Lonely Songs: Over 100 Songs About Being Alone

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

1. Only the Lonely, Roy Orbison
2. Lonesome, On’ry and Mean, Waylon Jennings
3. Dreams, Fleetwood MacHe Called Me Baby, Candi Staton
4. Lonely Avenue, Ray Charles
5. How to Fight Loneliness, Wilco
6. All Is Loneliness, Janis Joplin
7. When Lonely Hits Your Heart, Loretta Lynn
8. King of Pain, The Police
9. Eleanor Rigby, The Beatles
10. Lonely Teardrops, Jackie Wilson
11. Lonesome, Dr. Dog
12. Lonely People,  America
13. Gale Song, The Lumineers
14. So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hank Williams
15. So Far Away, Carole King
16. Tired of Being Alone, Al Green
17. Lonely, Emeli Sande
18. Lonely Stranger, Eric Clapton
19. Lonely Street, Patsy Cline
20. Too Lonely, Neil Young
21. Another Saturday Night, Sam Cooke
22. Lonely Town, Lonely Street, Bill Withers
23. I’ve Been Lonely Too Long, The Young Rascals
24. All I Want, Joni Mitchell
25. Goddamn Lonely Love, Drive-By Truckers
26. What’s Good, Lou Reed
27. Lonesome Dreams, Lord Huron
28. Wake Up Alone, Amy Winehouse
29. Lonesome Day, Bruce Springsteen
30. Solitary Man, Neil Diamond
31. Lonesome Tears, Beck
32. I Get Lonely, Janet Jackson
33. Lonesome, Memphis Slim
34. The Lonesome Song, Jamey Johnson
35. Are You Lonesome Tonight, Elvis Presley
36. Blue and Lonesome, The Rolling Stones
37. Shape of My Heart, Noah and the Whale
38. Empty Chairs, Don McLean
39. Whiskey Drink, The Lonesome Trio
40. So Doggone Lonesome, Johnny Cash
41. I Get Lonesome, Beck
42. All Alone, Gorillaz
43. Alone Again (Naturally), Gilbert O’Sullivan
44. Solitude, Billie Holiday
45. The Only Living Boy in New York, Simon & Garfunkel
46. Another Lonely Song, Tammy Wynette
47. Better Off Alone, Steve Earle
48. Lonely Hearts, The Kinks
49. The Long and Winding Road, The Beatles
50. It’s Only a Paper Moon, Ella Fitzgerald
51. Sleeping Single in a Double Bed, Barbara Mandrell
52. Tea for One, Led Zeppelin
53. Space Oddity, David Bowie
54. Girl from North County, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
55. When Will I Be Loved, The Everly Brothers
56. People Are Strange, The Doors
57. Isolation, John Lennon
58. Under the Bridge, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
59. The Loner, Neil Young
60. Lonely Boy, Paul Anka
61. You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You, Dean Martin
62. Lonesome Feelings, Bob Marley and the Wailers
63. One, Three Dog Night
64. Blue Bayou, Linda Ronstadt
65. Drive, The Cars
66. The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths
67. i’Loneliness, Annie Lennox
68. I Aint Got Nobody, Bessie Smith
69. I Better Be Quiet Now, Eliot Smith
70. I’ll Never Love, Micheal Kiwanuka
71. It Makes No Difference, The Band
72. Left Alone, Fiona Apple
73. Out of Touch, Hall & Oates
74. She Don’t Love You, Eric Paslay
75. Single Women, Dolly Parton
76. Solo, Frank Ocean
77. Stealin’, Uriah Heep
78. Lonely Old Lies, Neko Case
79. The Road, Jackson Browne
80. Tonight I Think I’m Going to Go Downtown, The Flatliners
81. Hello In There, John Prine
82. Traveling Light, Leonard Cohen
83. Turn the Page, Bob Seeger
84. Hungry Ghost, Hurray for the Riff Raff
85. Voices, Ryan Adams
86. 4 Seasons of Loneliness, Boys II Men
87. Wherever I May Roam, Metallica
88. Sad Memory, Buffalo Springfield
89. This Empty Place, The Searchers
90. Wild and Lonesome, Shooter Jennings
91. Winter Winds, Mumford and Sons
92. The Lonely One, Nat King Cole
93. Lonely Days, The Beach Boys
94. Saturday Night (Is the Loneliness Night of the Week), Frank Sinatra
95. Desperado, The Eagles
96. Lonely, Akon
97. Glass, Concrete, and Stone, David Byrne
98. I Need My Girl, The National
99. Gnossienne No. 1, Erik Satie
100. Sad Songs and Waltzes, Willie Nelson
101. Wild Indifference, Joan Shelley
102. Lonely Weekends, Charlie Rich
103. A Woman Left Lonely, Janis Joplin
104. Better Days, Graham Nash

Hopefully one of these songs about being alone helps to ease the hardship. Hang in there – it gets easier!