Sad songs to listen to when you miss someone

FlourishAnyway believes there is a playlist for just about any situation and is on a mission to unite and entertain the world through song.

When Missing Loved Ones Becomes a Lifestyle

I grew up missing people. My father was a company man a corporate nomad so when it came time to move again, we packed up and went where the career opportunities led him.

The only place he ever declined to move was Utah. That's because no one in their right mind agrees to move to Utah. [Hey, no offense.]

Growing up, I missed friends, neighbors, and classmates across six states. Relationships were temporary. Living hundreds of miles from relatives, we visited them once or twice a year. For seven years, my dad worked second shift so he could climb that corporate ladder; often I missed him, too.

When I attended college, naturally it was out-of-state. Then, I landed a corporate job much like his and continued the nomadic lifestyle of corporate relocations and missing people.

Once I became a parent, however, I sought to ensure that my own daughter didn't grow up missing people she loved. I wanted to give her the gift of being "from" somewhere. I wanted to give her the gift of not continually feeling loss or separation from all that was familiar.

We now live a stone's throw from my parents and other family. Corporate nomads eventually find their oasis, and it's rarely at the top of the organizational ladder.

1. "Missing" by Everything but the Girl

The 1995 dance mix version of this song was a worldwide hit, reminiscing about a friend who moved away. Although his friend is long gone, the narrator in the song still goes by her house years later: "I miss you, like the deserts miss the rain."

2. "I Miss You" by Incubus

Have you ever been so absorbed by someone that when they're gone, even for a few days, thoughts of missing them utterly consume you? This song from 2000 reflects that sentiment of wanting to be with them again.

3. "Wish You Were Here" by Avril Lavigne

Count yourself lucky if you have someone who really "gets you" deep down. They're here, they're everywhere, but when they're apart from you, your life feels like misery. This 2011 song is a dedication to that close bond.

4. "Please Come To Boston" by Dave Loggins

This 1974 country classic is an anthem for anyone who moves away from their roots and leaves a sweetheart behind. It's about a man who travels from Boston to Denver to LA, trying to make his mark on the world.

Along his journey, he invites his beloved to join him, but she says, "No, boy, won't you come home to me?" In reality, singer/songwriter Dave Loggins admits that there was no one actually waiting for him back in Tennessee.

5. "So Far Away" by Carole King

This reflective, mournful 1971 song sure stands the test of time. People churn through our lives and move forward in their own journeys, but that doesn't mean we don't miss them terribly.

6. "Far Away" by Nickelback

If you've ever been in a relationship in which both partners struggle to get their timing right, you'll appreciate this 2006 song. One partner may be ready for a big commitment while the other is not yet prepared to go "all in." Failing to synchronize both hearts might mean living forever with regrets or what-ifs. Does this resonate for you?

7. "I Miss You" by Klymaxx

If you've ever broken up with someone and had a hard time forgetting him or her, this is the song for you. The 1985 song is about a broken relationship that isn't over yet for one partner.

8. "Get Here" by Oleta Adams

No matter the distance that may separate you and the one you love, there are many modes of transportation that can unite you. This 1991 song cleverly describes some of them, from the mundane to the unusual, because "I don't care how you get here, just get here if you can."

9. "Baby Come Back" by Player

Sometimes you don't realize you've made a mistake until a person has left your side. This 1977 song emphasizes hindsight in a broken love relationship, highlighting the man's desire to make things right:

Baby come back, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me
I was wrong and I just can't live without you ... .

10. "Miss You Like Crazy" by Natalie Cole

In this 1989 song, the couple may have taken a break but the woman's feelings for her partner have remained strong. She has missed him so badly that it makes you think she is a little crazy herself.

11. "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White Ts

This is a sweet love song from 2005 about a girl who is away at school in New York City, separated 1,000 miles from her boyfriend. The young man offers her long-distance love as well as encouragement to keep hanging in there for two more years until they can be together again.

12. "Tears In Heaven" by Eric Clapton

There's nothing so heart wrenching as the death of a child. This 1992 song was written two years after Clapton's four-year old son, Conor, fell from a window of a 53rd-floor New York apartment building. In the years since, Clapton dealt with his grief by writing this Grammy-nominated song and by making public service announcements for childproofing windows and staircases.

13. "Who Knew" by Pink

In this 2006 song Pink is in disbelief that her relationship is over:

If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong
I know better 'cause you said forever, and ever
Who knew?

For many people the effects of a broken relationship linger.

14. "Missing You" by John Waite

Although the mind may tell you that you don't miss that special person, the heart knows differently. So says this 1984 song in which a man still wonders why his lover left, as he desperately struggles with his memories of her.

15. "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Naked Eyes

The man in this 1983 song has broken up with his beloved. He misses her and is having a hard time moving on because everywhere he goes there are reminders of her sweet tenderness.

16. "Im Already There" by Lonestar

Families that are separated by business travel or military obligations can identify with the message in this 2001 song. While traveling on business, the narrator calls home when his child asks, "Daddy when you comin' home?" The manner in which the father responds is sheer poetry.

17. "I Dont Wanna Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith

This 1997 power ballad describes the intensity felt by one person towards another, as he wants to capture every moment he can listening to her breathe, watching her smile while she is sleeping, and wondering what she is dreaming.

18. "Holes in the Floor of Heaven" by Steve Wariner

When you lose a loved onewhether a grandparent, spouse or friendgrief can linger. However, there is comfort in knowing that your loved one watches over you from above. This 1998 song acknowledges their loving watchfulness.

19. "Missing You" by Steve Perry

In this 1994 song, the narrator misses his former lover and blames himself for the relationship breakup:

You gave much more than I did
I gave what I had to give
If I could you know I would
I'd make it up to you instead I'm
Missing you.

20. "Home" by Michael Bublé

The narrator in this 2005 song is apart from his lover while he travels. Missing her terribly and wanting to return home, he says he

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone.
I just wanna go home.
Oh, I miss you, you know ... .

21. "A Long December" by Counting Crows

When you lose someone you love, the anniversary of their death can be an especially challenging time. In this 1996 songwritten about a band member's friend who was run over by a carthe winter months bring back images and smells that remind him of his grief.

22. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones

If this legendary 1980 song doesn't leave a lump in your throat, you've got no heart. It revived the career of George Jones ["The Possum"] and is about a heartbroken man who swore to forever love the sweetheart who left him. Throughout his life he missed her, and finally, on the day of his funeral, he stopped loving her.

23. "What Hurts The Most" by Rascal Flatts

In this 2006 hit, the narrator lives with big regrets as he misses the love of his life. He ruminates about what he didn't say, what might have been, and watching his girl walk away. Now he stands alone in an empty house with just his memories.

24. "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" by The Script

In this 2008 song, a broken-hearted man decides to return to the place where he and his girlfriend met. He's still in love with her and misses her so much he refuses to move on.

'Cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

25. "I Miss My Friend" by Darryl Worrley

When you break up with someone there are lots of things about them you can miss, but their friendship may be most important. This 2002 song reminds us that lovers are companions and their absence can leave a big hole in your life.

26. "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans

When rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down in March 1997, this song was offered up several months later in his memory. To the tune of The Police's 1983 hit, "Every Breath You Take," it won a Grammy and is one of the best-selling singles of all time:

Every step I take
Every move I make
Every single day
Every time I pray
I'll be missing you.

27. "Always" by Bon Jovi

The narrator in this 1995 song admits that "I've made mistakes, I'm just a man," and he's really desperate to have his lover return to his side. He promises eternal love if she'll just come back.

28. "Faithfully" by Journey

In this 1983 hit, rock band Journey describes the challenge of maintaining a happy marriage with the stresses of frequent travel and being in the entertainment industry:

And bein' apart ain't easy on this love affair
Two strangers learn to fall in love again
I get the joy of rediscovering you
Oh girl, you stand by me, I'm forever yours, faithfully.

29. "When You're Gone" by Avril Lavigne

Don't you hate it when you say you need a little space and then your significant other gives you so much distance you're like, "No, wait. What? Come back here!" That's what the narrator in this 2007 song experiences. She disses him then she misses him.

30. "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes

In this 1997 song, the narrator is contemplating how much she would miss her sweetheart if he ever left. If he went away, she claims, he "would take away everything good in my life." She wouldn't be able to breathe, survive, there'd be no sun in the sky, and no world left for her. That sounds pretty desperate, don't you think?

31. "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum

It's 1:15 a.m. and the narrator in this 2010 song is three sheets to the wind thanks to God only knows how many shots of whiskey. She misses her ex-lover and debates the drunk dial. Girlfriend, sleep this one off! If you still miss him in the morning, you can always call him then.

32. "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" by Patty Loveless

The narrator in this 1994 song endures three traumatic losses at different points in her life: 1] moving away from a childhood best friend, 2] separating from her husband, and 3] suffering the death of her mother. In each of these instances, her mother provides comfort with a refrain that reminds her that loss is inevitable:

And she said, "How can I help you
To say goodbye? It's okay to hurt and it's okay to cry.
Come let me hold you and I will try
How can I help you to say goodbye?"

33. "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan

The narrator in this 1995 song is suffering restless sleep as she turns over the memories in her head of a lover she misses and just couldn't commit fully to.

34. "You'll Think of Me" by Keith Urban

"Take your stuff and get on out of here" is the not-so-subtle message that the narrator in this 2002 song tells his cheating honey. But as if to tell her not to let the door him her in the rear on her way out, he also warns her that at some point she'll regret it as she thinks of him.

35. "Missing You" by Diana Ross

This 1984 song was a tribute to Motown legend Marvin Gaye and has since been used to recognize the passing of other famous people. It is both mournful and celebratory of the lost person's positive spirit. [Sigh.]

Even More I Miss You Songs