Happy sounding songs that aren't really all that happy.

[Saiyaman]

"He's the one who likes all our pretty songs
and he likes to sing along
and he likes to shoot his guns
but he knows not what it means
Don't know what it means."
- Nirvana "In bloom"

That lyric comes from a song which sounds cheery and as dictated was sung along loudly when the band played it live, the majority of audience completely overlooking the irony of it all.

I guess it goes back to children's songs like "Rings around the Rosie" which is about the black plague and has been sung cheerfully by children who have no concept of the topic they're singing about. And it has been something which has been used over and over in popular music, a song that sounds really happy and everybody sings it along, not really realizing what that song is actually saying.

Buck Owens "Act Naturally" is a good example, the subject of the song is somebody who isn't really worth all that much in daily life and is cast for a movie where he basically has to be himself: a miserable piece of shit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpgL4mqEis

Blur's "Country house" sounds really festive, even having a marching band in it. But lyric-wise it's about a guy who has achieved all his goals in life he set out to achieve and basically has no idea on what to do next and sits alone in his huge mansion withering away because of boredom. The "Blow, blow me out I am so sad I don't know why" lyric in the background from the second chorus on shows that the subject is on the brink of suicide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuh1WE-RVw

Sometimes, the fact that people sing along with a song but having no idea what the song is about gets that song in a place where it shouldn't be. That happened when Ronald Reagan decided Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" should be his campaign song. Reagan probably never even looked at the lyric sheet to find out that this epic song was NOT the "Proud to have been born an American" he mistakenly made it out to be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oVzHm_S0-A

When REM released "Shiney happy people" everybody declared them sell outs, the song with the upbeat hook and dancing in the video was too much. But look closer and you'll find that "Shiney happy people" is anything BUT a happy song, let alone it being about Happy people. It's actually about the Chinese riots at the Tiananmen Square.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQ0vDAbF7s

Prince's "Let's go crazy" and more obviously "1999" are about mass extinction, due to a global catastrophe. But the driving beat and irresistible groove sure don't give the impression of that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yB5Dh4F7Es

 

[Stella_Omega]

the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Under the Bridge" is a lovely ballad... Thousands of mid-adult women bought the album. First they realised that the rest of the songs are all thrasher-punk-funk. Then they read the lyrics and found out that it's about nearly dying from a heroin overdose.

 

[Saiyaman]

the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Under the Bridge" is a lovely ballad... Thousands of mid-adult women bought the album. First they realised that the rest of the songs are all thrasher-punk-funk. Then they read the lyrics and found out that it's about nearly dying from a heroin overdose.

Which is probably also why when All saints covered that song, they left out the part of
"Under the bridge downtown, is where I drew some blood.
Under the bridge downtown, I could not get enough.
Under the bridge downtown, forgot about my love.
Under the bridge downtown, I gave my life away."

Probably because of it not being very wise for a teenie bopper act like All saints to sing about Heroin addiction.

Also Stella, "BloodSugarSexMagic" has more quiet songs "I could have lied", "Soul to squeeze" and "Breaking the girl" it wasn't just Punk-funk which dictated the rest of the album.

 

[sr71plt]

P,P&M held out to the end that "Puff, the Magic Dragon" was really about a little boy and a dragon toy.

 

[jomar]

Every Breath You Take by the Police...not a tender love song, but about obsession, jealousy and surveillance.

Born in the USA by Springsteen...not a "patriotic" song, but a protest song. (ETA - missed this in the op.)

 

[Cruel2BKind]

'Jump' Van Halen

Used in so many inspirational montages... yet it's about a bored man contemplating suicide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlq0lYB3iSM

 

[annanova]

Sometimes, the fact that people sing along with a song but having no idea what the song is about gets that song in a place where it shouldn't be. That happened when Ronald Reagan decided Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" should be his campaign song. Reagan probably never even looked at the lyric sheet to find out that this epic song was NOT the "Proud to have been born an American" he mistakenly made it out to be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oVzHm_S0-A

Oh, shall we add John Mellencamp's "Little Pink Houses" under that category?

There are also my favorite stories of people wanting to use Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do" and Whitney Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" as their wedding songs.

I also remember people buying a Queensryche album (yeah, I'm old. Deal.), because, "Oh, their song, 'Silent Lucidity' is so romantic!" and then totally being turned off the band because the rest of the cd didn't mesh with their perception of the single.

 

[sr71plt]

Every Breath You Take by the Police...not a tender love song, but about obsession, jealousy and surveillance.

Born in the USA by Springsteen...not a "patriotic" song, but a protest song. (ETA - missed this in the op.)

Oh, too right on both. And I was trying to remember the first one when then thread first came up, and I couldn't. I heard it called "the stalker's song" on the radio yesterday morning.

 

[CWatson]

What, like Elton John's jaunty, upbeat "Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself"?

Here's the wiki database for such songs:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LyricalDissonance

Warning: do not click any links to other tropes if you plan to get anything done whatsoever in the next few days.

 

[TE999]

We can't forget the Beatle's Maxwell's Silver Hammer, a cheerful little ditty about a kid who goes around smashing people's heads in.

The other Beatle's hated that song because Paulie insisted on about a bazillion takes to get the rhythms 'just right'; especially Ringo who wasn't that disciplined or coordinated at the best of times. He said he "Fookin' hated it" or something like that.

 

[Saiyaman]

Born in the USA by Springsteen...not a "patriotic" song, but a protest song. (ETA - missed this in the op.)

I didn't miss it, I made a reference to it by stating that Reagan had no idea what kind of song he chose as his campaign song

'Jump' Van Halen

Used in so many inspirational montages... yet it's about a bored man contemplating suicide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlq0lYB3iSM

Good one here's another in that same vein: "Jump they say" by David Bowie which is about a schizophrenic who is about to jump from a building because the voices in his head are telling him to do so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avJt0SQec0I

Ask any Gen-X'er what song they used to sing along to and one that will always be named is "Alive" by Pearl Jam. Because of it having such an anthemic sing along hook. But it certainly isn't a "Great to be alive" song, not by a long shot. It's about a teenager finding out that his father never was his father but one of his mother's boyfriends who she just broke up with and later about incest with his mother. Leaving the teenager with his mind severely screwed up to ponder, "I'm still alive but do I deserve to be and if that's the question, who answers?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbhsYC4gKy4

Steeley Dan was already mentioned but Donald Fagen's solo records also always came with a bitter aftertaste lyric-wise. Which is the case with "New Frontier" which can (and will) be mistaken about a kid who finished high school has his sweetheart by his side and is ready to get into the world and make it on his own. But it's actually about somebody who has prepared everything he could to survive a nuclear attack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBruAooXPNU

 

[Bramblethorn]

Most TMBG songs and a lot of murder ballads.

Elvis Costello's "Wave A White Flag".

In the other direction, LPN's cover of "I'm So Happy": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoNFOCu_tLQ (clip will make no sense unless you've seen NIN's "Closer")

 

[SevenSquared]

I guess it goes back to children's songs like "Rings around the Rosie" which is about the black plague and has been sung cheerfully by children who have no concept of the topic they're singing about.

Actually this is almost certainly a massive urban myth. It is fairly certain that this song is not about the black plague for a number of reasons including that it never appears in any record until the late 18th century (over 100 years after the plague), no record of that explanation until even later and the earlier versions of the song found don't even fit the plague very well.

 

[MSTarot]

I maybe off the mark of the post here But I would have to say the Queen song 'The Show Must Go On'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TXXbd4Tjoc

When you read the lyrics to that and know that the man singing it knew he was about to die...my god.


In a side note if this isn't a example of channeling from beyond the grave I've never seen one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUQ2iA0rBWc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tRl1QWov4Q&feature=related

M.S.Tarot

 

[Bramblethorn]

I didn't miss it, I made a reference to it by stating that Reagan had no idea what kind of song he chose as his campaign song

Pretty sure Jomar was saying that he missed that you'd already referenced it.

Oh, while I think of it, '99 Luftballons'.

 

[slave_]

A song from a recent group, Foster the People have an interesting little diddy that is played in stores and all over... "Pumped Up Kicks".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTZ7iX4vTQ

Robert's got a quick hand.
He'll look around the room,
he wont tell you his plan.
He's got a rolled cigarette
hanging out his mouth.
He's a cowboy kid.

Yeah! He found a six-shooter gun
in his dad's closet, with the box of fun things.
I don't even know what,
but he's coming for you. Yeah, He's coming for you!

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

Daddy works a long day.
He be coming home late, and he's coming home late.
And he's bringing me a surprise.
'cause dinner's in the kitchen and it's packed in ice

I've waited for a long time.
Yeah the sleight of my hand is now a quick-pull trigger.
I reason with my cigarette,
Then say, "Your hair's on fire, you must have lost your wits, yeah?"

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

(Run, Run, Run, Run. Run, Run.
R-Run, Run, Run.
R-Run.
R-Run, Run, Run.
R-Run.
Run, Run.
Run, Run.
Run, Run, Run.)

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up

 

[lovecraft68]

Here's a great little crooner type balled from Weird Al

I would like to dedicate this to my ex-wife.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWhpk-8QLFQ

 

[jomar]

I didn't miss it, I made a reference to it by stating that Reagan had no idea what kind of song he chose as his campaign song

The ETA was to note that I missed it skimming your OP.

 

[glynndah]

Another happy little ditty: Run for your life.

 

[Saiyaman]

I maybe off the mark of the post here But I would have to say the Queen song 'The Show Must Go On'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TXXbd4Tjoc

When you read the lyrics to that and know that the man singing it knew he was about to die...my god.

Well I don't know what you consider to be a Happy sounding song but that one does NOT sound happy, here the music matches the downbeat lyrics.

 

[TE999]

Then there's a little gem titled They're Coming To Take Me away, Ha-Haaa by Napoleon X!V (Jerry Samuels).

The mental health community went bat-shit over that one; it was even banned on some radio stations as being offensive to the mentally ill; most notably in the New York market.

It sold millions of copies, spawned a sequel and has been covered by numerous recording artists since then.

 

[MSTarot]

Well I don't know what you consider to be a Happy sounding song but that one does NOT sound happy, here the music matches the downbeat lyrics.

Didn't really see it as happy so much as... I guess the word would be defiant!Uplifting maybe. "The show must go on!" that chorus sounds out almost like a battle cry.

Shrug my take on it.

 

[Athalia]

Two of the Grateful Dead songs come to mind.

"Ripple" sounds like a very upbeat, comforting song but the words actually say, "Sorry, but you're going to go through some trials and I really can't be there for you."

And "Touch of Grey" sound like a most uplifting song, but the lyrics talk about cutting yourself off from the light and cheer, and realizing how hard life can be.

 

[LibraryVixen]

What a great thread! Very interesting. Another Pearl Jam song comes to mind, "Last Kiss."

 

[jehoram]

Then there's that upbeat song "You Were On My Mind" (by We Five, IIRC).

I heard that that song was actually about heroin addiction. "Went to the corner ... just to ease my pain" refers to going out in search of a fix. Sounds possible to me.