Am I the first to mention Polly by Nirvana? Especially creepy when you know the song was based on a real incident.
I just watched that. Never heard of it till now. Good God is that song wrong. Why would anyone make a song like that?
And yes, I did save the video. :eek:
How could I have forgotten my FAVORITE Creepy Rock Song!
Rape Me by Nirvana- the acoustic version is just really haunting…
Best Creepy song.
Just posting to say that none of the songs in my OP come close to the creepiest song ever. This thread has been quite an… ear opener?
How about Lullaby by the Cure?
And although “Every Breath You Take” may have been the Stalker’s Anthem for a long time, I think Clay Aiken’s Invisible gives it a run for the money.
Why do you hate Spiderman? 
“Beheaded” by the Offspring:
Maybe that is more overtly gross and over-the-top rather than creepy, but still very weird.
And I don’t think anyone has mentioned Doors - “The End”:
Someone earlier mentioned Nick Cave, and a LOT of his are creepy, but one of my favorites from his early years has to be From her to Eternity The way it’s sung with the spartan atonal piano notes just makes it so much more creepy.
You can hear the audio here on the right side of the website
If you want Whimsically Creepy, there’s “Turn Around” by They Might Be Giants
IN the game of creepy lyrics, Nick Cave is a lay down mizere!
Deep in the Woods
Almost every song off Murder Ballads
I’d like Nick Cave to do a cover of Dido’s White Flag, because I’m pretty sure it would end up creepy.
**Donovan does not sing “14” in Mellow Yellow. **
I’ve liked that song since I was a kid in the 70s, (and own copies on both CD and vinyl) and up until reading this thread right now I’ve only ever heard the word as “Fonteyn” - clearly a reference to Margot Fonteyn, who was (through the 50s and 60s, the time that Donovan was absorbing cultural references and writing songs) a huge celebrity, a household name, and remains probably the most famous ballerina of all time.
The song is a nonsense song, and Donovan is obviously just singing words that sound cool and have no particular meaning. I was pretty surprised that anyone hears the word as “14” so I listened to the song, and I can sort-of-see how someone who had never heard of Fonteyn could interpret what he’s singing as “14” - if you were desperate to hear a word you’re not familiar with as one that you are - but there’s no doubt about what he’s singing to anyone who is familiar with the name. Factor Donovan’s Glasgow accent into the equation, and it’s even more obvious that he’s singing Fonteyn.
Anyway, in the context of the song, he alternates the name Fonteyn with Saffron, also a name (as well as a flower). Obviously what he’s singing is a name, and the name is Fonteyn.
A Google search shows that “14” is quite a common misinterpretation, but that plenty of people get the reference to the celebrity ballerina, same as I did.
The word Fontaine - note different spelling - is French for fountain, which could be an alternate theory, but as I said: he’s clearly singing a name. There are other people called Fontaine (with various spellings) but the fame of Dame Margot, particularly in Donovan’s era, makes her the obvious candidate.
If Donovan now sings “14” or makes a jokey reference to 14 year old girls in the song, I’d bet it’s because someone told him about hearing it as “14” and Donovan thought it was funny. Something very like that is the story behind why John Fogherty now sometimes sings “there’s a bathroom on the right” when performing “Bad Moon Rising”.
I just went back and listened to the song with that in mind, and can only say that I disagree. It’s clearly “fourteen,” not “Fonteyn.” And it isn’t that he “now” adds the bit about “14-year old girls”; he was already singing that back in 1967, as heard on the Donovan In Concert CD.
Speaking of Donovan, I nominate Hurdy Gurdy Man, mostly because of its common usage in very icky and disturbing cinematic scenes.
Chances are that someone first misheard it when it first came out and was a hit and was played on the radio a lot. When it happened doesn’t matter, does it?
I’ve already made my argument, if you don’t wish to accept it, there’s no harm in believing what you like about it. Short of asking Donovan himself, there’s no way of confirming it definitively. I just checked his webpage, but (unsurprisingly) there’s no “ask Donovan” feature there.
Re: The Toadies’ song Possum Kingdom - have you seen the video (youTube link) for the song? It intercuts between video of the band playing in a club with the police hauling a body that’s been bagged, bound and weighted from a lake. I vote whackjob serial killer, not steamy vampishness; sorry.
I always heard “vaulting” as in track and field, or gymnastics. I’ve only heard the studio version of the song, but if he adds “girls” in concert, well, then he’s just singing a nonsense lyric about women’s gymnastics.
It’s at least as defensible an interpretation as Margot Fonteyn.
Overtly creepy lyrics:
Godley & Creme - ‘Under Your Thumb’ (the OP reminded me of this one)
Metallica - ‘Die Die My Darling’
Fastball - ‘The Way’
Cryptic lyrics:
Chris Rea - ‘Auberge’
Eagles - ‘Hotel California’
Creepy sound:
Sniff ‘n’ The Tears - ‘Driver’s Seat’
[quote=“WordMan, post:10, topic:476943”]
The Toadies, Possum Kingdom - named after a park in their hometown, QUOTE]
Possum Kingdom is actually a lake in north central Texas, and I think The Toadies were from near there.
My nomination for good and creepy is “This Perfect World” by Freedy Johnston:
Great song. Creepy, but great.
Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue , Where the Wild Roses Grow was the one that jumped out at me when I read the thread title.