13 Iconic Songs With Absolutely Heartbreaking Backstories

Kristen HarrisSun, August 9, 2026 at 2:16 AM UTC

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Warning: This post mentions murder, suicide, sexual assault, and abuse.

Have you ever been mindlessly listening to one of your favorite songs, only to suddenly realize that the lyrics are actually pretty dark? Some of the most famous songs were written from places of deep pain or unexpected experiences.Here are 13 songs with shocking or heartbreaking backstories:1. THE SONG: In "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest, Sherman Kelly wrote, "Dancing in the moonlight / Everybody's feeling warm and bright / It's such a fine and natural sight / Everybody's dancing in the moonlight."THE STORY: Per American Songwriter, Sherman said that the story behind the song began when he and his friends were in St. Thomas, but they decided to sail over to St. Croix. He said, "My girlfriend [Adrienne] and I got very [sick] going across to St. Croix, and when we got there, I was glad to get on shore. And my friends were fine, they went back out on the boat to spend the night, and Adrienne and I said, 'No, no, we're not going out there.'" The couple slept on the beach, but they were woken by attackers. He continued, "I remember being hit really hard, and five guys were attacking us with baseball bats." Adrienne feared she was going to be sexually assaulted and murdered.

NTR / Viayoutube.comSherman continued, "Then she said there was this horrible animal noise, this howling. And apparently, I saw fit to recover consciousness and attack them." He and Adrienne both survived the attack, and he penned "Dancing in the Moonlight" while he was recovering. He added, "In it, I was just trying to envision a world that was a lot better than the one I had experienced."

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2. THE SONG: In "I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof sings, "(Tell me why) I don't like Mondays / (Tell me why) I don't like Mondays / (Tell me why) I don't like Mondays / I wanna shoot, ooh / The whole day down / Down, down, shoot it all down."

Ensign/Columbia / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: In 1979, Bob heard the tragic story of a school shooting. In San Diego, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer had opened fire on Cleveland Elementary School, which was across the street from her house. She killed the principal and the custodian and wounded nine other people. Barricaded in her home, she told a reporter over the phone, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day."

John Chapple / Getty ImagesBob told BBC Radio 6 Music, "I was doing a radio interview in Atlanta with Johnnie Fingers, and there was a telex machine beside me. I read it as it came out. Not liking Mondays as a reason for doing somebody in is a bit strange. I was thinking about it on the way back to the hotel, and I just said, 'Silicon chip inside her head had switched to overload.' ... I wrote that down. And the journalists interviewing her said, 'Tell me why?' It was such a senseless act. It was the perfect senseless act, and this was the perfect senseless reason for doing it. So perhaps I wrote the perfect senseless song to illustrate it. It wasn't an attempt to exploit tragedy."

Chris Walter / WireImage / Via GettyThe song became a hit, leading to unexpected consequences. He said, "She wrote to me saying she was glad she'd done it because I'd made her famous." He added that the letter deeply impacted him, and it was "not a good thing to live with."

Kieran Frost / Redferns / Via Getty3. THE SONG: In "Possession," Sarah McLachlan sings, "And I would be the one to hold you down / Kiss you so hard, I'll take your breath away / And after I wipe away the tears / Just close your eyes, dear."

Nettwerk / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: Sarah wrote the song from the POV of an obsessive fan. She told Bill DeMain, "I tried to put myself into their shoes, into the mind of someone who is so obsessed with another person that they could conceive murdering them. It took me a while to justify that one. As a woman, living with that fear in the back of your mind every day, with the possibility of being raped. And so, it's kind of weird for me, but then I save myself in the third verse by saying I'd never really act on it, except in my dreams. And maybe that's putting me into a false sense of reality, but it did help."

NBC / NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty ImagesShe continued, "Not just that, but writing the whole song was kind of a cleansing thing for me, because I had two people in particular who just became incredibly intense with the fantasy world that they created, and demanded that that was reality, and we had to be together. And they went to great lengths to make this happen. It became frightening, but it ticked me off that I had to look over my shoulder every time I walked out the door. There was one point where I was told I'd have to have a bodyguard. It was like, screw that, I don't want to live in fear. It makes me so angry."

Bob Berg / Getty ImagesIn 1994, Uwe Vandrei, a computer programmer from Canada, sued Sarah for $250K for "damages for breach of confidence and breach of moral rights," alleging that "Possession" was based on letters he had written to her over two years. However, before the case went to trial, he died by suicide.

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4. THE SONG: In "I Shot the Sheriff," Bob Marley sings, "Sheriff John Brown always hated me / For what, I don't know / Every time I plant a seed / He said kill it before it grow / He said kill them before they grow / And so, and so / Read it in the news."

Tuff Gong / Island / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: Esther Anderson, who dated the singer until she discovered he already had a wife and kids, revealed the alleged truth behind the track in her 2011 documentary Bob Marley: The Making of a Legend. She claimed that the song was actually about his opposition to her taking birth control pills because he believed they were "sacrilege." Her doctor was the supposed "sheriff" in the lyrics. She also claimed that she helped write it.

Jeremy Selwyn / Evening Standard via Getty Images5. THE SONG: In "Maria," Justin Bieber sings, "Maria, why you wanna do me like that? / That ain't my baby (No), that ain't my girl / Maria, why you wanna play me like that? / She ain't my baby (No), she ain't my girl / 'Cause she's talking it, and she needs to quit / 'Cause I never hit, so I know she's not mine."

Kevin Winter / Getty ImagesTHE STORY: The lyrics allude to the "paternity scandal" that Justin faced as a teenager. When the pop star was only 17, 20-year-old Mariah Yeater sued him and claimed he was the father of her 3-month-old son. She alleged that Justin hooked up with her backstage after a concert. He denied her claims, telling Today, "I never met the woman. I know that I'm going to be a target, but I'm never going to be a victim. I think it's crazy because every night after the show, I'm gone, right from the stage to my car, so it's crazy that some people want to make up such false allegations, but to set the record straight, none of it is true. I've never met the woman."

Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic / Via GettyRather than being seen for what it was — an adult woman alleging she had sex with an underage boy — the story was used to widely mock Justin. Jimmy Fallon made a "Baby" parody poking fun at the suit.

NBC / Viayoutube.comDespite his denials, Justin still had to take a paternity test. Ricky Gervais joked about it at the Golden Globes.

NBC / Viayoutube.com6. THE SONG: In "Jamaica Mistaica," Jimmy Buffett sings, "Come back, come back, back to Jamaica / Don't you know, we made a big mistake-a / We'd be so sad if you told us goodbye / And we promise not to shoot you out of the sky."

Margaritaville TV / Viayoutube.com

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THE STORY: Jimmy told Rolling Stone, "I was with [Island Records owner] Chris Blackwell and [U2's] Bono. I had my seaplane, and I wanted to land it near Chris's house. But the winds were too bad, so I landed it at the airport. Chris had a hotel on the other side of the island, where it was very calm, so we just decided to go for a picnic there. We flew the plane in, got off, and as the plane took off to go get fuel, we were surrounded by a Jamaican SWAT team. I thought it was a joke until I heard the gunfire. They thought we were a dope plane. I mean, we looked about as much like a dope plane as I look like somebody who'd be on the Pat Robertson show."

Al Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesPer the New York Times, Bono said, "These boys were shooting all over the place. I felt as if we were in the middle of a James Bond movie. I honestly thought we were all going to die."

Pete Still / Redferns / Via Getty7. THE SONG: In "Decoration Day" by Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell wrote, "I never knew how it all got started / A problem with Hollan before we were born / And I don't know the name of the boy we tied down / And beat till he just couldn't walk anymore / But I know the caliber in Daddy's chest / I know what Hollan Hill drives / The state let him go, but I guess it was best / 'Cause nobody needs all us Lawsons alive."

Bryan Bedder / Getty ImagesTHE STORY: According to Unmask Us, Jason reportedly said, "So, when I was a little kid — I was about 5 or 6 years old — my mama's Uncle Hollan killed a man that lived down the street from him… and uh, this was in the '80s, about like '85-'86 when the state of Alabama... when the 'he needed killin' defense' still stood. So you could basically just say, 'Well, he needed killin',' and that was the end of the trial, and he didn't get into any trouble for it. That's kinda how it happened, and I mean, there's a few more details to that, but the man needed killin', so… He didn't try to hide, run off, or burn the body, he just said, 'I killed him, he needed killin'.'"

The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Images"But sometime around my 17th or 18th year, somebody in the family actually told me what happened, and before that, they never really talked about it that much, and it wasn't the kind of thing that we really wanted everybody to know about. So, my mother made the worst mistake in the world when she was telling me about it right as I was learning how to write songs. So I wrote this one on the front porch in Houston, Texas, about 2001," he said.

Bill Tompkins / Getty Images8. THE SONG: In "Paper Planes," M.I.A. sings, "I fly like paper, get high like planes / If you catch me at the border, I got visas in my name / If you come around here, I make 'em all day / I get one done in a second if you wait."

XL Recordings Ltd / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: M.I.A., who was born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents in London and lived in Sri Lanka as a child, told the Daily Beast, "It's about immigration and immigrants and how we are seen to be really scary because we can take people's jobs. People think it's about robbing banks or something, or it's about terrorism, but it's not. It's about immigrants coming over and us being really scary to people."

Tim Mosenfelder / Getty ImagesDiscussing the gunshot sounds in the chorus, she said, "If you're an immigrant, you left somewhere, and most of the time, you fled a war. Gun sounds are a part of our culture as an everyday thing. If you've been exposed to gunfights and violence and bombs and war, then I can use those sounds backing my thoughts, ya know? Look, I've been shot at, so I'm quite comfortable with gunshot sounds. If you have a problem with it, go and talk to the people who were shooting at me."

Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty Images9. THE SONG: In "The Way" by Fastball, Tony Scalzo sings, "Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold / And it's always summer, they'll never get cold / They'll never get hungry, they'll never get old and gray / You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere / They won't make it home, but they really don't care / They wanted the highway, they're happier there today."

Hollywood Records, Inc. / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: The song was inspired by the 1997 disappearance of Lela and Raymond Howard, a married couple in their 80s from Salado, Texas. Each summer, the Howards drove to a fiddling festival 15 miles away in Temple. However, Lela had been showing signs of dementia, and Raymond had recently had a stroke. They never returned home. Several days later, Tony read the headlines and began wondering about the couple and their journey. Inspired, he wrote "The Way," but after he showed the song to his bandmates, he read the tragic final headline: "Elderly couple found dead in car two weeks after trip to festival."

Anthony Pidgeon / Redferns / Via Getty10. THE SONG: In "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder sings, "Jeremy spoke in class today / Jeremy spoke in class today / Jeremy spoke in class today / Try to forget this (Try to forget this) / Try to erase this (Try to erase this) / From the blackboard."

Epic / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: The song was loosely inspired by the death of 15-year-old Jeremy Wade Delle, who took a gun to his English class and died by suicide in 1991. Jeremy's mom, Wanda, told WFAA, "That day that he died did not define his life. He was a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, a grandson. He was a friend. He was talented."

Pete Still / Redferns / Via GettyThe music video, which depicts a fictional Jeremy bringing a gun to school, was censored on MTV, removing the shot where Jeremy puts the gun in his mouth. Many viewers misinterpreted it as the story of a mass shooter because the video ends with Jeremy's classmates splattered with his blood. When 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis was on trial for the 1996 Frontier Middle School shooting, where he murdered three people, his defense lawyers claimed that the music video inspired him, with one adding, "This boy is Jeremy."

Epic / Viayoutube.com11. THE SONG: In "Not What He Seems," Stella Paris sings, "Just because he's shown you heaven / Doesn't mean he's a saint / Just because he's given you pleasure / Doesn't mean he can't cause you pain."

Stella Paris / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: On Instagram, Stella said, "With this song, I turn one of my darkest experiences into art and I hope it brings others comfort too. For me it is about a deceptive and abusive past relationship. My ex, whom I knew as Andrew Lamb was a murderer on the run, enjoying life in plain sight, building a successful business in Malta, my motherland. I was obviously unaware of his real identity- as Christopher Guest More, a BBC investigative journalist. He took a new identity and was able to live well for 16 years while a family mourned the loss of their father, Brian Waters. Interpol eventually caught up with him and that's when I discovered the truth. Thank goodness, I was long gone and living my life in London."12. THE SONG: In "Well Fancy That!" by Fun Boy Three, Terry Hall wrote, "On school trips to France / Well fancy that / You had a good time / Turned sex into crime / Well fancy that."

BSR Entertainment / Gentle Look via Getty ImagesTHE STORY: On Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Terry said, "At 12, I got abducted by a pedophile ring in France, and that was a real eye-opener." Afterward, he dealt with depression and left school at 14. He added, "I was sort of drugged up then on Valium for about a year, and I didn't go to school... It's unfortunate it happened to me, but you can't just let it destroy your life, it's not good. I suffer from manic depression and avoided all sorts of medication for a long time, then 10 years ago, I started taking Lithium and stuff, and I'm still on these drugs. And it sort of helps, it sort of helps."

Martyn Goodacre / Getty Images13. And finally, THE SONG: In "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, Ian Gillan sings, "With a few red lights, a few old beds / We made a place to sweat / No matter what, we get out of this / I know, I know we'll never forget / Smoke on the water / And fire in the sky / Smoke on the water."

Purple / Warner Bros. / Viayoutube.comTHE STORY: The track was based on a fire that broke out after a fan fired a flare gun at Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention's concert at the Montreux Casino in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1971. The flare exploded the casino's heating system, causing a devastating fire. It destroyed the band's equipment, left the venue in ashes, and injured multiple concertgoers. However, there were no deaths, as many fans had left earlier when Aynsley Dunbar's drums malfunctioned. Additionally, there were no chairs, and the show had begun in the afternoon. At the time of the fire, Deep Purple was in Montreux, waiting to record their album at the casino, which was used as a rehearsal room during the winter.

Dukas / RDB/Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Dial 988 in the United States to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The 988 Lifeline is available 24/7/365. Your conversations are free and confidential. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org. The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386.

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