Reincarnation: Songs
Songs with the theme of reincarnation written into the lyrics.
Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder - ["I'm so darn glad he let me try it again, 'Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then Gonna keep on tryin' 'Til I reach the highest ground"]
Yardbirds: On "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago," Keith and I were trying to write a song about reincarnation. We'd seen everything before, and it was all happening again. That was quite an interesting viewpoint, really. Meeting people along our way that we'd seen from another day. I can't remember exactly the lyric, but sort of bringing in that situation that we'd been there before. ~ Songwriter Interviews
Deja Vu: David Crosby (from the Guardian July 12,2008: "I'm one of those people who thinks we go round again. The Buddhists have got it right - it's a wheel and we get on and get off. I think life energy gets recycled. That's why I wrote Deja Vu.
Johnny Cash: "Highwayman" is a contemporary country music ballad written by songwriter Jimmy Webb, about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history, a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a star ship captain.
Toad the Wet Sprocket: Reincarnation Song - [something so big i can't understand from trying to i would go mad so i hurry back to little earth for another life, another birth]
Indigo Girls: Galileo - Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls wrote this song. She told us: "I was talking with my friend about reincarnation, what we believe. I wanted to write a song that was upbeat, that sort of took the whole subject sort of in a lighthearted way, even though I was thinking about it very seriously. Songwriter Interviews
Al Stewart: One Stage Before - Writer and historian Alexander Baron writes: "This is another of Stewart's enigmatic songs, this time about reincarnation.
George Harrison: The Art of Dying ~ Harrison followed Eastern religion and philosophies. One of those was reincarnation, which is described in the song's lyrics.
Marty Robbins: El Paso - Marty told Ralph Emery in 1977, "I was going to write a song about an airline pilot and a stewardess. They were married, see. He flew for one airline, she flew for another, and she went to El Paso. He flew over El Paso on his way to Los Angeles... He was trying to compare his love for this woman to the cowboy's love for Feleena in the song El Paso." One day Marty was flying over El Paso, and the reincarnation idea hit him. He had the song written by the time his plane landed in Los Angeles.
Popular Culture
Reincarnation seems to have captured the imagination of many and the idea receives regular mentions in feature films, popular books, and popular music.
Popular songs which refer to reincarnation include:
- The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg: by Iron Maiden
- The Reincarnation Song: by Mr A. and Mr C.
- Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation: by Santana
- Highwayman by The Highwaymen
- Champagne Supernova by Oasis
- Jillian by Within Temptation
- Reincarnation by Deine Lakaien
- Next Lifetime by Erykah Badu
- Where Or When by Rodgers and Hart
- Mas Alla:by Yanni (Spanish)
Popular Albums
- The Reincarnation of Luna: Ablum by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
- Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory: Album by Dream Theater
- Re-Mix-In-A-Carnation: Album by Wendy and Lisa
- Reincarnation: Album by Broken Poets
- Reincarnation of a Love Bird: Album by Paul Motian
- Tommy by The Who