Peace is a beautiful word. It means being at ease and calm with oneself or another person. Peace is the ability to find harmony within oneself and others. The world is going through a lot of changes right now.
There are so many wars and chaos happening in the world that it’s easy to get caught up in it and to feel hopelessly lost or paralyzed. Sometimes all you need is a song that can make you feel hopeful, no matter what you’re going through.
Here are 21 songs about peace and how you can find peace even during trying times.
Top Songs About Peace
“One Day” – Matisyahu
The song was released in 2008. It has an energetic and cheerful wish about the possibility of a future free of bloodshed. A world where children can play in peace and violence is not a part of human existence.
While many peace songs openly criticize the war, the song takes a gentler approach, with reflective lyrics that portray a peaceful world. It wishes for a day when people love each other and children can freely play without worrying about any type of conflicts.
“All You Need is Love” – The Beatles
The Beatles are one of the most beloved bands of all time, and for a good reason. They had an uncanny way of capturing the essence of human experience in their songs, including love. “All you need is love” is a perfect example of this.
The song talks about how love is the only thing that matters in life and can heal anything. It’s a beautiful message on first listen, but if you pay attention to the lyrics, they’re even more powerful than your first thought.
“Good Vibes featuring Lutan Fyah” – Rebelution
“Good vibes” has an excellent tune for rolling down the windows. It not only has a funky, beach-ready melody, but its words are far more profound than they appear.
They warn against prejudice, hatred, and discrimination while also encouraging people to love one another.
The words ”You should not judge a book by its cover. People look around and realize That beauty is the term that comes to mind when I see diverse skin hues, and I’ll rejoice and sing for them” wishes for a world where there is no discrimination.
This is a song for toasting with ice-cold beers in the sand.
“What The World Needs Now is Love” – Jackie DeShannon
This is a well-known song. However, few people remember that Jackie DeShannon was the band’s original singer back in 1965.
Since then, it’s been repeatedly covered, remixed, and remastered, but the original version is still as great as it was five decades ago.
The song bears a great message about peace. One should not take everyone for granted because life is fleeting, fragile, and valuable.
It is delicious to say to your loved ones now everything, you’ll regret if they die and your words go unheard. The world should rejoice because people are still here today.
“Get Along” – Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney avoids expressing anything overtly red or blue in “Get Along. The song encourages altruism in a world which brings good moral action. The song says the world grows more complicated when one deviates from simple morals.
One should understand that the basic stuff is where joy, love, and happiness are. Instead, he appeals for peace and tolerance from all, calling to the spirits of people who are tired of party lines and yearning for a reminder that everyone is human at the end of the day.
“Imagine” – John Lennon
John Lennon urges us to imagine a world without wealth, conflict, or religion in this lovely song. He calls on people to band together (“come join us”) and help the globe “live as one.” It’s one of the most potent songs for change, and it has become a peace anthem.
It’s difficult to overestimate the impact this record had (and continues to have) on society. In a soothing coo, John Lennon encourages listeners to picture a world without the things that cause division and violence, such as war, religion, and capitalism.
The vision he creates is stunning, and it is worth fighting for.
“Waiting On the World to Change” – John Mayer
The song was a commercial triumph and has won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 49th Grammy Awards.
John Mayer wrote this song as a peace hymn for tumultuous times, employing chord progressions common in blues and soul music.
It includes deep and meaningful words made even more emotional by Mayer’s rising and falling vocal range. While it covers serious issues like political corruption, it is ultimately a positive and inspiring song.
“I Wish You Peace” – The Eagles
Patti Davis, Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s daughter, co-wrote this song with Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon at the time. The Eagles’ lovely ballad is a gift of kindness.
The narrator wishes you “kind words when times are tough,” “shelter from the raging wind,” and “cooling waters at the end of the fever.”
“Where Is The Love by Black” – Eyed Peas
Although it was initially meant to respond to post-9/11 fear, the song covers a wide range of topics, including terrorism, US government hypocrisy, racism, gang crime, pollution, war, and intolerance, with the chorus’s call for love serving as a unifying factor.
This song was released during times of the Iraq war, and the bridge lyric “A war’s going on, but the reason’s covert” references it and its casus belli.
They list humanity’s flaws and ask, “Where is the love? They rap on violence (“a war is going on, but the reason is hidden”), racial prejudice (“if you just love your race, when you only leave room to discriminate”), and our obsession with money and greed (“most of us only worry about money”).
“Peace Train” – Cat Stevens
The song is very hopeful about the arrival of peace. Cat Steven is “dreaming about the world as one” and believes “it will come sometime.” “It’s not far away, and it’s growing closer.”
According to Cat Stevens, if the world wants to make the Peace Train a reality, They will need two tracks: one for Justice and the other for Well-being.” Everyone should have access to these two items, and then the Peace Train can take off.
The topic of peace and unity is never far away from the song.
“What’s Going On” – Marvin Gaye
Long revered as one of the top songs from the “free love” era and songs about peace, Gaye’s classic is as smooth as a summer drink sipped out on the porch. It promotes unity, brotherhood, and peace, both between peoples and also the elimination of war on a universal scale.
The ‘70s groove incorporates elements of various genres. The funky beat meets an R&B tone with an overlaid string track reminiscent of Motown.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were a musical powerhouse, at least as far as you can attribute that title to a folk duo. Though most of their songs were soft, this one takes the extra step into a piano ballad.
Promoting a sense of calmness and acceptance, “Bridge” is a promise from one person to a friend or even a lover, telling them they can lay their cares down when they come together for comfort and support.
“Zombie” – The Cranberries
Dolores O’Riordan and her band members gave us one of the catchiest earworms of the 90s, a song that persists as a classic rock and karaoke staple. The gritty aesthetic makes a stark contrast to O’Riordan’s crystal-clear piercing lines, which uses some elements of traditional Irish vocalizing with her trills and wails.
The lyrics of “Zombie” lament the existence of war, death, famine, and other cultural evils. Though it sounds bleak, people often cite this song as a peace anthem, if only from the anti-war perspective and not because they offer any encouragement or solutions.
“Peace of Mind” – Boston
This song would sit at the top of any list of tunes about peace of mind, and rightfully so. The 1970s-era hard sound makes it easy to jam to, and Boston’s customary vocal harmonies add a prism of colors to the classic-rock aesthetic.
The lyrics tell us that even in a world of competition and struggling through the corporate rat race, it’s possible to attain a sense of calm and acceptance of yourself.
“One Love” – Bob Marley
The quintessential genre of peace is probably reggae. Originating in Jamaica with roots in calypso, jazz, and R&B, Marley was one of the preeminent voices who rose above the din to promote a message of peace and harmony.
“One Love” urges people across barriers to get along to enjoy each other, play music, and spread feelings of goodwill. The laid-back guitar riff is just as much at home at an anti-war rally as on your speaker at home as you wake up in the morning and try to create a positive mindset for your day.
“Heal the World” – Michael Jackson
As with much of Jackson’s creative output, this tune doesn’t relegate itself to strictly music. There’s an entire extended music video that accompanies it, portraying children and adults of all races and cultures. Some are in peaceful situations like fishing, others in war-torn regions.
There are strong humanitarian ties with this song, notably the Heal The World Foundation that Jackson created as a resource for improving children’s lives.
“People Get Ready” – Curtis Mayfield
This tune is less of a peace song in its lyrics than for the humanitarian causes it became associated with. After Martin Luther King Jr. used it during the protests he led in the 1960s, it became a musical banner for African-American rights and harmony between races.
Mayfield penned this tune in the mid-60s, and it gained popularity with the R&B/soul group The Impressions recording. Though the lyrics are religious-tinted, it’s come to be known as a cultural stirring and not gospel-specific. As it says in the song, get onboard the train because “People Get Ready” is inspiring and encouraging while remaining an anthem of peace.
“Cool” – Gwen Stefani
This song portrays a different type of peace. Rather than humanitarian causes or cultural revolutions, Stefani sings about an intimate peace between ex-lovers. This song subject is especially interesting because she came from the ska-punk band No Doubt, which sat firmly in the rebellious 90s era and would have fit better on the edge of stirring up trouble!
The lyrics talk about past memories Stefani shares with her ex, and how they can speak respectfully to each other after heartbreak. The reference to her new last name implies that she has gotten remarried, making it even more impressive that the two can be friends.
“Peace, Love, and Happiness” – G. Love and the Special Sauce
This uplifting blend of R&B, soul, and zydeco introduces plenty of interesting ear fodder, such as multiple kinds of percussion and an organ/synth that takes center stage. A harmonica and electric guitar provide some extra color later in the tune.
The band sings a carefree message about letting go of the weight of the world and enjoying each other as well as the beauty that exists in the world.
“The Fiddle and the Drum” – Joni Mitchell
With undertones of wartime, perhaps even as far back as the Revolutionary War, this song pleads with a fictional soldier to ask what made them turn from peace to fighting. The narrator desperately wants to guide them back to a mindset of balance but doesn’t know how.
The most striking thing about this tune isn’t the lyrics, though, and it’s that the entire track consists only of Mitchell’s moving voice as she wanders melodically in search of an answer.
“No Place” – Backstreet Boys
Though you may travel worldwide and see everything there is to see, nothing compares to the comfort and safety of being with the one you love, and this is the message in “No Place,” a mid-tempo love song that celebrates an intimate connection and makes the list of songs about peace.
The Backstreet Boys have grown up, and many of them have gotten married and begun families, which explains the mature theme in this song. Chiller than their biggest hits from the 90s, this tune came out in 2019 as a track from their DNA album.
Born and raised in Austin, David is a dedicated writer and avid fragrance lover. When he's not trying out perfumes, he enjoys traveling and exploring new restaurants.