Addiction is often a lonely experience, regardless of how many people surround you. Songs about drug addiction recovery can help you identify what you are feeling and help you understand that others have gone through similar experiences. These songs can help recoverers, and those around them, along the path to healing.
“Gravity” – A Perfect Circle
The darkness of addiction results in a recurring theme of sun and light in songs about drug addiction recovery, and that struggle to reach the sun is captured perfectly in these lyrics by A Perfect Circle:
Catch me, heal me, lift me back up to the sun
Help me survive the bottom
They acknowledge the sense of hopelessness, and the need for many to surrender to a higher power, as they ask for calm and strength:
High and surrendering to the gravity and the unknown
Catch me, heal me, lift me back up to the sun
I choose to live, I choose to live, I choose to live
Calm these hands before they
Snare another pill and
Drive another nail down another needy hole
Please release me
“Young Homie” – Chris Rene
This song addresses young people, but can be inspirational to any age. It describes the thrilling joy of giving up the numbness of alcohol:
Shh, ahh, this is the remedy,
And I got the recipe, I don’t need no Hennessy,
Yeah, it’s been nine months now,
Haven’t had a drink and I’m starting to see clear now
The narrator understands that it is tempting to see only the negative and feel as if you have no control, but that by embracing positivity, things can change:
Open up your eyes, look around
Homie, can you see how it’s going down?
Brothers locked up, sisters knocked up
If you wanna build your love up, put your hate down
Ooh, that’s the only way to live
Turnin’ negatives to positives
“It’s gonna be alright,” Bob Marley said
“Not Afraid” – Eminem
The United States is in the grip of an opioid epidemic, and each day more than 130 people die of an opioid overdose. Few understand the power of an opioid addiction better than Marshall Bruce Mathers III, also known as rapper, songwriter, music producer, and actor Eminem.
While he cannot tell you exactly when he turned to addiction, his song “Not Afraid” speaks to how significant support is and that you are not in this challenge alone.
I’m not afraid (I’m not afraid)
To take a stand (to take a stand)
Everybody (Everybody)
Come take my hand come (Come take my hand)
We’ll walk this road together, through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just letting you know that, you’re not alone
Holla if you feel like you’ve been down the same road
“Recovery” – James Arthur
James Arthur has gone from soaring fame to hitting rock bottom, and then came “Back From the Edge” with his 2016 album about recovery and redemption. In his 2013 release “Recovery,” we observe a story of admission, admonishment, and achievement. The subject of this song, possibly Arthur himself, has taken an independent road, defining and designing their own recovery to keep soaring, keep song-writing.
“Sober” – P!NK
This song speaks to the “safety” of that high, the light feeling that makes the darkness go away for a while until the subject realizes “That that’s not how I want my story to end.”
I don’t wanna be the girl that has to fill the silence
The quiet scares me ’cause it screams the truth
Please don’t tell me that we had that conversation
Cause I won’t remember, save your breath, ’cause what’s the use?
This brilliant lyric encaptures the fear that the silence of sobriety can sometimes fill an addict with, while also admitting that they have detached from reality through blackouts and fogginess, not remembering what happens.
The inspiration of the song is that the person can feel “perfection,” even while sober. That “perfection” may be a person, a higher power, a new hobby, a place, a pet. It is whatever gets you that beautiful, complete feeling without drugs or alcohol.
Contact Steps Recovery
At Steps Recovery, we use what works for you to help you through your current crisis and help keep you clean and sober. If you find yourself listening to a never-ending loop of personal excuses and chastisements for your addiction, it’s time to contact us. Let’s sing a song of success.
