Owl eyes crown the night with their notorious gleaming, carving their glaring image upon the haunting landscapes of horror for centuries.
Underlying the owl’s spooky mystique is the abundance of spiritual symbolism dating back to antiquity; lifting the species into a token for divine wisdom, beauty, intuition, freedom, spirit and transformation.
We’ve collected the most mindblowing songs about owls, reflecting every spooky and serene thread of mythology tasseling an owl’s wings with enchantment.
Songs About Owls
1. Grima – Cedar And Owls
Cedar And Owls is a lushly atmospheric black metal track, its thick sound throttling you fearlessly into the dark, star-crowned depths of the tangled forest.
Grima illustrate the owl’s throne of twisted branches and hollowed trees, by adorning their track with a plethora of enchanting sonic elements, conjuring the evergreen horror of what lies in the dark
Cedar And Owls streams with hypnotising solos, synths, organs and guttural vocals which embody the howling winds, carving midnight’s chill deep within your bones.
Grima contrasts their lightlessness with moments of breathtaking sparsity, presenting like a clearing in the trees, or the sunrise overtaking the perpetual blackness. This is a gem of black metal, glimmering with owl samples and the ancient, indomitable energy of nature.
2. Edward Elgar – Owls
British composer, Elgar’s 1908 choral composition, Owls: An Epitaph, is a hauntingly sparse track, perhaps one of the shortest pieces amongst Elgar’s many works, but one of the most stunningly evocative musical compositions about owls ever crafted.
His halted sense of harmony sounds with a wonderfully eerie, Gothic ambience, like an disturbed dissection of elements from Disney/Tchaikovsky’s classic Sleeping Beauty soundtrack, or the haunting of an ancient woodland cathedral ravaged by overgrowth.
The unsettling nature of the night-blind forest is summoned through the choir’s seeping tones and ominous lyrics, “What is that? Nothing, the leaves must fall, and falling rustle; that is all; they are dead as they fall, dead at the foot of the tree,” creating a soft sense of impending doom amid an endless searching for light.
3. The Night Owls – The Night Owls
The Night Owls conjure the mystic aura of the owl’s woodland home in their mesmerizing self-titled track.
Their lyrics are flushed with serene scenery and moonlit skies, crafted to echo the peaceful life of the owl, alongside your own inspired lifestyle of woodland walks and spiritual cleansing;
“Walking away from the light of day, the night stops our fears and our doubts… Making peace with the battles we have fought, we heal the scars of the mistakes of our past.”
This esoteric track illustrates the patterns of anybody so enchanted by the night that they dread the thought of the sun breaking upon the horizon, “The stars guide our path, between dreams and resting songs, free of the stares of others, free under the stars together, under the stars tonight.”
4. The Lost Words – Ghost World
The Lost Words paint their harmony with rich, dreamy tones, fluid in mystique and an ancient, mythical sound.
Ghost Owl carries a sound as plush as the black velvet sky, though with a disembodied sense of being to reflect their ghostly sentiment.
The Lost Words craft this song into a breathtakingly cinematic piece, capturing a story of owl-watching to the silence of night. This is a track that truly summons the cleansing aura of the natural Earth within its pure, acoustic soundscape.
5. Cosmo Sheldrake – Owl Song
This instrumental track is an experimental masterpiece, created over a long nine-year period, plucking its authentic sounds from the trees of Britain.
An array of endangered bird songs are crafted into samples, arranged beautifully to create an authentic natural landscape, as haunting as the sightless, foreboding sound of birds cawing restlessly through the grim hours of night.
Cosmo Sheldrake anchors this enthralling track in a synth with a phantomesque, 1980s horror vibe.
He uniquely refrains from embellishing Owl Song with a beat, instead conjuring the trancelike horror of being lost in an endless, winding forest, with no landmarks in sight but the elusive calling of the birds.
6. Phora – Night Owls
Phora puts a captivating twist on our owl concept, with his 2014 rap track, Night Owls.
He defines his vision in the very first line, “This is that late night/early morning type s*** y’know, I just gotta get some s*** off my chest,” shaping a song that lays bare the honesty that crawls through the insomniac’s hours.
The clean air of the sleeping night can be cutting with its chill, whilst late night, overtired conversations are shred into ribbons of despair; sentiments Phora draws on in his trance-like track.
Night Owls carries a sound with glistening melodic highlights, radiating like dusky lamplight or golden starshine illuminating the hopelessly dark heavens. Phora crafts a stunning reflection of that strange 3am state where weariness meets wide awake.
7. Josh Garrels – White Owl
Josh Garrels’s mesmerising track, White Owl, calls upon the owl as a spirit animal and a symbol of peace, guiding the narrator through bleak obscurity and back to the realms of the sun.
This song captures an enchanting, timeless feel, its flickers of inspiration spanning the genres and wavering eras of music, whilst painting a lush landscape which carefully reflects the elusive, otherwordly nature of an owl’s shrouded dwelling.
White Owl’s story is centred around finding equilibrium with the owl’s aura of transformation and wisdom, and accepting its qualities into your own self. Its chorus melody is overwhelmingly nostalgic, as if longing for the peaceful blessing of the white owl.
8. Gerry Rafferty – Night Owl
Gerry Rafferty’s retro pop track, Night Owl, is a time capsule of rock, threading elements of disco and funk into its vintage 1979 rock sound. Rafferty crafts his harmony with an unfading sense of nostalgia that instantly sweeps you away, back to a golden age of music.
This is a song about feeling the bitter sting of loneliness every time the night bestows her gloom upon the Earth, compelling you to venture outwards and find a bright new sense of life within the shadows.
Night Owl is an anthem for anyone feeling invisible, who longs to be as free as a night-bird despite being tied down by weariness; “Yes, I get a little lonely when the sun gets low, and I end up looking for somewhere to go, I should know better but I can’t say no.”