Happy songs with dark undertones

[chaps]

I enjoy a bright breezy or upbeat tune that actually hides far deeper lyrics or meaning. 

Two of my favourite examples of this are Australia by the Manics who I think most folk know the sentiment of.

The other that doesn't get as much airtime is Fastball - The Way. A lazy wee summer rock song that was briefly popular the late 90s where the subjects of the song appear to have upped sticks and left for a new life in the sun on a whim but their motor breaks down (presumably in the middle of nowhere) and condemns them to wander to their deaths and never be found...which is the most optimistic interpretation. It could also be listened to and taken as an older couple deliberately making the decision to check out together.

Anyone have other examples of liked songs where the lyrics or message certainly don't fit the overall upbeat vibe of the music?

 

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by djchapsticks

[coprolite]

Is Girlfriend in a Coma too obvious?

I’m a Boy by The Who has a pretty fucked up backstory.

I always found The Final Countdown quite distasteful.

[Paul Kersey]

Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

At first listen it sounds like a cheery, optimistic tune about graduates facing a bright future. But it's actually about impending nuclear armageddon.

[Moomintroll]

Not So Manic Now by Dubstar is pretty bleak when you get past the cheery tune.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Moomintroll

[GordonD]

Didn't Celtic once complain that The Hokey Cokey was sectarian because the 'left arm in, left arm out' stuff mocked the gestures the priest does during Mass?

[Richey Edwards]

Eternal disco favourite Cotton Eye Joe is apparently about STIs.

[Al B]

The best example I always think of for this, is I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. This live cover by Sleep Token captures the real sentiment of a song that's considered a party song.

 

[coprolite]

43 minutes ago, GordonD said:

Didn't Celtic once complain that The Hokey Cokey was sectarian because the 'left arm in, left arm out' stuff mocked the gestures the priest does during Mass?

I missed this before. Hilarious 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/singing-the-hokey-cokey-could-land-1002751.amp

not sure it was Celtic exactly.

[GordonD]

3 minutes ago, coprolite said:

not sure it was Celtic exactly.

Who else would it be?

[btb]

57 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

Eternal disco favourite Cotton Eye Joe is apparently about STIs.

As is BTO's You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet altho it actually has a happy ending....

And now I'm feeling better
'Cause I found out for sure
She took me to her doctor
And he told me of a cure

[hearthammer]

 

[Yoss]

 

[dorlomin]

Every Breath You Take is about the obsessions of a stalker ex. 

Quote

Sting later said he was disconcerted by how many people think the song is more positive than it is. He insists it is about the obsession with a lost lover, and the jealousy and surveillance that follow. "One couple told me 'Oh we love that song; it was the main song played at our wedding!' I thought, 'Well, good luck.'"^[15] When asked why he appears angry in the music video, Sting told BBC Radio 2, "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle little love song, when it's quite the opposite. Hence so."^[16] Gary T. Marx, sociologist and scholar of surveillance studies, wrote in 1988 that, while the song was "a love rather than a protest song", it "nicely captures elements of the new surveillance". He compared the lines to various new technologies of surveillance, including linking "every breath you take" to breath analyzers, "every step you take" to ankle monitors, and "every vow you break" to voice stress analysis.^[17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_Breath_You_Take

 

 

 

[Florentine_Pogen]

 

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Suzanne Vega - Luka, about a child getting a beating at home.

[Wile E Coyote]

Robert De Niro's Waiting by Bananarama is about a girl being raped

[Nkomo-A-Gogo]

This catchy tune is about school shootings.

[Lurkst]

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Lurkst

[SweeperDee]

[chaps]

On 14/05/2022 at 23:30, Florentine_Pogen said:

 

I mean to be fair, the message of the song may have been horrific 50 years back but it's almost idyllic in 2022.

$1.50 for a day out looking at trees sounds fucking magic. You'd be looking at least at £35 for that now.

Edited May 22, 2022 by djchapsticks