Line #36 MyGodWhatHaveIDone/Music


1	* "Music/OnceInALifetime" by Music/TalkingHeads is the {{trope namer\|s}}, although [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible it isn't quite a traditional example]]. The song is largely a paranoid ramble about the banality and [[ExistentialHorror existential panic]] of [[VictoryIsBoring achieving a "safe", but generic and eventless]] middle-class life, so in context, Music/DavidByrne dropping this line doesn't specifically denote "My god, I've made a horrible mistake!", but "My god, [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife I spent my life trying to find satisfaction]] -- slaving away for a beautiful house and beautiful wife -- and in ignoring what I have without enjoying it, I've ultimately gained ''nothing!"''
2	* ''Music/EvilliousChronicles'':
3	** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD4azjx6mbE Project "Ma"]]", Adam Moonlit essentially brainwashes Eve into loving him so he can use her as a subject for the project (which involves giving birth to twins). When the twins miscarry he realizes not only that his machinations have destroyed her mind, but that he genuinely loves her back.
4	** In "Regret Message," after losing her kingdom, her home, her throne, and even her brother due to the tyrannical actions of her reign, Princess Rilianne travels to a beach that she and her brother used to go to when they were younger. As she puts a message in a bottle detailing the sins of her past, she breaks down in tears realizing that her selfishness has cost her everything and everyone she's ever loved.
5	* Relient K's "Deathbed" lampshades this. The narrator is on [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin his deathbed]] and recounting his life and all the mistakes he made, including a shotgun wedding, a loveless marriage that ended in divorce, a few kids that are implied to not see him much after said divorce, and a drinking problem that nearly kills him at one point. At the end Jesus appears to take the narrator to heaven because he repented heavily in his last few years.
6	--> '' You cried "wolf" / the tears they soaked your fur / the blood dripped from your fangs. / You said "What have I done?"''
7	* On their first live album, Music/FiveIronFrenzy prefaces a hidden track of HilariousOuttakes with an introduction from the singer, containing the line:
8	-->'''Reese Roper''': You may notice that we are not rock stars, because you will hear these mess-ups and you will say to yourself, "My God, what have I done? ''What have I done?!''" Oh, yes, you will.
9	* The House of Heroes song "Voices" is about a soldier having this kind of realization.
10	--> ''In the silent hour I can hear them/ Pray to the Mother but the Mother doesn't love my soul/ In the blacked earth lay my secrets/ The hounds of Hell know everything...''
11	* "The Ballad Of You Know Who" by Richard Swift deserves mention, for using this phrase as the entire chorus of the song.
12	* Seems to occur towards the end of the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song "Rotten Heresy and Chocolate" about a girl who has a habit of spreading gossip turning her sights on a classmate, telling [[GossipyHens all her friends]] about how the girl is supposedly having sex with one of their teachers. In the final verse, she acknowledges how cruel she's been for her own amusement and how her guilt makes her want to avoid looking at the consequences of her actions.
13	-->What will you fill into the grooves eaten out by the worms?
14	-->I'll make an exception and let you take a grip of the tail I've grown out of guilt
15	* Iron Savior, of (unsurprisingly,) Music/IronSavior has one of these, touched on in a few songs. "I've Been To Hell";
16	-->''Out of control in this deadly machine''
17	-->''Innocent victims are haunting my dreams''
18	**and "Made of Metal";
19	-->''Built and designed to obey, to keep Man alive''
20	-->''Oh I have failed... Now they struggle to survive''
21	* This is basically how the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuK2A1ZqoWs Handlebars]] video ends.
22	* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7T7wsX5BH0 Father of Death]]" by Music/TheProtomen.
23	** The crowd murmurs this a couple of times in "Hope Rides Alone", although it seems to boil down to an IgnoredEpiphany.
24	* The first line of "It Gets Better" by [[{{Music/fun}} Fun.]]: "What have we done? Oh, my God!" The answer? They [[spoiler:lost their virginity together]].
25	* Similar to the "Handlebars" mention above: [[TearJerker Zero Sum]], the final song on Music/NineInchNails' album "Year Zero" is basically one last humble apology from ''humanity'' to everyone who was hurt by the dystopian government that was allowed to come into power in the first place. All while the world quietly ends in the background.
26	--> ''Shame on us''
27	--> ''For all we have done''
28	--> ''And all we ever were''
29	--> ''Just zeroes and ones...''
30	* Criminally Insane by Slayer.
31	--> ''Disapprobation, but what have I done''
32	--> ''I have yet only just begun''
33	--> ''To take your fuckin' lives!''
34	* "Evaporated" by Ben Folds Five uses this line as the last line of the chorus - though it's never actually revealed what the singer actually ''has'' done.
35	* Forgive Durden's musical, ''Music/RaziasShadow'' uses this trope in a near-verbatim manner at the conclusion of "Toba the Tura," when [[spoiler:Ahrima comes to grips with his sin of destroying the lamps]].
36	--> ''What have I done?''
37	--> ''Please make me your son''
38	--> ''What have I become?''
39	--> ''Destroyed all I love!''
40	** Also in ''Razias Shadow'', Pallis' reaction to [[spoiler:stabbing Adakias, thus causing his brother's death. While having been aware of what he intended to do, his reaction is full of regret; "Brother, what have I done? My blade has pierced your side. This was never my intent, oh god, please stay alive!"]] And then [[spoiler:"Please don't let your tired heart stop beating. You're bleeding. Just keep breathing!"]]
41	* In the song "The Flame" by Chimera, the lasts lines are "Oh God…What Have I Done"
42	* The protagonist of Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}' "One for the Vine" becomes the murderous conquerer he (as a lowly foot soldier) had deserted at the beginning of the song. No, not just a very similar figure - the ''exact'' same one.
43	** 'Dreaming While You Sleep' carries heavy undertones of this, as the protagonist hits a pedestrian with his car ... and drives off, hoping 'the miles between would somehow put it right'.
44	* The Music/IcedEarth song "Gettysburg(1863)-High Water Mark" features an example in the form of Robert E. Lee lamenting the Confederate army's loss at the battle, due to his plan.
45	--> ''I look across this blood soaked land''
46	--> ''All this blood is on my hands''
47	--> ''God forgive me, please forgive me''
48	--> ''It's all my fault, the blood is on my hands!''
49	* In the song "In the Glass" by OK Go, the protagonist immediately regrets his decision to become his reflection.
50	--> ''But oh, what have I done? What have I done?''
51	--> ''My God, what have I done?''
52	* Tarby wrote a 20 minute My Little Pony song based on the [[Fanfic/CupcakesSergeantSprinkles infamous Cupcakes fanfic]]. Pinkie Pie goes through this after [[spoiler: the first murder]].
53	* Though you'll never hear these words in Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall'', the songs "Hey You" and "Stop" serve this purpose. In the first instance, he realizes exactly what he's done by completing the wall; in the second, he's horrified by what he's turned into.
54	** ''Music/TheFinalCut'' also features this line: "What have we done? Maggie [Thatcher], what have we done? What have we done to England?"
55	* "Warm Blood Rush" by Destroyer and "A Single Word" by Music/The Fall of Troy share an opening line: "Dear God, what have I done?"
56	* The third refrain from "She's Leaving Home" by Music/TheBeatles:
57	-->She (What did we do that was wrong?)
58	-->Is having (We didn't know it was wrong)
59	-->Fun (Fun is the one thing that money can't buy)
60	* Music/MachineHead's "Now I Lay Thee Down."
61	-->What have I done? I've gone and killed the only one I love. How could I do this?
62	-->[[RageAgainstTheHeavens I'm screaming at God, why do you curse me?]]
63	-->[[DrivenToSuicide Fuck it, load it, sever the day.]]
64	* The title track to Music/{{Underoath}}'s debut album ''Act of Depression''—whose subject matter [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness differs drastically]] from [[WordSaladLyrics what they would do later]]—combines this with a PerspectiveFlip. The first two thirds of the song accounts the thoughts of a depressed person DrivenToSuicide, who makes clear that being bullied was the deciding factor in finalizing the choice. The song then switches to the POV of one of the bullies, who has this very reaction upon seeing the dead body of the song's initial subject.
65	-->'''Victim:''' Thanks to all the people who drove me to death. Without you, I could have never ended my breath. Through your anger and hate, I was able to choose my fate. There was a way out, but I chose the easy route.\
66	\
67	'''Narrator:''' Ice cold fingers, body lays on the floor. Pool of blood you see, [[ScreamingAtSquick you scream out in terror]]. Her body is now a part of mutilation, her soul the victim of strangulation.\
68	\
69	'''Bully:''' [[HeelFaceTurn I will not accept this evil anymore!]] I never thought of who I hurt or I never tried to look for the good. I'm sorry for whoever I hurt. It's not easy to look back on my life and know I did not know Christ. [[VillainousBSOD For now I live in a real hell.]] I wish I had another chance. Then I would live my life with love.
70	* "Neon Orange Glimmer Song [We'll Meet on the Street Tomorrow.]" by Music/TheMountainGoats features a narrator who describes himself as a monster for something he has done.
71	-->''And I, I am a monster''
72	-->''I can't believe the thing I've done''
73	* In "White Pearl, Black Oceans..." by Music/SonataArctica, the lighthouse-keeper has this reaction when he realizes shirking his duties for one night on New Year's Eve resulted in the ''White Pearl'' being destroyed due to crashing into the very rocks his lighthouse is there to warn against. He ends up [[DrivenToSuicide leaping off the lighthouse, dashing himself on those same rocks.]]
74	-->''I hereby commit my body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for the resurrection of the body. When the sea shall give up her dead, the life of the world will come to our Lord. Amen...''
75	* In Music/{{Suicide\|Band}}'s "Frankie Teardrop", Frankie says this after [[PaterFamilicide shooting his wife and kid]], before turning the gun on himself.
76	* From Music/{{Cormorant}}'s song "Junta":
77	-->His daughter bound in an army base
78	-->[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil used by soldiers in turn]],
79	-->till a rapist discerned her familiar face
80	-->and, shamed, set her free.
81	* "Timothy" by the Buoys is about three miners trapped by a cave-in facing starvation. By the time a rescue team digs them out, only two of them are left. The titular Timothy is nowhere to be found ... [[spoiler: because the other two turned cannibal and ate him.]] One of the survivor's guilt and remorse is apparent in the following lines:
82	-->Timothy, Timothy, Joe was looking at you,
83	-->Timothy, Timothy -- ''God, what did we do?''
84	* The first words of the chorus of "The Departure" by Music/FallingInReverse are this verbatim.
85	* "Banks of the Ohio" is a folk song about [[spoiler: a man named Willie murdering his love for rejecting his marriage proposal.]] He immediately regrets it, crying "my God, what have I done?"
86	* Brad Paisley's "Whiskey Lullaby"'s first half has a man becoming an alcoholic after he gets his heart broken by a woman, killing himself when it gets too hard to keep going. Its second half is about that woman [[HistoryRepeats becoming an alcoholic and ending up killing herself]] because of her overwhelming guilt. Their friends decide to [[TogetherInDeath bury them under the same tree]].
87	* Near the end of Music/MitchBenn's "Music/EdSheeran Gets Everywhere":
88	-->And everyone thinks it's just super-duper,\
89	Playing on a small guitar with a looper.\
90	Which some of us were doing already, incidentally,\
91	Oh Christ, you don't think he got it from me?\
92	I was just trying to have a bit of musical fun,\
93	My God, what have I done?
94	* Music/TheMegas:
95	** Dr Light laments helping Wily build the first Robot Masters, thereby kicking off the endless battle, in "The Message from Dr Light":
96	--->''My mistakes, and my sins - what have I done?''
97	** Franchise/MegaMan ends ''Get Equipped'' with "Lamentations of a War Machine", which is entirely about his regrets about all the killing he's had to do. It takes him most of the ''History Repeating'' double album to recover.
98	--->''If I've a heart made of steel/Then does that mean I cannot feel/Remorse for everything I've done? My hand's a smoking gun!''
99	** Even [[BigBad Wily]] has his regrets, but the only one he has trouble rationalising is the creation of Gamma, a "peacekeeping robot" that becomes an OmnicidalManiac:
100	--->(First two choruses) ''I'll give you power, you'll take control.''\
101	(Final chorus) ''What good is power? You're out of control!''
102	* "Afterglow" by Music/TaylorSwift is about her feeling massive guilt after having a pointless fight with someone she loves and hurting them.
103	-->Why'd I have to break what I love so much?\
104	It's on your face, and I'm to blame, I need to say\
105	Hey, it's all me, in my head\
106	[[ItsAllMyFault I'm the one who burned us down]]
107	* "Careless Whisper" by ''Music/GeorgeMichael'' is about him betraying a friend (possibly cheating on them, though it could be he let slip something they told him in confidence, as the title suggests) and feeling really guilty about it
108	-->I'm never gonna dance again, guilty feet have got no rhythm
109	* "What I've Done" by ''Music/LinkinPark'' mixes this with TheAtoner and themes of rebirth and starting over. Bennington even explicitly stated on Website/TheOtherWiki that the song was about ''the band itself'', specifically how they've changed over the years and what they planned on doing musically going forward.
110	* "Wake Up Call" by Maroon 5 is about Adam Levine finding out his girlfriend cheated on her with another man and as a result, shot him. During the bridge, he begins to realise what he did was wrong and begins rhetorically asking his partner whether he did the right thing, knowing full well it was a mistake he was foolish to make. As he comes to terms with what he’s done he begins to [[OhCrap panic]], checking to see if the dead adulterer has a pulse, which he evidently won’t.
111	-->I'm so sorry, darling\
112	Did I do the wrong thing?\
113	Oh, what was I thinking?\

Context MyGodWhatHaveIDone / Music