There are many songs about addiction to choose from. Two of the three I chose are from the perspectives of the user. One is from the perspective of an observer. Each song deals with a different aspect of addiction.
One is a bit ironic. Let's start with that song.
Rehab by Amy Winehouse
Though, she was renowned for her talent as a singer, she was also well-known for her alcohol and drug induced antics. She wrote this song about not going to rehab despite people wanting her to seek treatment for her addictions.
I don't ever wanna drink again
I just, ooh, I just need a friend
I'm not going to spend ten weeks
Have everyone think I'm on the mend
It's not just my pride
It's just 'til these tears have dried
Many of this young singer's fans were saddened on July 23, 2011 when she was found dead. The coroner ruled her death as "misadventure." The toxicity report showed her blood alcohol level a little above .4% resulting in her sudden death.
Less than five years after this song peaked at number 7, this amazing talent joined the Dead at 27 Club.
Just Like a Pill by Pink
This song is also autobiographical, but the end story is not so sad. The song is about struggling with a bad relationship and the drug addiction on which it was based. Pink nearly overdosed when she was 15 years-old. She used that traumatic experience to clean herself up.
She describes the feelings of an overdose.
I haven't moved from the spot where you left me
This must be a bad trip
All of the other pills, they were different
Maybe I should get some help
That is followed by her description of suffering withdrawl pains.
I can't stay on your life support, there's a shortage in the switch
I can't stay on your morphine because it's making me itch
I said, I tried to call the nurse again but she's being a little bitch
She makes her resolution to run as fast as she can, and, lucky for all of us, she has run both free and far!
Needle and the Damage Done by Neil Young
When Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten showed up too high to hold his guitar, Neil Young sent him home to get treatment. Instead of treatment, Whitten got a lethal dose of heroin.
The song is not specifically about Whitten, but Whitten is among the people that the song is about. Neil Young uses it to raise awareness about the perils of heroin and opioid addiction.
I hit the city and I lost my band
I watched the needle take another man
Gone, gone, the damage done
I sing this song because I love the man
I know that some of you won't understand
Milk-blood to keep from running out
This is a problem that hits close to home for far too many people. Young points that out, too.
I've seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie's like a setting sun
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Here are other posts in the series:
