By Sean Conner

On April 19, the Zac Brown Band released a song entitled “Pirates and Parrots” as a tribute to the late Jimmy Buffett. The song invokes the carefree, beachy vibes Buffett was known for. It also references Buffett’s song “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere” during the chorus. After listening to this song, I began to wonder, what other famous songs are tributes to people?

Eric Clapton Unplugged album cover. Clapton performed “Tears in Heaven” as part of his set on MTV’s Unplugged in 1992. Image credit: Reprise Records and MTV.

One of the first songs that came to my mind was Eric Clapton’s 1992 hit “Tears in Heaven.” Clapton wrote the song for the 1991 movie Rush after struggling to cope with the loss of his four-year-old son, Conor, who died after accidentally falling out the window of a 53rd floor apartment in New York City in 1991. In a 1992 interview with reporter Sue Lawley, Clapton was asked how he used music to get over Conor’s death. Clapton said, “I found this acoustic guitar, which I’d had for a long time, and I wasn’t really working on the road or putting an album together, so I just started to write, just play, and it sort of calmed me down. It was a tranquilizer. It was a safe anesthetic.” 

Before Conor was born, Clapton had a history of substance abuse, and he credited Conor’s birth and life as being the reason that he became and stayed sober.  Later in the interview, he was also asked about people who may think he is exploiting his son’s death for personal gain through the release of this song. Clapton responded by saying, “I want [Conor] to be remembered, and I want to remember him through good music and nice songs like that.”  Some of the song’s lyrics are directed towards Conor, such as “Would you know my name?/ If I saw you in heaven” and “Time can bring you down/Time can bend your knees/Time can break your heart/Have you begging please.” Clapton poured his pain and suffering into this song and created a masterpiece to honor the life of Conor. 

Elton John performing “Candle in the Wind 1997” at Princess Diana’s funeral on Sept. 6, 1997. Photo credit: Anwar Hussein/WireImage.

Elton John’s song “Candle in the Wind,” along with “Candle in the Wind 1997,” are tributes to famous women. The original version of the song was released in 1973 to honor the late Marilyn Monroe, who died of a drug overdose 11 years prior. The song was not originally going to be about Monroe. In an article by Yahoo! News about an interview with Bernie Taupin, John’s songwriting partner, Taupin said, “At the same time, I saw The Misfits and was fascinated by Montgomery Clift, who died young. But then I wondered how many people would know who he was.” Taupin later said in the interview, “Even though I didn’t care for Marilyn Monroe, people would think her a much more fragile character and more indicative of the ‘candle in the wind,’ so I am glad I went with her.” 

The song details aspects of Monroe’s tumultuous life, including discussing her difficult life in Hollywood, her representation to many people, as well as coverage of her death. John begins the song by singing, “Goodbye, Norma Jeane,” a reference to her birth name, Norma Jeane Mortensen, and later says, “Even when you died/ Oh, the press still hounded you/ All the papers had to say/ Was that Marilyn was found in the nude,” referring to her arduous relationship with the media.

This is a common theme between Monroe and the subject of the 1997 version of “Candle in the Wind,” the late Princess Diana. John and Diana were close, and John was asked to rewrite the lyrics of his beloved song for Diana’s funeral, creating this moving tribute to the late princess. In an interview with Barbara Walters from 1997, Walters asked John about performing at the funeral. John told Walters, “I cry very easily… [Diana] kept her cool for me at [Gianni Versace’s] funeral, so I have to do the same for her.”John did just that and performed a moving tribute. In this version, John focuses more on her kindness, generosity, and status as an icon of Britain. John references her through lyrics such as, “You were the grace that placed itself/ Where lives were torn apart/You called out to our country/And you whispered to those in pain” and “Who’ll miss the wings of your compassion/More than you will ever know.” One lyric that is similar in both songs is “Your candle’s burned out long before/Your legend ever will.” This is a representation of how these women’s lives may have been cut short, but stories of them will live on forever. 

Back across the pond, Don McLean’s 1971 hit “American Pie” is a ballad about the US at the end of the 1950s going into the 1960s, and it pays tribute to three artists in particular. In the first verse, the song says, “But February made me shiver/With every paper I’d deliver/Bad news on the doorstep/I couldn’t take one more step/I can’t remember if I cried/When I read about his widowed bride/But something touched me deep inside/The day the music died.” This references the 1959 plane crash that claimed the lives of rock and roll pioneers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson, known as The Big Bopper. The day of the crash is now known as “The Day the Music Died” due to this song. The rest of the song discusses how the American music scene evolved after the crash but focuses on how it was never the same once they died. 

Wiz Khalifa in the “See You Again” music video. Image credit: Atlantic Records. 

“See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa, ft. Charlie Puth, serves as a tribute from the cast of the Fast & Furious franchise to their co-star, Paul Walker. Walker was killed in a car crash in November 2013. The song features many nods to the movies and the cast’s relationship with each other. For instance, the lyrics that are right before the chorus say, “How can we not talk about family when family’s all that we got?/Everything I went through, you were standing there by my side/And now you gon‘ be with me for the last ride”. This part of the song mainly focuses on the relationship between Dominic Torretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Walker). The second verse goes into this, saying, “First, you both go out your way and the vibe is feeling strong/And what’s small turned to a friendship, a friendship turned to a bond/And that bond will never be broken, the love will never get lost (The love will never get lost)/And when brotherhood comes first, then the line will never be crossed/Established it on our own when that line had to be drawn/And that line is what we reached, so remember me when I’m gone.” 

The brotherhood mentioned here was shared between Diesel and Walker in real life. The two actors were close friends, with Diesel even serving as the godfather to Walker’s daughter, Meadow. In an interview after Walker’s passing, Diesel said, “You spend 15 years going from nobody to somebody with a brother, and then one day he’s gone. It’s a very heavy experience.” He also said “I know you’ve all suffered loss before, and yet, somehow, this is different than the other losses that I’ve had… but this was unlike anything we could have imagined.” The chorus serves as the tearful goodbye. It says, “It’s been a long day without you, my friend/And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again/We’ve come a long way from where we began/Oh, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.” These words are a touching tribute to Walker and let the world know that all his family and friends will see him again.

Tribute songs are special music. They represent the honor of the person they are meant for, but they can also be used to honor many others. “Tears in Heaven” is for anyone who has lost a child, “Pirates and Parrots” can be for anyone who has lost a friend, and “See You Again” is for anyone who has lost someone. “American Pie” and “Candle in the Wind” are both representative of how the world changes after you lose a celebrity who has impacted your world. All of these songs are just demonstrations of how music can be the perfect goodbye to someone.     

Featured image credit: Homegrown Music and Waner Music Nashville.