Music about the death of a Family Member or Friend

[Satchmo Distel]

My favourite artist Vini Reilly wrote many pieces about the passing of his mother. For example:

Plus 'The Missing Boy' on Ian Curtis and a whole album for Tony Wilson.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Tonight's the Night, Neil Young

[WOM]

Tears In Heaven by racist cocaine afficianado Eric Clapton is about the death of his infant son.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Tears In Heaven by racist cocaine afficianado Eric Clapton is about the death of his infant son.

Eric was more of a heroin man.

[Gangster Octopus]

There's Elton John's Song For Guy.

[Jah Womble]

In a sort of 'reversal' of the opening example, Happy Mondays wrote Cowboy Dave - from their Yes, Please! album - in memory of Dave Rowbotham, the former Durutti Column guitarist murdered at his home in late 1991.

Death Disco (1979) was supposedly written for his dying mother by PiL's John Lydon.

For a Friend (1988) by The Communards was written by Jimi Somerville, well, 'for a friend' - in this case, late gay activist Mark Ashton, an early victim of HIV.

[E10 Rifle]

Billy Bragg's best ever song

[hobbes]

Cut Here by The Cure is a tribute to Billy Mackenzie of the Associates.
It's also a sort of apology\mea culpa from Smith about not spending the time with his friend when he should have.
(It's not one of Bob's strongest tunes, if I'm honest.)

[Ray de Galles]

'Friend of Ours' by Elbow is about the death of their fellow Mancunian musician Bryan Glancy. The title of the album it's from 'The Seldom Seen Kid' was a nickname of his and I think there are other oblique references to him through it.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Vapor Trails was the first Rush album released after a period where Neil Peart lost his 19 year old daughter in a car accident, and his wife to cancer 10 months later.

Whilst none of the songs seem to be explicitly about their deaths, the entire record is shot through with references to loss, grieving and pain; most obviously on Secret Touch:

The way out
Is the way in
The way out
Is the way in…

Out of touch
With the weather and the wind direction
With the sunrise
And the phases of the moon
Out of touch
With life in the land of the loving
With the living night
And the darkness at high noon

You can never break the chain
There is never love without pain
A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart

Out of sync
With the rhythm of my own reactions
With the things that last
And the things that come apart
Out of sync
With love in the land of the living
A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart

A healing hand, a secret touch on the heart

There is never love without pain
Life is a power that remains

I never really reckoned much to it when it was first released, but it's developed over time into a record I return to time and again.

[Jah Womble]

Sister - the final Top Ten hit for peroxide-bothering twins Bros - was about their younger sister Carolyn, who'd been killed by a drunk driver in early 1988.

[delicatemoth]

Jane Siberry's 'The Vigil (The Sea)' from her When I Was A Boy album is a beautiful and devastating piece on the death of her father.

Although the song seems to be about romance, The Fall's 'Bill Is Dead' is titled for the death of MES' father.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Come Dancing by the Kinks is about the Sister who bought ray davies his first guitar, and who lived as full a life as the hole in her heart would allow.

Let me in From Monster is about kurt cobain and river phoenix.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Three immediately come to mind.

Needle of Death — Bert Jansch
Written for friend and fellow folkie Buck Polly.

Terry's Song — Bruce Springsteen
For his long-time friend and personal assistant 'Terry' McGovern.

The Needle and the Damage Done — Neil Young
Allegedly for Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse and Bruce Berry, Young's roadie.

[Cal Alamein]

Dagenham Dave - The Stanglers

[Gerontophile]

The Killing of Georgie - Rod Stewart.

Possibly, his finest (although I love a lot of his Faces stuff).

* And I don't know (nor care much) if it's true or not.

** And of course, it could go on the "...whistling" thread.

[MrLeam]

Very possibly the best hip-hop track ever...

[hobbes]

There are shit loads of hip hop ones of these, aren't there? There are about 30 just about Tupac.
Plus of course, Puff Daddy and Faith Hill's "Missing You" about Biggie.

[Jah Womble]

You'd think Puffy could at least have come up with an original tune for his dead buddy. (Well, actually you probably wouldn't...)

Elton John's Empty Garden was of course written for his late pal, John Lennon. He also re-wrote one of his old standards for another dead friend who was some kind of princess or other.

(I guess that if we get into the territory of 'famous' friends, however, it's going to become a little skewed.)

[wittoner]

You could argue that the whole of the "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" LP is, on some level, about the loss of Lennon's mother and his substitution of Yoko for her, the tracks "Mother" and "My Mummy's Dead" which bookend the record just being the most explicit examples.

[MrLeam]

There are shit loads of hip hop ones of these, aren't there? There are about 30 just about Tupac.

Yep, but they'll be completely fucking redundant when he makes his long-awaited return from Cuba...

[Jah Womble]

But will that be the 'real' Tupac, or another hologram?

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Jesus To A Child was about George Michael's partner Anselmo Feleppa

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Solid Air was written about Nick Drake, I believe

[Satchmo Distel]

You could argue that the whole of the "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" LP is, on some level, about the loss of Lennon's mother and his substitution of Yoko for her, the tracks "Mother" and "My Mummy's Dead" which bookend the record just being the most explicit examples.

Julia (Lennon) and Let It Be (McCartney) in the Beatles canon. Their bond was partly based on losing their mothers at a young age.

Here Today by McCartney about Lennon