fight	Bullet for My Valentine	2010
30. Medicine	Biffy Clyro	2016
31. Wine Into Water	T. Graham Brown	2004
32. Captain Jack	Billy Joel	1972
33. Powder Blue	Elbow	2001
34. Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette	Tex Williams	1947
35. One Day At A Time	Joe Walsh	2012
36. John Doe	B.o.B (featuring Priscilla)	2013
37. Check In	Lecrae	2011
38. What I Can’t Put Down	Jon Pardi	2014
39. That Smell	Lynyrd Skynyrd	1977
40. It Don’t Matter	40. It Don’t Matter	2001

Song	Artist	Year Released
41. Demons	Kenny Chesney	2007
42. My Deliverer	Mandisa	2009
43. Habit	Pearl Jamey	1996
44. Zombie	We As Human	2013
45. Hot Beer and Cold Women	Randy Houser	2016
46. Whiskey on My Breath	Love and Theft	2015
47. Sober	P!nk	2008
48. Drugs Or Jesus	Tim McGraw	2004
49. You Found Me	The Fray	2009
50. She Talks To Angels	The Black Crowes	1989
51. Oxycontin Blues	Steve Earle	2007
52. Save Me	Shinedown	2005
53. Little Rock	Collin Raye	1994
54. Changed	Rascal Flatts	2012
55. Recovery	James Arthur	2013
56. Song To Say Goodbye	Placebo	2006
57. Moonshiner	Uncle Tupelo	1992

Song	Artist	Year Released
58. Devil In a Bottle	Lynyrd Skynyrd	1994
59. Gin Bottle Blues	Lightnin’ Hopkins	1995
60. Waiting Around to Die	Townes Van Zandt	1969
61. The Needle and the Damage Done	Neil Young	1979
62. Sam Stone	John Prine	1971
63. Say It Ain’t So	Weezer	1994
64. The Moonshiner	Uncle Tupelo	1992
65. Bleeding Me	Metallica	1997
66. Girl with Golden Eyes	Sixx A.M.	2007
67. How Could You Leave Us?	NF	2016
68. Clean	clean	1989
69. Rusty Cage	Soundgarden	1991
70. Drug Dealer	Mackelmore (featuring Ariana DeBoo)	2016
71. Lithium	Nirvana	1991
72. Down a Hole	Alice in Chains	1992
73. Something to Remind You	Staind	2011
74. Hate Me	Blue October	2006

Song	Artist	Year Released
75. It Ain’t Me	Kygo and Selena Gomez	2017
76. Drinkin’ Problem	Midland	2016
77. Wasted	Carrie Underwood	2007
78. That’s Why I’m Here	Kenny Chesney	1998
79. Heavy	Linkin Park	2017
80. Hurt	Johnny Cash	2002
81. Long Year	Todd Snider	2000
82. S.O.B.	Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats	2015
83. Stone Cold Sober	Brantley Gilbert	2015
84. Some People Change	Montgomery Gentry	2006
85. Flowers	Chris Young	2006
86. Cheap Whiskey	Martina McBride	1992
87. Nothing to Die For	Tim McGraw	2007
88. You’re Not My God	Keith Urban	2002
89. You Don’t Know Jack	Luke Bryan	2011
90. Drug Addiction	Colicchie	2017
91. Down Where the Drunkards Roll	Richard and Linda Thompson	1976

Song	Artist	Year Released
92. Needle of Death	Bert Jansch	1965
93. Save Me From Myself	Brian “Head” Welch	2008
94. Relapse	Anna Clendening	2016
95. Lost Love and Addiction	Hollohan	2012
96. Chris Dolmeth	Hopsin	2009
97. You Don’t Get Me High Anymore	2016	Three Days Grace
98. If I Drink This Beer	Nashville Cast (featuring Chris Carmack & Will Chase)	2015
99. Bottom of a Bottle	Smile Empty Soul	2003
100. The Needle Lies	Queensryche	2004
101. Drugs or Me	Jimmy Eat World	2004
102. The Drugs Don’t Work	The Verve	1997
103. Accidents Can Happen	Sixx:A.M.	2007
104. The Real You	Three Days Grace	2015
105. Painkiller	Three Days Grace	2015
106. Who I am Hates Who I’ve Been	Relient K	2004

Song	Artist	Year Released
107. Breaking the Habit	Linkin Park	2007
108. HELP	Papa Roach	2017
109. The Man I Was	Lucero	2015
110. Sober Saturday Night	Chris Young (featuring Vince Gill)	2016
111. Otherside	Macklemore (featuring Fences)	2010
112. Mansions	NF	2015
113. Don’t Wait for Me	Josh Garrels	2014
114. Another Empty Bottle	Katy McAllister	2012
115. Hey, You Got Drugs?	Tove Lo	2017
116. Old Friend	Hopsin	2013
117. Life by the Drop	Stevie Ray Vaughn	1991
118. I Surrender	Hillsong	1993
119. I Surrender	The Adverts	1979
120. Habits (Stay High)	Tove Lo	2014
121. Chandelier	Sia	2016
122. Against Me	Thrash Unreal	2007
123. Kevin	Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis (featuring Leon Bridges)	2016

Song	Artist	Year Released
124. Wine Colored Roses	George Jones	1986
125. Water in His Wine Glass	Maddie & Tae	2016
126. God of Wine	Third Eye Blind	1997
127. Heaven Was a Drink of Wine	Merle Haggard	1979
128. Deal with the Devil	Pop Evil	2013
129. Sober	Demi Lovato	2018
130. Runaway	Ed Sheeran	2014
131. Against My Better Judgment	¡Mayday!	2015
132. Bloodstream	The Chainsmokers	2017
133. Nutshell	Alice in Chains	1996
134. Under the Bridge	Red Hot Chili Peppers	1992
135. Miracle	Rise Against	2017
136. Sober	Tool	1993
137. Lights	Archive	2006

Got a suggestion for our Addiction & Recovery Playlist? Leave us a comment below in the Comment Section!