# Creepiest non-creepy song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 1, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627 "2009-07-01T21:00:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/21 "2009-07-02T05:53:41Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > As a child, I used to be genuinely scared by the Beatles’ “Wild Honey Pie”. Ditto. Here are other Beatles songs that I used to find unnerving: _Good Morning Good Morning_ - opens with a blasting horn riff and then the lines, “nothing to do to save his life/call his wife in” which I take to be in reference to someone who has died in a hospital. Then “nothing to say but what a day/how’s your boy been” - in other words, a guy just died, whatever, just another day at work. Unsettling. _Glass Onion_ - really heavy drumbeats and bass riffs always used to kind of scare me as a kid; this song also has lots of weird cryptic references to the whole “Paul is dead” thing, which gave me the major creeps; and there are those fucking eerie pitch-bending string instrumentals at the end. The last thirty seconds or so of _Lovely Rita_ - the song goes from a major to a minor key, and the lyrics are replaced with weird animalistic panting sounds and shouts. What the fuck? _Getting Better_ - there’s a nonchalant reference to spousal abuse: “I used to be cruel to my woman and beat her” in this otherwise jolly song. I don’t know if the Beatles _intended_ for these songs to be creepy or what, but they always bothered me. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/22 "2009-07-02T06:19:45Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > _Getting Better_ - there’s a nonchalant reference to spousal abuse: “I used to be cruel to my woman and beat her” in this otherwise jolly song. > > I don’t know if the Beatles _intended_ for these songs to be creepy or what, but they always bothered me. I’m not sure if Getting Better was intended to be creepy, or just true – John actually did abuse Cynthia and I think the line was a reference to that. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/23 "2009-07-02T06:50:54Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > I’m not sure if Getting Better was intended to be creepy, or just true – John actually did abuse Cynthia and I think the line was a reference to that. Not sure about that. From what I understand, John’s contribution (lyrically) to the song was the line _It can’t get much worse_. “I used to be mean to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved” verse was probably all Paul’s work. However, I find **Run For Your Life** to be the creepiest song ever. I honestly don’t believe that Lennon intended it to be a creepy song–I don’t think he really intended anything besides a rock number. What I find even more bizarre is that John didn’t even come up with the creepiest line by himself. He stole it from Elvis’s _Baby, Let’s Play House_. We were at a venue last weekend for a concert, and they blasted it over the speakers at one point. It was the first time I’ve heard it in probably a year, and it really, really creeped me out. The explictly threatening lyrics paired with the extremely upbeat and poppy music let me wondering just what the fuck _any_ of them had been thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/24 "2009-07-02T07:36:29Z")
Sammy Davis, Jr.'s cover of “The Candy Man.” The original song works fairly well in the context of _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_, and became a Davis standard once he covered it. He was interested in acting in the movie, so his use of the song is completely innocuous. Yet, when I hear it now, all I can think of is that it sounds like a song a stereotypical “Free Candy” van-driving child molester would sing. The instrumentals that open the TV shows Taxi and M_A_S\*H are both creepy to me. (I’m aware that “Suicide Is Painless” was meant to be somewhat melancholy, but it’s just plain creepy to me.) Not sure why-- Taxi’s one of my favorite shows to this day-- but I used to get the same feeling of dread from those songs that I do when, say, I hear a TV or radio station signing off or when an Emergency Broadcast System tone/warning used to come over the air. (As to why I find _those_ creepy… yeah.) ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/25 "2009-07-02T07:59:07Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Not sure about that. From what I understand, John’s contribution (lyrically) to the song was the line _It can’t get much worse_. “I used to be mean to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved” verse was probably all Paul’s work. No, John wrote that part. The creepiness is compounded by the the power saw sound at the start of that verse. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/26 "2009-07-02T08:58:56Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > A lot of Christmas songs are creepy when you think about them. ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’ sits astride the line between heartwarming and bloodchilling. Of course, I might think this because of the X-Files ep it was used in. From the Wiki entry on the film _The Victors_. > [@](#): > > One of the cinematic highpoints is the detour of one truck load of GI’s out of a convoy, for the express purpose of supplying witnesses to the execution by firing squad of a GI deserter Pvt Eddie Slovik. Depicted in a huge, otherwise empty, snow covered field near a chateau at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines on 31 January 1945, while the movie audience first hears Frank Sinatra singing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and then a chorus of ‘Hark the herald angels sing,’ after the fatal shots are fired. I’ve never liked that song. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/27 "2009-07-02T09:16:51Z")
[Time of the Season](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49DxfpW3Zfw&feature=related) - The Zombies Always struck me as having a creepy, vaguely menacing vibe, even though there’s nothing creepy about the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/28 "2009-07-02T10:27:07Z")
> [@krokodil](#): > > The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA" by Donna Fargo. Contrary to the lyrics, she sounds like she’s about to open her wrists with a penknife. The HBO program **Big Love** used this song very well when a girl was singing it while trying to escape being married to an 80 year old prophet of a FLDS religious compound. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5ZegnocvoBU/hqdefault.jpg "Big Love - Daveigh Chase - The Happiest Girl") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZegnocvoBU) ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/29 "2009-07-02T14:49:36Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I’m going to have to go with [Turn Around, Look At Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnYIzuLL1F4), by the BeeGees. Apparently creepy sounding enough to be put in the movie _Final Destination 3_ (heard three times total in the movie–usually before something bad happens). Never heard this version, but the original was done by The Vogues, a Lettermen-esque group, and I found it disturbing. The song that’s always creeped me out, though, is [“Black Is Black,”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVWNZPOUhO8) by Los Bravos. Not long after it came out, I had the flu and woke up out of a fever dream with this thing going through my head. It still gives me the shivers thinking of that. The video’s creepy too, made even more so by the bad quality. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/30 "2009-07-02T16:19:34Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > I’m pretty sure that song was meant to be a little creepy. Yeah, but not as creepy as I thought it was. Also, the Turtles’ "Happy Together"and “Elenore.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/31 "2009-07-02T16:46:42Z")
Back to the Beatles… I’ve never been able to sit all the way through “Revolution #9”. Ever. It’s just so weirdly constructed that it’s very unsettling to me. I can’t really describe the feeling…almost like everything’s falling out from under me, conceptually. It’s the only song on the White Album that I’ll skip over if I’m listening through. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/32 "2009-07-02T22:36:02Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > … the original was done by The Vogues … Nope, > [@](#): > > “[Turn Around, Look at Me](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_Around,_Look_at_Me)” is the name of a song written by [Jerry Capehart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Capehart). > > In 1961, Glen Campbell released his version as a single. This was his first song to chart in the United States, hitting number sixty-two on the Billboard Hot 100. … > … In 1962, The Lettermen released their version as a single. It made it to number five on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart … > … In 1964, while Bee Gees were yet in Australia, they released a version of the song that, however, it did not chart. … > … In 1968, The Vogues released their remake as a single. This version was very successful, reaching number seven on the Hot 100. … CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/33 "2009-07-02T22:51:11Z")
Barbie Girl just to freak me out, too, when it first came out. I’m not really sure why. I guess maybe the idea of a Barbie doll being that obviously sexy? Now I just sort of see it as kind of adorably sleazy. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/34 "2009-07-02T22:55:25Z")
My teenage daughter thinks that The Guess Who’s _Rain Dance_ is creepy. I never thought so. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/35 "2009-07-03T00:28:40Z")
Chuck Berry’s _Wee Wee Hours_. > [@](#): > > In a wee little room > I sit alone and think of you > In a wee little room > I sit alone and think of you > I wonder if you still remember > All the things we used to do You know something bad is going to happen in that wee little room. It’s a toss-up whether he or the woman will end up dead. There will be blood on the walls for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/36 "2009-07-03T00:38:24Z")
_I Will Follow Him_, by Little Peggy March. I will follow him, follow him Wherever he may go, And near him I always will be, For nothing can keep me away, He is my destiny. I love him, I love him, I love him, And where he goes I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I’ll follow. She’s either a stalker, or someone in desperate need of some independence. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/37 "2009-07-03T00:44:52Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > _I Will Follow Him_, by Little Peggy March. > > I will follow him, follow him > Wherever he may go, > And near him I always will be, > For nothing can keep me away, > He is my destiny. > > I love him, I love him, I love him, > And where he goes I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I’ll follow. > She’s either a stalker, or someone in desperate need of some independence. Or a nun. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/38 "2009-07-03T01:54:31Z")
_Every Breath You Take_ … soooo stalker song. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/39 "2009-07-03T02:18:52Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Spinning Wheel by Blood Sweat & Tears. It’s mostly the end. The flutes playing “Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?” mixed with the ominous horns bring to mind a horrific accident at a carnival to me. The song being played is “Ach du lieber Augustin”. It has a slightly cheery tune that’s almost identical to “Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?”, but it’s about a drunk guy who passed out in a pit full of corpses in plague-ridden Vienna. So it takes naturally to being made creepy. I find just about anything by _The Big Bopper_, but especially _Chantilly Lace_, to be really creepy. He just sounds like a sexual predator for some reason. I second your mention of _Time of the Season_, **spoke-**. Maybe it’s the “Who’s your daddy?” line. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627/40 "2009-07-03T08:37:53Z")
Minnie Ripperton’s Lovin You freaks me out, and I don’t know why. I think its the piano. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-non-creepy-song/501627.md?page=3)