The best songs about fathers

The 25 best songs about fathers

In certain ways, it may have been easier to get gifts for your dad back in the day, as maybe there was a CD or cassette he was missing in his collection — or maybe he needed a quirky new hood ornament for his car or a glass of some very, very nice whiskey. Nowadays, dad doesn’t own a CD player and can’t figure out Spotify, or maybe he’s still working but isn’t commuting as much due to a global pandemic. No matter what, there are still some great songs about fathers out there: the ones dedicated to his love, the ones about a strained relationship and even the ones certain dads wrote about their newborn children.

Bruce Springsteen “My Father’s House” (1982)

Written about his strange compulsion to drive by his father’s house time and time again for years on end, Springsteen’s homage to his dad talks about the things he inherited and the things left unsaid between them. From his stripped-down 1982 masterpiece “Nebraska,” “My Father’s House” isn’t an easy listen, but it is a gorgeous, shining tribute to the memories he and his dad once had. “I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart,” Springsteen sings in a low grumble, “Will never again, sir, tear us from each other’s hearts.”

Reba McEntire “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” (1992)

Another beautiful song about a strained father-daughter relationship, Reba McEntire’s 1992 country classic is a striking ballad about all the ways to say “I love you” without ever saying “I love you.” “The greatest man I never knew lived just down the hall / And everyday we said hello but never touched at all,” McEntire sings over a plaintive piano and echoing drum fills. To some it may be sappy, but the song is so lyrically precise that its earnestness outweighs any sense of mawkish sentimentality, nailing down the feelings of millions with its stunning ending lines: “He never said he loved me / Guess he thought I knew.”