People Who Died - Jim Carroll Band
This is the first song I thought of,
Great Big Sea’s “excursion Around the Bay” and “My Name is Captain Kidd”
Frank Zappa’s “Jewish Princess” is a sprightly little number, rife with rather harsh (ok, Zappaesque) entreaties.
Depressing lyrics can be overcome.
With Nights in White Satin, the Moody Blues gave us upbeat sentiments like:
Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bed sitter people look back and lament
Another days useless energy spent
How jolly.
But tweak the tempo just a bit and it takes on a whole new dimension.
I’m convinced that the Dickies are the greatest cover band in the world.
“You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” from Annie Get Your Gun was originally a peppy little number. In a revival, Bernadette Peters slowed down the tempo and revealed how sad it really was.
“L.A. County” by Lyle Lovett sounds is a cheerful tune about driving to LA with an old friend by your side. In the first verse, the friend is a man who ends up asking the woman on the drive to marry him. Later verses the friend is a .45 and the singer murders both the woman and her fiance on the altar of the church at their wedding.
This Dolly Parton written tune seems like the typical “ode to mama” country song, but listen til the end…
Has anyone mentioned Eric Clapton’s “Peaches and Diesel”? Cheerful tune, but the lyrics include “boy, you’re gonna be dead.”
Only some idiot did — over three years ago! 