Just a gigolo - Louis Prima
There are lots of other versions, but Louis version is the one I like. How the sentiment seems to change fro, the originalBingo Jed left her lighter.
Oh, NOW you’ve done it:
Bo-zy, bo-zy BOP, ziddy BOP!
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Ain’t
Got
No-
Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-DAY!
And now, a word from DAVE TV!
Surprised it hasn’t been mentioned yet:
**You Are My SunShine **(at least the version on the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack)
A couple of verses…
The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried
You told me once dear, you really loved me
And no one could come between
But now you’ve left me to love another
You have shattered all of my dreams
Similarly, 10,000 Maniacs’ What’s the Matter Here. They also have LIke the Weather, which is a catchy song about depression.
Like the Weather is a perfect choice for this.
That sounds…cheerful to you? :dubious:
“Here Comes My Baby” by the Tremeloes. Great clap-along-to-the-tempo song (even has a cowbell) about a guy who’s lost a girl and keeps seeing her around town with one guy after another. 
Comes to think of it, “Don’t Fear The Reaper” pretty up-tempo, but it’s a song about death. Doesn’t get much darker than that. Even with the cowbell.
Just for fun, if you want to hear the difference between “Brick” main theme being played as a minor progression vs a major progression, I put up an audio sample here. I play the two-chord progression twice in the major key (as on the record), and then twice changing the first chord into a minor instead of a major. (I kept the second chord exactly the same). The minor version definitely sounds dirgey. (Then I throw in a gratuitous “Picardy third” and end it on a D major chord.
“Lump” by the Presidents of the United States of America.
Spotted an old thread discussing the meaning of the lyrics:
One song that I feel does the somewhat-opposite of “Music up, lyrics down” is “Carol of the Bells”. The lyrics are oh-so-very-happy but the music is more fitting for a horror or suspense scene. Actually, I think Christmas movies tend to use “Carol of Bells” music for the non-cheerful parts…
You mean like THIS?:
The Green, Green Grass of Home sounds like someone sweetly reminiscing about a trip back to the home where he grew up, until you get to the part where he wakes up from his dream to face his execution.
Folk music can get in on this too.
“Do You Love an Apple” has been recorded numerous times, and sounds like a sweet love song until you really listen:
Do you love an apple? Do you love a pear?
Do you love a laddie with bonnie brown hair?
Chorus (after each verse):
But still I love him, I can’t deny him
I’ll be with him wherever he goes
Before I got married I wore a black shawl
But since I got married I wear bugger all
He stood at the corner, a fag in his mouth
Two hands in his pockets, he whistled me out
He works at the pier for nine bob a week
Come Saturday night, he comes rolling home drunk
Before I got married I’d sport and I’d play
But now, the cradle, it gets in me way
Do you love an apple? Do you love a pear?
Do you love a laddie with bonnie brown hair?
Hard to play Listen to the Mocking-bird other than cheerfully, but the mockingbird is singing o’er her grave.
No one’s mentioned “Love Fool” by the Cardigans?
"Lately I have desperately pondered
Spent my nights awake, and I wondered
What I could have done in another way
To make you stay
Reason will not lead to solution
I will end up lost in confusion
I don’t care if you really care
As long as you don’t go"
After the edit window closed, Mr. Celtic Knot pointed out that many Celtic folk songs have this characteristic: cheerful tune, peppy tempo, and lyrics more fitting to a dirge. Bonnie Light Horseman came to mind first to him.
Oh, Napoleon Bonaparte, you’re the cause of my woe
Since my bonny light horseman to the wars he did go
Broken hearted I’ll wander, broken hearted I’ll remain
Since my bonny light horseman in the wars he was slain
When Boney commanded his armies to stand
And proud lift his banners all gayly and grand
He levelled his cannons right over the plain
And my bonny light horseman in the wars he was slain
Lyrics found <a href=“THE BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN Lyrics - PLANXTY | eLyrics.net”>here</a>
I guess the Celts had to find a way to deal with the miseries dumped on them by their conquerers.
The Smiths were the first thing that leapt to my mind too and yeah, a lot of them are upbeat but dark songs with Girlfriend in a Coma leading the pack.
*Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know, it’s serious
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know, it’s really serious
…*
Honorable mention to The Smiths’ There Is a Light That Never Goes Out:
…
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine
…
There’s more but I’ll leave it at that.
The sweet stalker’s lullaby “Now that I’ve found you” by Allison Krause
“Cockles and Mussels Alive-o” is one of my favorite examples of this. Most Americans learn the first two verses at their mother’s knee, and cheerfully sing along.
If you go back to the version a hundred years ago, you’ll find that it’s actually a ghost story. And if you go back a hundred years more, you’ll find that it’s also a suicide note.