Seven Songs About Forgiveness

Jews all over the world celebrated the New Year over the last two weeks. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are a time of self-reflection and repentance for sins committed throughout the year.

Forgiveness is a topic many secular artists have written about in their music. Whether it is hoping that one’s love will forgive them for something that they have done or rationalizing life’s struggles, there is no shortage of people seeking to be forgiven for something they have done.

Vinyl Bay 777 knows that music has the power to help one heal, apologize and forgive. With that being said, here are seven rock and pop songs that deal with apologizing and forgiving one’s transgressions to another:

1.       Buckcherry, “Sorry”: This song finds its narrator profusely apologizing to the woman he loves and hoping that she forgives him. He loves her too much to let their love die for something he did.

2.       Don Henley, “Heart of the Matter”: This song starts out about ex-lovers getting over each other, but quickly comes to the realization that to do that, one must be able to forgive. As the lyrics go, “There are people in your life who’ve come and gone/they let you down and hurt your pride/ better put it all behind you; life goes on/You keep carryin’ that anger, it’ll eat you up inside.”

3.       John Mellencamp, “Forgiveness”: In what seems like a strained relationship, the narrator of this song is glad that there is forgiveness in the world and hopes that his love feels the same. He hopes that his love will accept his apology for all that he has done wrong before it is too late with the hope that she will apologize too.

4.       Daniel Johnston, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances”: We’ve all heard the phrase “don’t go to bed angry.” That is the premise of this jazz song, which begs the listener to “start each day with a clean slate” and “don’t forget to forgive and forget.”

5.       Mumford & Sons, “Ghosts That We Knew”: The narrator of this song is looking for some sort of hope through a dark period in his relationship. He knows that the ghost of what he has done will linger on, but is willing to take as much time as his love needs to be forgiven.

6.       Bowling for Soup, “When We Die”: This is a strangely solemn song for a band that doesn’t take anything seriously, but also one of their best. It details the singer’s strained relationship with his father (if you are to believe the video) and the hope that one day they can reconcile their differences and have a relationship again. Sure, you won’t get back the past moments, but through forgiveness, they can move on with their lives in a positive way.

7.       Human League, “Human”: The premise of this song is that “to err is human.” We all make mistakes, we all feel guilty for them and all we want is to be forgiven for those mistakes. The narrator of this song wants his love to know that he forgives her for all her errors and is looking for them to forgive his.

It is easy to forget that no one is perfect and that we all need a little forgiveness in our lives. These songs perfectly sum that up. Whether it is with a love or in life in general, one must always look inward and find some way to forgive themselves and others.

You can find music from these artists and more at Vinyl Bay 777 and online at vinylbay777.com.