November is the final month of fall when the season makes its transition into the winter months of the dying year. It’s also full of big events like Thanksgiving, and relationships seem to start or end with no rhyme or reason. Given all of that, it’s no surprise that there are plenty of great tracks about November out there, and in this article, we’ll go over the 25 best ones.
1. November Rain – Guns N’ Roses
November Rain is probably the best and most successful song to ever be released about the month of November. Released by Guns N’ Roses in 1991, it would wind up being their final Top-10 hit by reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It mostly deals with the transition period of a new relationship and was one of the best power ballads of the decade and one of the last great classic rock bangers as well.
2. November Has Come – Gorillaz
November Has Come uses the changing of the seasons to detail the ups and downs of hip hop throughout history. While it’s never going away, it does seem to be on a downward trajectory from a quality standpoint, at least according to MF DOOM. Combining the lyrical genius of MF DOOM and the driving beats of Gorillaz is a match made in heaven, and it turned out to produce an excellent song.
3. Sweet November – SZA
When SZA was writing Sweet November, she was incredibly sick and on the verge of death. During that time, she remembered the film Sweet November, a movie that saw a woman who kept fooling around with a man who had no intention of taking things with her to a deeper level but ended up having his whole life changed. Her song sees her look at things through rose-colored nostalgia, yearning for simpler times. She even throws in a Marvin Gaye sample to help bring a little funk into the fold.
4. Cold November Wind – Willie Nelson
Cold November Wind by Willie Nelson is about the end of a relationship. It uses the cutting cold winds of November to describe the way a warm season of love can be scattered in the blink of an eye, even when it feels like it will never end.
5. November Tale – The Waterboys
November Tale might be the best sad song on the list, or at the very least, the most poetic. After a couple grows apart over the years and splits up, it leaves the speaker in tatters. He runs into a woman he used to know who tries to convince him God will provide relief, not his old life. While they don’t end up thinking the same way, they both agree to compromise.
6. November Spawned A Monster – Morrissey
November Spawned A Monster found itself in hot water after it was released, with many people feeling like the song made fun of physically disabled people. It wasn’t until people looked at the lyrics a little closer that they realized it was actually a track describing the sympathy they had for people with harder lives. A bit controversial, it dealt with all the insults and insensitive things a disabled woman had to go through in life but calls her beautiful and accepted in the end.
7. Mr. November – The National
Mr. November uses the month as a symbol of a specific person, likely John Kerry and his presidential run. US Presidential elections happening in November, at least the voting part of them. He would be referred to as both new blood and the great white hope in the song, but his actual involvement is mostly metaphorical in the context of this one. It really can relate to any situation you go through that has a lot of impact on your life and the pressure that comes when everything is on the line and the chips are down.
8. November – Tom Waits
Tom Waits’ album The Black Rider reeks of sadness and desperation. You could call the emotions of the album cold, which is exactly the feeling he was going for when he penned November. Just as November is a final plunge into the death of a year before its final month, the song references death and the end of things within its vivid and dark imagery. It’s the most chilling track on the album, including hauntingly eerie sounds and instrumentation.
9. November – Sleeping With Sirens
Not many people or bands pull off wonderfully positive songs about the month of November, but Sleeping With Sirens did. November is nothing short of hopeful. While it recounts the unchanging seasons of Kellen Quinn’s hometown in Oregon, it fantastically breaks free from the monotonous cycle that plagues his life. The track is about facing your fears, leaving home to find a better place, and ultimately fighting for freedom in your own life.
10. November Air – Zach Bryan
Zach Bryan titled his All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster album in 2022 in protest of the company essentially price gouging tickets and making it hard for people to go to concerts. November was one of the saddest tracks on the album, seeing him recount the loss of his mother and wishing he had more time to sit and talk with her. November is included in the song as a way to talk about her being gone, never again experiencing the cold winds that blow in during that month.
11. Gone Till November – Wyclef Jean
Gone Till November details the narrator’s choice to begin dealing drugs. He’s very much overworked and underpaid, so he turned to something that will be able to make him enough money to take better care of his girlfriend and family. The month of November comes into play because he had to leave his home to push the drugs, vowing to return in November with much more money than he currently has available.
12. last november – Machine Gun Kelly
The track last november saw Machine Gun Kelly ditch the bad-boy ascetic and his harder sound for a sorrowful single. The song mainly deals with the loss of his child, presumably the one who passed when his girlfriend suffered a miscarriage in November of 2021. It was an incredibly powerful and difficult experience for both of them and wore on their relationship heavily. But while the sound of the track may be out of character for him, it took nothing away from how good it was.
13. November 18th – Drake
Before Drake became that massive chart star we know him as today, he produced some very slept-on early work. November 18th sees him reminiscing on the times he was just trying to get his life together and figure things out. He was dumb, he made mistakes, and he didn’t have any direction. But the 18th was a significant day for him, one that saw him begin to turn things around.
14. November Song – Yerin Baek
If you came to this list looking for a track with the best vocal talent on display, it’s hard to argue against November Song by Yerin Baek. It’s a nostalgic, warmth-filled track about making sure you enjoy the little things in life.
15. November – Azure Ray
Azure Ray’s November is another song about how November has been ruined for the artist thanks to losing a loved one during that month. Sadly, the month now only reminds them of the loss, making it a tough time of year to get through.
16. Late November – Sandy Denny
Sandy Denning’s Late November isn’t the simplest of songs, but it’s about a journey the narrator takes in the month of November that brings a lot of clarity to their life. It’s a chill track despite not being the easiest to understand and one perfect for the fall months.
17. November – Gabrielle Aplin
Gabrielle Aplin is another artist who uses the shifting November weather to make a point with her single titled November. She used to love the month and everything associated with it, but after a bad breakup during November that lies in her past, she can’t stand it. All it does is make her sad and the cold rains of the month are just another reminder of what could have been.
18. Rose Hip November – Vashti Bunyan
Vashti Bunyan released her Just Another Diamond Day album in 1970, and her debut didn’t bring much acclaim or record sales. In 2000, the album was released on CD and the folk singer finally got recognition of her work. Rose Hip November was one of the best tracks on it, discussing the buds that appear on rose plants in the fall. It’s an utterly soothing and beautiful song that’s perfect to help you drift off or just relax.
19. November was White, December Was Grey – Say Hi
The winter months tend to be when seasonal depression hits and when everyday feels like it just creeps by. November Was White, December Was Grey sums up those feelings by describing November as cold but white and December as freezing and dreary. The whole song is about waiting through the dark days ahead and waiting for the brighter days ahead.
20. November Blues – The Avett Brothers
November Blues isn’t a song that will make you feel like that color; it leaves just enough positivity inside of its melancholy to help you chill out. Instead of focusing on the dreary and cold nature of the month, it spends time reminding the listener that November is a month of change, the transition of the season. It relates the changing of the leaves and the cooling weather to the unstoppable nature of time and how people change over time.
21. November Skies – Carnage Feat. Tomas Barfod And Nina Kinert
November Skies is another one of those songs that use the dreary imagery of November to start off in a dark place but eventually move its way into hope and happiness. Instead of talking about waiting for a better time of year or good days to finally come, it’s all about how every time of year is beautiful and it’s important to make the most of every day.
22. November Love Song – The Mountain Goats
November Love Song is a track that celebrates love. Sometimes, you wake up in the morning and feel off instantly, unsure of what’s wrong. Other times, the weather can drive you to feel that way. In this song, the narrator thinks about the day, the weather, and the love he has in his life, deciding that all he needs to get through his funk is that love.
23. November – PatrickReza
This song about November isn’t about a relationship ending, it’s about one beginning. The couple in the track meet each other after getting out of a vehicle that randomly catches on fire. The random occurrence gives him a reason to talk to the woman he’s already noticed and wanted to talk to anyways, which started their relationship off to a hot start.
24. Fall Into November – The Folk Implosion
Fall Into November by The Folk Implosion uses some strong imagery to relay a murky message that eventually gets cleared up by the end of the song. From describing a moat around a castle to quick transitions between the seasons, the track eventually gets to the point that you should enjoy life and all the various events of the year.
25. 45th of November – The String Cheese Incident
The track 45th Of November is a song of the future. It talks about all the things that can go wrong in life and how futile arguing with each other is. Because the date and time in the track are seemingly nonsensical, it adds to the fact that they’re talking about some far future, where people will look back in shame at the way we’ve been acting.
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As a contributing writer for Music Grotto, Dakotah writes and produces professional music/media content. He works closely with editorial staff to meet editorial standards and create
quality content for the Music Grotto website. Dakotah is passionate about music in a wide variety of genres, from hip-hop to country and lo-fi to metal, and he enjoys creating music pieces for Music Grotto.