Actually for me: “Mad World” is the go to creepy song.
I love it so much though. But man…
*
The Dreams in which I’m dying… are the best dreams I ever had…*
For us oldies fans: “Transfusion”, by Nervous Norvus.
Also “I Put A Spell On You” , by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Quasi
How 'bout Oingo Boingo’s Little Girls?
Also “18 With A Bullet”, by Pete Wingfield.
Q
The creepiest Alice song for me is Dead Babies. Not merely shock-schlock like most of their weird stuff, but a genuinely grim song about a parents’ rationalizing their guilt away after their negligence caused the death of their infant.
“Little Betty ate a pound of aspirin
She got them from the shelf upon the wall
Betty’s mommy wasn’t there to save her
She didn’t even hear her baby call”
I think it’s pretty natural to exult in the feeling, when someone who “once put you down” does a turnaround, and now you’re the one calling the shots. I wouldn’t mind throwing that around a bit.
I always heard it as turning the tables on someone he used to admire, who put him down. I’m not saying this is admirable, but I never found it creepy.
Gnarls Barkley’s debut effort had some lyrics on the creepy side.
Take this selection from Necromancing:
Or this stanza from Storm Coming
Of course there’s the The Crystals’ “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)”
I see by searching for the lyrics online that it was also recorded by Hole.
A lesser degree of the anger-proves-your-love concept was delivered by Joanie Sommers
The song was also released by ultra-wholesome Shelley Fabares, who played the daughter on the Donna Reed Show
Particularly a live version I used to have where he said, “I’m just mad about fourteen-year-old girls, they’re mad about me.”
I was a 14-year-old girl at the time, and it was true. We were mad about him.
The 70’s is THE era for the creepy song. You got your Timothy, your D.O.A., your Angie Baby, your assorted Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Jethro Tull…
And a few others:
**The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia **
Indiana Wants Me
**Delta Dawn **
**Vehicle **
And, of course, **Alone Again (Naturally) **
To go old school, I’ve always thought Teresa Brewer’s Don’t Say You Don’t Remember was pretty creepy, even though it was probably supposed to be a plaintive love song. I can’t find the lyrics, but they’re something like:
Don’t say you don’t remember,
I’ll never love anyone else.
I picture some poor schmo having a one night stand during summer vacation, then being confronted by his erstwhile Fatal Attraction paramour at high school. As she sings something like “Together we can find some reason to go on living,” he’s slowly backing away, wondering what the hell he’s gotten himself into.
And seeing the video for the first time RIGHT BEFORE GOING TO BED doesn’t help either :eek:
Nick Cave’s version of the blues classic “Stagger Lee” always creeps me out:
There’s also some '70s song about a dying baby, the title and artist of which escapes me, that is infinitely creepy. Anyone know what I’m talking about? All I remember was that the song was pretty short - less than two minutes.
How about the Kink’s Come Dancing? An old fart reminiscing about the days of his youth when he would fantasize about making out with his sister?
I didn’t say it was supposed to be love. I agreed with you-- it’s not. It’s about power and turning the tables. His response to her put-down does seem a bit… excessive to me. And I wonder what he had to do to get the upper hand like that.
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. I do find it creepy. De gustibus.
It’s So Easy by Guns N’ Roses:
And from an otherwise cheerful song, I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again) by Black Kids:
!!! How did you get that? Boy I am sure hearing these lyrics differently than some of you people. That sounded like an innocent nostalgic piece to me.
He’s not fantasizing about making out with his sister. He’s remember how his sister used to go dancing with her boyfriends and stay out late and get in trouble.
It’s the spoken part, when he’s reminiscing about watching her kiss some guy by ‘the garden gate’… and then he notes how he wishes he could ‘go dancing’ with her. Am I reading to much into it? Maybe. But it is a Kinks song…
In The Backroom by Eno/Cale from Wrong Way Up