Elephant

Album: Southeastern (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Jason Isbell told Uncut magazine about this defiant and intimate witnessing of a loved one dying of cancer, whose inspiration dates back to before he met his wife, songwriter/fiddler Amanda Shires: "I was living above this bar in Sheffield, Alabama, for a long time before I moved to Nashville with Amanda and I was dating this girl that worked at the bar," he recalled. "I told her she couldn't get too attached to the people sitting around the bar because they're all gonna disappear, and sure enough – within a couple of years, half the regulars were gone. It's hard for me to get through it some nights. It's a sad song."

    Isbell and Shires were married from 2013-2024.
  • According to Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers, a group that Isbell departed in 2007, this is the "best song of 2013."
  • "Elephant" topped Taste of Country's 2025 list of the most depressing country songs of all time. They said:

    "The song is extra impactful because its subject matter - cancer - touches so many lives, and so many listeners have experienced the futility of watching a loved one succumb to this terrible disease."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino EditionMusic Quiz

Whether he's splitting ears or burning Nazis, Quentin Tarantino uses memorable music in his films. See if you can match the song to the scene.

Jules Shear - "All Through The Night"

Jules Shear - "All Through The Night"They're Playing My Song

Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.