"DLMD" by 311 implores a girl to leave her abusive boyfriend ("DLMD" stands for "Don't let me down").
"Tormented Kid" by Australian rapper 360 is a story about a man who abuses his wife and son.
On Daniel Amos' album Horrendous Disc, the title track starts off with a musician who's "killed his wife with words, confident it's private rage". But then the song gets weird, as a (seemingly magical) Accidental Public Confession reveals the musician's abuse for all his fans to witness.
Alec Benjamin's "Must Have Been The Wind" is about a man who hears a loud noise and crying in another apartment. He goes to investigate and the woman who answers the door says the noise was probably just the wind.
David Bowie's "Repetition" is about the grim routine this can fall into, with a bitter man verbally and physically abusing his wife.
"99 Biker Friends" by Bowling for Soup is about the singer telling an abusive husband/boyfriend to knock it off on pain of the 99 bikers showing up and kicking his ass.
"The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks. Combined with a CMA-award winning video that graphically depicted a man slapping around his wife when he arrives home, she having suspected him of having an affair. The live version, featuring a third verse where the wife murders the husband, only makes it more explicit.
"Alyssa Lies" by Jason Michael Carroll, this time with a 7-year-old girl falling victim.
The Chicks' song and music video "Goodbye Earl" has one half of a Blood Sisters duo getting married and getting abused by the title character. The two of them get together and kill him.
In "Wee Cooper of Fife," #277 of the Child Ballads, the cooper responds to his wife's refusal to perform housework by putting a sheepskin over her back.
Oh I'll no thrash your gentle kin Nickety nackety noo noo noo But I will thrash my ain sheepskin
"Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson speaks to the aftereffects of abuse, including a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence. The original video by Kelly Clarkson is focused mostly on the singer's fear of repeating her parents' marriage, in which her father was physically and emotionally absent for both wife and daughter. The duet with Reba McEntire portrays it as interpersonal violence, with Kelly Clarkson being the victim of an emotionally and physically abusive boyfriend. The original video ends on a hopeful note, with the singer putting a stop to the cycle and making up with her boyfriend; the second video ends more tragically as Kelly leaves with the abusive boyfriend while Reba sings the final lyrics and looks on sadly.
Paula Cole's "Throwing Stones" is about a couple coming to blows in their relationship, getting to the point of throwing stones at each other until both of them die.
Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home," about an abused wife burning down the family home with her abuser inside. The lyrics and video are fairly vague, but it has been confirmed by the artist in recent years to be a murder ballad and many fans of the song assume that where Sunny had been before she "came home" was in the hospital, recovering from injuries sustained by an abusive partner.
Sunny came home with a list of names
She didn't believe in transcendence
It's time for a few small repairs she said
Sunny came home with a vengeance
Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed" from Welcome to My Nightmare is a ballad about a woman in an abusive marriage.
Franco De Vita: The theme of "Un extraño en mi bañera" (A Stranger In My Bathtub). In it, Franco roleplays as a woman who is being physically abused by her husband. The woman tells how she's unable to recognize her husband when he's in his darkest mood, yet she's unable to denounce him due to fears of being ridiculed. Near the end of the song, Franco breaks character to make a non-sung commentary on the outcome: The husband ends up killing the woman and, due to the incompetence of the justice, he gets acquitted due to the lack of witnesses; everyone who hears about this news claim that people must prevent a repeat of this in the future, but even that hollow resolve won't revert what already happened.
Céline Dion has one obscure song, "This Time", which touches this issue.
One more hour burns So scared of his return That I can't sleep tonight In this hospital light.
Rapper El-P draws inspiration from growing up with an abusive stepfather over the course of multiple songs:
"The Last Good Sleep" is harrowingly autobiographical, as he narrates the night his stepfather almost beat his mother to death. The song's title refers to how he was never able to sleep restfully afterward.
"Stepfather Factory" reimagines abusive stepfathers as cutting-edge robots that El is hawking to families, touting the titular factory as beneficial to the community and explaining that the alcohol-fueled stepfathers have a slight chance of malfunctioning and beating their families.
"For My Upstairs Neighbor (Mums the Word)" opens with El being an unhelpful police interviewee, only for its second verse to rewind the clock and reveal that that morning he had run into a neighbor who was a victim of domestic abuse and promised he'd cover for her if she killed her abuser.
Eminem was famously in a Destructive Romance with his ex-wife Kim Scott. He frequently writes songs about his relationship with her, as well as about the topic in general - some autobiographical, some done from his Anti-Role Model shock comedy Slim Shady persona and/or Played for Laughs.
Its prequel "Kim", written after Kim had left him, dramatises the actual murder, and is much Darker and Edgier.
The unreleased "50 Ways" (which eventually found its way onto various mixtape), written during Eminem's second divorce from Kim, has the dubious distinction of being the last song in which Eminem raps about murdering Kim, as well as the one with the least artistic merit. It's possibly a prequel to "Kim", with the verses describing his perspective on their relationship, punching out her front teeth, throwing her in the car, and plotting to kill her in the same way as he does in the above songs. The hook is a sample of Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover", playing over the sound of her screams.
In his verse on "Watch Dees", Slim raps, "I hate my life. That's why I degrade my wife."
Eminem also had a domestic violence charge for assaulting his abusive mother; in "Kill You", Slim raps his fantasy about killing and raping her.
In "Can-I-Bitch", Slim assaults Canibus: "So I stabbed him twice, kept jabbin'—Christ! He won't die! This guy's like a battered wife! He's like Kim: he keeps comin' back for more!"
On Encore he writes a couple of fairly light-hearted Masochism Tango abusive relationship songs:
In "Crazy In Love", he's in a long-term relationship with a woman who he "fistfights" and chokes.
In "Love You More", the more his woman beats and emotionally abuses him, the more it makes him love her:
'Cause I hate you, do you hate me? Good, 'cause you're so fuckin' beautiful when you're angry It makes me wanna just take you and just throw you On the bed and fuck you like I don't even know you
In "When I'm Gone", he describes to his daughter that it wasn't him beating up her mother, it was Slim Shady.
During the Recovery era in particular, he liked to write about abusive relationships with women who were Allegorical Characters for drugs and/or the rap game:
In "So Bad": "I got you caught up in the rapture, make you recapture the feelings you had for your last boyfriend before he slapped ya [...] ...if I'm what you wanted, why'd you panic when I grabbed ya?"
"25 to Life" allegorises his rap career as a relationship with a controlling, abusive wife who refuses to respect him, controls how he spends his free time, who he's allowed to spend time with and how he's allowed to dress, and tearfully begs him to come back if he says he's leaving.
"Space Bound" is about a toxic relationship in which Eminem loses interest in his girl once he's got her, then, once he realises she's going to leave him, chokes her, snaps her neck, and kills himself.
"Love the Way You Lie" is about a Destructive Romance where both are emotionally and physically abusive. The video stars Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan as a couple in a mutually abusive relationship. Rihanna's sequel "Love The Way You Like (Part II)" is from the girlfriend's POV, with an Eminem guest verse describing his reaction as a victim of her abuse rather than the perpetrator.
"So Much Better" (on The Marshall Mathers LP 2) is another song about smacking around a woman representing the rap game, who's cheated on him with Dr. Dre, Drake and Lupe Fiasco and broken his heart.
In "Rap God", he jokes about his penchant for Misogyny Songs despite his otherwise rather sweet personality outside of kayfabe - "but if I can't batter the women, how the fuck am I supposed to bake them a cake, then?"
"Love Game" is a comedic song about Slim murdering some of his insane, slutty and clingy girlfriends, with a guest spot from Kendrick Lamar reprising his disease-riddled Sherane character from good kid, m.A.A.d city (amusingly, in a Slim Shady style).
"Bad Husband" is an apology to Kim for the way he treated her.
The Eve song "Love is Blind" is about a woman whose friend was in an abusive relationship with a man who beat and raped her. It ends in a Downer Ending where the friend is beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend. In revenge, the singer kills the man and ends up arrested.
"Pick Up The Phone" by Falling in Reverse is about an abusive and jealous boyfriend.
"Working My Way Back To You" by The Four Seasons (later covered as a medley by the Spinners with "Forgive Me, Girl" added) is about an apparently reformed abuser trying to win back the girl who dumped him for being an abusive jerk.
Andy Griggs' "Waitin' on Sundown" is about a man named Jimmy who helps a woman named Shelby make her escape from an abusive relationship.
"Pulling Teeth" by Green Day is a female-on-male example.
Is she ultra-violent, is she disturbed? I better tell her that I love her Before she does it all over again, oh God she's killing me
Halsey: Her character in "If I Can't Have Love I Want Power", Queen Lila, is treated very badly by the king, her husband, to the point that she ends up poisoning him to escape.
"Louisville Slugger" by The Have Nots is another song where the narrator implores a girl to leave her abusive relationship — the title refers to the weapon the narrator wishes to use to threaten the abusing boyfriend with ("I got a Louisville slugger in the back of my ride / make the call and I'll be there by your side")
"Run Rabbit Run" by The Hoosiers uses animal allegories to describe a person in a dangerous relationship. The singer warns them to leave it.
I saw a fox by the rabbit hole You saw a prince from a fairy-tale He promised that he'd look over you Turned out to be the fox we all knew Too good to be true What chance did you stand?' Take flight, turn tail Get out while you can Run, rabbit, run, as fast as you can Don't look back
In Lightin' Hopkins' "Bring Me My Shotgun," a man calls for his shotgun, proclaiming that he's going to shoot his wife and hide her body for cheating on him. His wife stands firm and dares him to do it. The man then admits that his shotgun doesn't actually fire. It was all an empty threat.
The Hozier song "Cherry Wine" also features a rare example of female-on-male emotional and physical abuse. The music video shows male-on-female domestic abuse. The song is about a man who is in love with a woman who fights with him, beats him, and likely cheats on him as well. He's scared of his lover, and his mother doesn't like their relationship, but he refuses to leave her.
Way she tells me I'm hers and she's mine Open hand or closed fist would be fine The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine
The video of Sam Hunt's "Take Your Time," a massive country hit in 2015. Instead of playing on the storyline of a young man just honestly wanting to get to know an attractive woman at the local college bar (rather than someone looking for sex with one), this bar story takes a much darker turn. Indeed, a good chunk of the video is set in a bar and one of the central characters is indeed a young woman, but this woman is constantly berated and/or slapped around by the no-good SOB of her tattooed, drunken boyfriend ... sometimes at the bar, sometimes at the local coin-op laundry, sometimes at their home, often with their baby in sight. Hunt, meanwhile, often witnesses this and is seething angry every time he witnesses the guy's actions, but butts out. Until one day, he's walking along the street. He sees the woman try to make her getaway, suitcase and baby in hand. With suitcase and baby (barely) in the truck, the boyfriend tries to grab the woman and plans to brutally beat her to death. Hunt sees what's about to happen and can take no more ... and rushes up to beat the boyfriend up, giving the young woman the opening she needs to make her getaway. Hunt has a bloody lip at the end — heck, he doesn't even really win the fight — but he has held the punk back long enough for the woman to drive out of sight, and presumably out of her now ex-boyfriend's life forever. The moral in the end, of course, was that Hunt wasn't looking for a relationship with a woman or steal someone's girl ... it was that he was doing the right thing.
Inna's "Endless" video starts with her boyfriend verbally abusing her while she sings calmly, intercut with their happier times, escalating to physical fighting near the end, at which point she finally gets rid of him. However, the actual lyrics don't quite match the video.
Touched on in Stan Kenton's "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine".
And when his wife said "Hey now! What did you get for me?" He socked her in the choppers Such a sweet, sweet guy was he!
Russian band Kis-Kis's music video for their song "Molchi" ("Be Quiet") is about this and child abuse. note The song itself seems to be more about Bystander Syndrome, and the video has shades of this as well.
"If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight is about a woman trying to convince a man to breakup with his emotionally abusive girlfriend/wife and be with her instead.
The Mercedes Lackey song "It Was A Dark And Stormy Night" featured a Countess who was verbally abusive to her husband, and not particularly pleasant to everyone else in the household. When she suddenly died (by having the lute she played while forcing people to listen to her awful singing every night shoved down her throat), the investigators found that everyone in the household had their every action accounted for, and were forced to call the death 'suicide'.
Pretty much all of the work made by Industrial/neoclassical musician Lingua Ignota is about domestic abuse. This is also a case of Write What You Know, as she has been in numerous abusive relationships and intends to exorcise her traumatic experiences with her harsh, nightmarish body of work.
"Earthquake" by Little Boots is a classic case of suffering an abusive relationship and keeping quiet about it.
Lovers & Liars' song "I'm Not Him" is about a man who is in love with someone who is still haunted by a past abusive relationship.
"'Til Death Do Us Part" and "Oh Father" from Madonna's Like a Prayer album both deal with abuse, first husband/wife, and second parent/child. The video for the latter song incorporates both types of abuse into its imagery, suggesting that people who grew up in abusive homes end up in abusive relationships of their own.
The song "Tainted Love" could be seen in this light, especially when listening to Marilyn Manson's cover.
"Push" by Matchbox Twenty is one of the few songs that deals with female on male domestic abuse. The male singer is being abused by his girlfriend, emotionally and possibly physically.
"Gunpowder & Lead" by Miranda Lambert. Actually, the reason the male antagonist went to jail, because he "slapped my face and shook me like a rag doll."
"Teddy Bear" by Melanie Martinez is about a woman whose sweet 'teddy bear' of a boyfriend suddenly turns dark on her. When she begins finding knives under the bed, and crumbled photographs of herself, she starts getting worried. He then tries to kill her and she kicks him out. Afterwards he begins stalking her and calling her but only breathing into the phone. That's when she really becomes terrified.
Martina McBride had several songs addressing the topic, at least two involving adults and the other a young girl:
"Independence Day," an empowering ballad of a woman freeing herself from her abusive, alcoholic husband, told from the point of view of her 8-year-old daughter. As the title suggests, it takes place on the Fourth of July, giving the song a double meaning. The song and video, which came out in 1994, were controversial for its graphic depiction of a man beating his wife and destroying their possessions, as well as just how the mother puts an end to the abuse; the video ends with both the victim and abuser dying in a house fire set by the abused wife. The little girl returns from a town parade to find her home engulfed in flames and police surrounding it; she is sent to the "county home". The song is also noticeable for its condemnation of a town that knew about the abuse, but "everybody looked the other way" and its non-condemnation of the mother's actions in killing herself and her husband.
"Concrete Angel," where an omniscient observer feels sympathy for a little girl whose mother had killed her.
"A Broken Wing" is about emotional/psychological abuse. A woman stays with a man who constantly belittles her and witholds affection. The last verse leaves the ending to the story ambiguous...the man sees his wife/girlfriend is not in church and finds a note and an open window. It's unclear on whether she simply left or committed suicide.
Mark McGuinn, a country singer from the early 2000s, had his first – and only hit – with "Mrs. Steven Rudy," a song about a young man who lives next door to a young couple who constantly fight. The song's lyrics, That wedding ring's as ugly as your husband is to you and Sometimes Mrs. Rudy calls cryin' late at night/'Cause her and Mr. Ugly have had another fight imply that not all is well in their relationship, and the young man knows that he can provide a far better relationship for her than "Mr. Ugly" could.
"Your Southern Can is Mine" by Blind Willie McTell is sung by a domestic abuser telling his woman that she cannot escape him. The White Stripes have recorded a version.
Now, looky here, momma, let me explain you this You wanna get crooked, I'll even give you my fist You might read from Revelation back to Genesee You get crooked, your southern can belongs to me
"He's Hurting Me" is about an emotionally, and possibly physically, abusive relationship. The protagonist is begging someone to come over and help her deal with her angry boyfriend who thinks she's lying about something. She's also is in denial about it.
It's not his fault I made him lose his temper I should know better not to talk too loud There's no one who can love me better I'm not like you—you are too proud
"It Took Me By Surprise" is a rare example being from the POV of the female abuser. It's about a woman who emotionally abuses and manipulates her boyfriend until he begins to hate and fear her.
Now he's afraid of me It took me by surprise The hatred in his eyes I pushed this man as far as he could go But he lacked the words to let me know He acted out Now I can see it is my fault
The music video for Shawn Mendes' "Treat You Better", where Mendes is portrayed trying to convince a girl to build up the strength to leave her abusive boyfriend — the video ends with the number for the National Abuse Hotline appearing on the screen. It's ambiguous as to whether the song itself is meant to portray abuse too: The narrator doesn't like how the subject's boyfriend treats her and thinks she'd be better off leaving with him, but the lyrics don't really mention why, other than the fact that he's not "a gentleman" and causes her to cry on a regular basis.
"Not to Blame" by Joni Mitchell is about a serial abuser who always avoids responsibility for his actions, even when it drives his partners to suicide. The song is alleged to be about Mitchell's ex-boyfriend Jackson Browne, who was facing down well-publicized allegations that he physically abused his then-girlfriend Daryl Hannah when the song was released. Mitchell denies this, but the similarities between the song's lyrics and known events in Browne's personal life have not gone unnoticed, and even garnered an angry response from Browne in the media.
"The Little Girl" by John Michael Montgomery, where the title character — a young girl — witnesses increasingly violent confrontations between her father and mother, culminating in a murder-suicide.
Though the song focuses on lead singer Jacoby Shaddix's childhood, Papa Roach's "Broken Home" has shades of this. The music video lampshades this. The guy (Jacoby's father) verbally abuses his wife and even rapes her.
I'm crying day and night now, what is wrong with me? I cannot fight now, I feel like a weak link
"Only The Wind". (Word of God says it is indeed about domestic abuse and not AIDS, as commonly believed.) "There's nobody hiding behind a locked door/And no one's been lying 'cause we don't lie anymore." The abused lover says "I'm sorry..." at the end and is implied to have either left or killed the abuser.
"One More Chance" may also be about this: "Chained, framed, you know what I mean. Push me in the corner and I'll scream." On the other hand, it may be interpreted as an Obligatory Bondage Song.
The music video for P!nk's "Please Don't Leave Me" is about a batshit insane Yandere who abuses her husband. Thankfully, she's portrayed as the crazy woman she is, and she doesn't get away with it.
Finnish band PMMP's "Joku Raja" is about a woman fed up with being physically abused and threatening to kill her abuser if he hits her again.
"The Phone Call" where some unknown benefactor tries to get the victim out of the circumstances.
Even more known: "Thin Line Between Love and Hate", where the obedient wife suddenly goes berserk.
Rachel Proctor's song "Me and Emily" tells the story of a woman who packs up her daughter to escape a physically abusive husband.
"Face Down" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. In the music video, the wife is shown collecting her things from the house in preparation for leaving the abuser. As she walks through it, certain items shatter or explode, representing when her abuser destroyed them in his anger.
"Face down in the dirt," she said, "This doesn't hurt," she said, "I've finally had enough."
There are the truly grim recordings on Lou Reed's Berlin album, including "Caroline Says" (as she gets up off the floor/You can hit me all you want to/But I don't love you anymore) and the coda "Sad Song" (I'm going to stop wasting my time/Somebody else would have broken both of her arms)
"Two Beds And A Coffee Machine" by Savage Garden is about a woman and her child dealing with the aftermath of domestic abuse.
Jessica Simpson's "Remember That" is about a woman giving advice to another woman who is in an abusive relationship.
The Statler Brothers: Their 1977 hit "I Was There" has lyrics that could imply that a young man's former childhood crush is being abused by the man she married, particularly with the dark lyric "I loved her first, but he loved her worse ... ."
The strength of his arm, My lover caught me off-guard.
"Animal Nitrate" by Suede, in which the protagonist falls victim to the charms of an abusive boyfriend.
The Jazmine Sullivan song "Call Me Guilty". But she gets revenge by murdering him.
Taylor Swift's song "Dear John," from the album Speak Now, never explicitly calls the narrator's ex abusive, but the description of his behavior that eventually led to her breaking up with him is textbook emotional abuse in a lot of ways. Given that most of her Breakup Songs are simply "we weren't right for each other" or "we fought all the time," this one is shockingly dark, with her realizing in hindsight how toxic the relationship was.
Alternating between sweetness and cruelty at the drop of a hat? Check, she describes "wondering which version of you I might get on the phone." She also says that the instability of their relationship made left her "praying the floor won't fall through... again."
Being inconsistent about what his expectations from her and their relationship are? Big check, she comments on this in several lines, accusing him of "keeping lines blurry, never impressed by me acing your tests" and "[changing] the rules every day."
For that matter, the implication that he would "test" her love and loyalty is also a hallmark of an abusive (or at least unhealthy) relationship.
She repeatedly emphasizes that she was barely nineteen when they dated, implying that he was much older and was taking advantage of her naivete and driving her to tears. (The song is almost certainly about John Mayer, who dated Taylor when he was thirty-one and she was nineteen.)
Isolating her from family and loved ones? This one's implied; she describes that her "days once revolved around you," and mentions that her mother expressed concern about the relationship, but she brushed her off.
It's made clear that his behavior is a pattern; the narrator describes his past girlfriends with "tired, lifeless eyes, 'cause you burned them out" and deeply regrets not listening to the people that tried to warn her about him.
Elvira T:
The music video for her song "Nevynosimo" ("Unbearably") is about this. The video begins with Elvira being intimidated by her boyfriend, who has her backed against the way in a threatening manner. As the video goes on, it becomes more graphic, and Elvira is shown bleeding from the mouth at several points and is even shown being brutally choked by him at one point. It all comes to a head when the abusive boyfriend forces her to the ground and holds her head down with his boot, with the scene gradually becoming bloodier. The video ends with a disturbing scene of her choking on her own blood before finally closing her eyes and going limp, possibly having died.
Her other song "Moy Paren Psikh" ("My Boyfriend Is Psycho") is also about this.
"Back For Good" by Take That! seems to imply that an abusive relationship is taking place between the singer and his loved one.
We'll be fighting, and forever we will be
So complete in our love
We will never be uncovered again.
Richard Thompson's "She Twists The Knife Again" is sung from the perspective of a man being emotionally and physically abused by his partner.
"Voices Carry" by 'Til Tuesday is about a woman in an abusive relationship who fears expressing her emotions about what she feels about her lover.
The Shania Twain song "Black Eyes, Blue Tears" is an empowerment anthem about a woman attempting to break free from an abusive relationship.
"Blown Away": The central character is a teenaged girl who is abused by her father. She gets her escape when a storm destroys their house and kills the father in the process.
"Church Bells": A young country girl marries into money...but the rich guy gets drunk and beats her. She retaliates by poisoning his alcohol with something "no lawman was ever gonna find."
And how he died remains a mystery But he hit a woman for the very last time
Suzanne Vega's smash hit "Luka" is about a boy who gets beaten at home, but constantly denies it to avoid unwanted attention.
Yes, I think I'm okay I walked into the door again If you ask, that's what I'll say And it's not your business anyway
Wall of Voodoo's "Factory" is about a factory worker whose dangerous, monotonous, and stressful job has caused him physical and mental harm - one sign of the latter is when, near the end of the song, he casually admits "just lately when my wife talks back to me, I smack her around".
A Jimmy Wayne song, "The Rabbit". It ends with the wife being acquitted of her husband's murder.
Betty Wright's "Go!" is about a woman in an abusive relationship finally finding the strength to leave.
"I Know I'm A Wolf" by Young Heretics uses animal symbolism. The protagonist is a "wolf" who wants to denounce his previous ways and be kind to the "rabbit" he's talking to.
Played for Laughs in Jerry Colonna's rendition of "(Why Oh Why Did I Ever Leave) Wyoming".
Oh give me back my prairie and my saddle and wild game Where the hills are nice and curvy and the women are the same Where skies are always bluer and the cowboys' songs are sad Where men are punchin' cattle and mother's punchin' dad
by 311 implores a girl to leave her abusive boyfriend ("DLMD" stands for "Don't let me down").