How can we appreciate success if we don’t get a taste of failure every once in a while? Whenever you feel like you’re headed in a downward spiral just think of this line: When you’ve hit rock bottom, there’s no way to go but up!
So for those of you who need an uplifting boost in the form of a song, here are some great songs that deal with failure and how to overcome it. 
Daniel Powter- Bad Day
To start off this list we have a song about feeling like an absolute failure, even if it’s just for one day. We all have those days when nothing seems to be going our way. But thankfully, this song has an uplifting message in that things will eventually get better. After all, we can’t always have good days.
Lyrics about failure: ‘Cause you had a bad day
You’re taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don’t know
You tell me don’t lie
You work at a smile, and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don’t lie
You’re coming back down, and you really don’t mind
You had a bad day
ABBA – The Winner Takes It All
In this song, ABBA sings about how winners get to take everything. And sadly, this is sung from the perspective of the loser. This song has an ever sadder history. It was written by Bjorn Ulvaeus after his divorce from his ex-wife and fellow ABBA member, Agnetha Faltskog. What’s even worse is that Agnetha is the one singing the song that was written about her.
Lyrics about failure: The gods may throw the dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It’s simple and it’s plain
Why should I complain?
The Clash – I Fought the Law
I Fought the Law was actually written by Sonny Curtis from The Crickets, though it was made popular by the Bobby Fuller Four and The Clash. The song is about a man who goes on a robbery spree and is caught by the police. He describes his life in jail as he breaks rocks, while singing about robbing banks because he had no money.
Lyrics about failure: I left my baby and I feel so sad
I guess my race is run
But she’s the best girl I’ve ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
Beck – Loser
If you’re trying to make sense of the lyrics of this song, you’re doing it wrong. Loser is a self-depreciating song about being a loser in the 90s. It’s an expression of how people had such low self-esteem when they’re not part of the “in group” of the time. Eventually, this gave rise to the whole movement on the importance of being unique and different – something taken to the extreme by hipsters of the 2010s.
Lyrics about failure: Soy un perdedor
I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?
Blink-182 – Dammit
What is growing up without a little failure along the way? Dammit is a song that captures how we sometimes just fail at things, and it transforms us. It was written by Mark Hoppus, and it’s about a fictional breakup between him and his girlfriend. He imagines seeing her with some other guy, and pretending that everything’s okay even if it’s not. He ends the song by saying that this is all part of growing up.
Lyrics about failure: And it’ll happen once again
You’ll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody’s gone
And you’ve been there for too long
To face this on your own
Well I guess this is growing up
Brand New – Failure by Design
If you want a meta song about what it’s like to become an artist, this is the one. Failure By Design is about the band’s experience in trying to come up with good music to create for their producers. They state that they don’t believe in filler, and that’s why each song needs a lot of work and effort to pull off. The band is saying that they’re nearly killing themselves just to create new music, but what can they possibly do when they genuinely can’t think of anything to write?
Lyrics about failure: This is a lesson in procrastination.
I kill myself because I’m so frustrated.
And every single second that I put it off means another lonely night I got
To race the clock
What say we go and crash your car?
And every time I leave you go and lock the door
So I walk myself picking at a chip on my shoulder
I’m another day late and
One year older
It’s failure by design
Four Year Strong – Unbreakable
Back in the 80s and 90s when the popular kids would dominate the social scene, the people with different points of view are the ones who are considered losers. But in this song by Four Year Strong, the losers and rejects are rising up and fighting to be accepted. While the ones who are downtrodden might be considered the failures of society, they still have the potential to change the world because of how strong they’ve become.
Lyrics about failure: This is for the losers and the rejects
This is for cowards and cynics
You are the reason you’re to blame
You’re not going to drag me down with you
We are the ones that stand our ground
We are the ones that won’t back down
We are the rise but not the fall
We are the writing on the wall
We are unbreakable
Radiohead – Creep
When we fail to become the popular, well-loved person in a crowd, we become considered a creep. This song by Radiohead is about not belonging to the group of “beautiful people” and feeling like a creep when you like someone. According to Thom Yorke, the song was made to “assert a sexual persona and on the other hand trying desperately to negate it.”
Lyrics about failure: You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
And I wish I was special
You’re so fuckin’ special
But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo.
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here.
Simple Plan – Perfect
This might hit a little too close to home to those who have parental issues. Perfect is a song about not being the perfect, golden child that your parents wanted, and instead being a disappointment because you didn’t fulfill their wishes. This was actually written by Simple Plan drummer Chuck Comeau because his parents weren’t supportive of his choice to make a living by being in a band.
Lyrics about failure: Hey, Dad, look at me
Think back, and talk to me
Did I grow up according to plan?
And do you think I’m wasting my time
Doing things I want to do?
But it hurts when you disapproved all along
And now I try hard to make it
I just want to make you proud
I’m never gonna be good enough for
You can’t pretend that I’m alright
And you can’t change me
Linkin Park – In the End
In this song that has one of the most popular piano tunes, Linkin Park describe failing relationship that’s not necessarily romantic. The song is about struggling to make the relationship work, even if the other party is no longer invested in maintaining the relationship. And so, they say that none of it matters despite how hard you’ve tried to make it work.
Lyrics about failure: I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
Nirvana – All Apologies
This one of the songs that Kurt Cobain rarely talked about, but he did say that it was about his wife, Courtney Love, and their daughter, Frances Bean. In the song, he apologizes for failing to meet people’s expectations of him.
Lyrics about failure: What else should I be
All apologies
What else could I say
Everyone is gay
What else could I write
I don’t have the right
What else should I be
All apologies
Lit – My Own Worst Enemy
Have you ever felt like you were your own worst enemy? The members of Lit certainly did. My Own Worst Enemy is about a guy remembering how badly he acted the night before. He got drunk, said a few unsavory things to his girl, and now he’s sleeping with his clothes on as a smoke alarm is going off. He hates what he does, but he does it anyway, which is why he’s his own worst enemy.
Lyrics about failure: Please tell me why
The car is in the front yard and I’m
Sleeping with my clothes on
Came in through the window last night
And you’re gone gone
It’s no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy
Cause every now and then I kick the living shit out of me
A smoke alarm is going off and there’s a cigarette
Still burning
Sheryl Crow – My Favorite Mistake
My Favorite Mistake is a song about a failure of a relationship where only one person is in love with the other. The protagonist knows that this relationship is all a huge mistake, but it will always be her favorite. According to Sheryl Crow, the song is a composite of a bunch of guys she dated before. There have been rumors that it’s about Eric Clapton, but she says that her short relationship with him wasn’t a mistake.
Lyrics about failure: Did you know when you go it’s the perfect ending
To the bad day I’d gotten used to spending
When you go, all I know is you’re my favorite mistake
You’re my favorite mistake
The Killers – All These Things that I’ve Done
The key to finally moving on and becoming successful is acknowledging your failures in the past. And this is exactly what Brandon Flowers did when he wrote this song. The song is about growing up and moving on from the past as you try to make yourself a better person.
Lyrics about failure: Over and again, last call for sin
While everyone’s lost, the battle is won
With all these things that I’ve done
All these things that I’ve done
(Time, truth, hearts)
If you can hold on
If you can hold on
Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
Finally, we end this list with a song for all the people who only focus on your failures instead of your successes. Shake It Off is Taylor Swift’s reply to all those haters who keep on criticizing what she does. So when she hears about people who keep focusing on her, she just shakes it all off.
Lyrics about failure: But I keep cruising
Can’t stop, won’t stop grooving
It’s like I got this music in my mind
Saying it’s gonna be alright
No one stays a loser forever. So the next time you feel like you’re about to fail, listen to these songs to inspire you to succeed!
