Happy Father's Day! The Top 10 Songs About Not Having One

​​It's Father day today, but for many of us who grew up without a father, it's just or normal day -or should I say, a second Mother's day for those who have been raised by single moms who had to take both roles. Seeing all the merchandising about Father's day can be heart-breaking, like a constant reminder that everyone has a dad and those who don't are the weird ones. But don't ​​worry, music is always there to cheers us up. So here is the top 10 best songs about not having a father:

1. Daddy-The Midnight Beast

Via youtube.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WERMSmltyAQ

The midnight Beasts are a British comedy group. They also star in their own show on Channel 4. Daddy is one of their most serious songs. In it, Dru, one of the members tells the story of how his father left him and his mother when he was a kid for a Spanish cleaner and how much he resented him for that.

A great way to show that artists can make fun of a very serious and touchy issue.

2. No Daddy-Teairra Marry

Via youtube.com

I had no daddy around when I was growin' up
That's why I'm wild and I don't give a
Y'all think 'cuz these jeans fit I'd give it up
Don't let my cute face fool ya

Teiarra Mary's breakthrough hit, "no Daddy" is an upbeat, catchy and RNB song of her self titled debut album. In the song, Teairra sings about the things she had to go through because she had been raised by a single mum, and how despite her looks, she can snap back anytime.

The song is an anthem made to uplift other girls who grew up without a father, as Teairra tells them that she is there for them. The music video starts with a bang: Teairra is insulted by her stepfather and she then strikes back and punches him. Violence is never the answer but with a very cathartic scene for anyone who had to deal with shitty step fathers.

3. Sans re(Pères) -Sniper

Via youtube.com

Le temps évolue, j'ai fait face aux soucis, j'ai grandi
Maman est là, mais papa est parti et la j'ai compris
Qu't'as préféré tourner la page
J'étais pas du voyage, dire qu'j'te croyais au paradis
Vu qu'l'alcool fait des ravages

Translation:

Time went by, I faced my issues and grew up
Mum us there, but Dad is gone and then I got it
You choose to move on
I wasn't part of the plan, and I thought you were in Heaven
Because alcohol destroys everything

Sniper is a French hip hop band composed of Blacko, Tunisiano, and Aketo (Blacko later left the band). In "Sans re(pères)" (a pun between the french words for "landmark" and "father") from their album Gravé dans la roche, they talk growing without a father figure, and being lost and confused as a result. Each one of the rappers talk about their own stories, whether they had to deal with abusive fathers or fathers who abandoned them.

4. Breakdown - J. Coe

Via youtube.com

Just seen my father for the first time in a minute
And when I say a minute I mean years man
Damn, a whale could have swam in them tears fam
Cause as I left them I reflected on my younger days
When it was just me and my brother and my mother played
Father, cause no other man bothered

The American rapper J. Cole was born in Germany. Later on, his family moved to the States, where he and his brother were raised by their single mum. In "Breakdown", from his first album "Cole World: The sideline stories", he opens himself and confesses his anger, sadness and disappointment towards his father who was barely in his life, and all the things he had to learn on his own because he had no one to teach him.

5. Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer-Calogero

Via youtube.com

D'où vient ma vie certainement
Pas du ciel
Lui raconter mon enfance
Son absence
Tous les jours
Comment briser le silence
Qui l'entoure

Aussi vrai que de loin je lui parle
J'apprends tout seul à faire mes armes
Aussi vrai qu'j'arrête pas d'y penser
Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer
Est ce qu'il va me faire un signe
Manquer d'amour n'est pas un crime

Translation:

Where did my life begin
I didn't fall from the sky
Telling him all about my childhood
His absence
Every day
How to break the silence
Around him

I learn on my own how to sharpen my skills
As true as I can't keep thinking about it
If only he could miss me
Will he give me a sign?
Lacking love is not a crime

Calogero is a french singer. The song "Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer" (If only he could miss me), from his album 3, mentions how much his dad absence hurted him, and how he wishes his dad could have been present in his life, and show him how mich he loved him.

6. The father who must be killed -Morissey

Via youtube.com

Everything is in the title.

7. Daddy-KoRn

Via youtube.com

Little child, looking so pretty
Come out and play, I'll be your daddy
Innocent child, looking so sweet
A rape in my eyes and on your flesh I'll eat

KoRn is a famous American metal band, and "Daddy", out of their self-titled first album, is one of their most controversial songs. They barely perfolrm it in concerts. In the song, Jonathan Davis, the lead singer, opens up about the molestation he has been through when he was a child and lashes out his anger at his father who robbed him of his childhood by not believing him.

8. A song for XX-Ayumi Hamasaki

Via youtube.com

They always said I was a strong child.
They praised me, saying "you must be strong not to cry."
The more people said things like that,
the more even laughing became agony.

I was born alone. I'll go on living alone.
I thought that surely that kind of life is appropriate.

Translation provided by this site.

Ayumi Hamasaki, one of the most famous Japanese pop singer, has been raised by her single mother and grandmother. She never knew her father. She co-wrote almost most of her songs, where she openly talks about her feelings. In her first album "A song for xx", dedicated to the biological father she has never known, she sings about her loneliness, how she feels like she doesn't belong anywhere and how growing up without a father meant that she had to be strong, and no one was able to see how she didn't feel that way.

9. Good Girl gone bad-Rihanna

Via youtube.com

We stay moving around, solo
Ask us where you at, we don't know
And don't care (don't care)
All we know is we was at home cause you left us there
You got your boys and got gone
And left us all alone

Everyone knows who Rihanna is. In this song, of the album of the same name, she talks about her father absence, and how having very few boundaries pushed her to live life in the fast lane, and growing up fast.

10. Oh Father -Madonna

Via youtube.com

It's funny that way, you can get used
To the tears and the pain
What a child will believe
You never loved me

You can't hurt me now
I got away from you, I never thought I would
You can't make me cry, you once had the power
I never felt so good about myself

Everyone knows who Madonna is too, so I'll skip the intro. In Oh Father, Madonna sings about how her father's remarriage (after her mother's death) hurted her, and how she developed anger towards him. She was always a good girl, but when she realized his father has found love again, she started being rebellious.

Personally, I prefer the cover by Sia.