# Musical dichotomy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813 "2009-10-14T18:00:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/1 "2009-10-14T18:00:34Z")
I’ve been a sucker for it ever since I fell in love with [_Komm, Süsser Tod_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCLoNOYcVQU). Another example would be Terry Jack’s _Seasons In The Sun_ (the Brel original is even better in that regards). The kind of music that makes you do a mental double take by mixing an upbeat, wholesome, even campy tune with the most depressing lyrics you could imagine. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered the opposite though, happy sunshine lyrics with somber music, but it’d work just as well I’d wager. So, do you know any songs like that ? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/2 "2009-10-14T18:45:36Z")
Lyle Lovett’s **L. A. County** , which sounds like a cheery song about a close friend when it’s really about a brutal murder. Not quite the same, but Lovett’s **Nobody Knows Me** sounds like a sweet love song. It’s not. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/3 "2009-10-14T18:53:04Z")
That’s the basic rule of a truly great pop song - up melody, down lyrics - I’m a Loser, Help - The Beatles - Tears of a Clown - Smokey & the Miracles or the English Beat version - Everything by Mr. King of Pain, Sting - King of Pain, Man in a Suitcase, I Can’t Stand Losing You, Don’t Stand So Close, blah, blah, blah… ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/4 "2009-10-14T21:44:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Lyle Lovett’s **L. A. County** , which sounds like a cheery song about a close friend when it’s really about a brutal murder. > > Not quite the same, but Lovett’s **Nobody Knows Me** sounds like a sweet love song. It’s not. Well, yes and no. Mostly no 🙂 I didn’t know the song, so I listened to it and googled the lyrics, and it’s not what I’m talking about. _L.A. County_ would be what I call a twist song, a song which feels and sounds nice but, when you look at it closer, isn’t. Or right at the end, isn’t anymore. It’s sneaky, kind of like, say, _Every Breath You Take_. In short, it works through poetic [Fridge Logic](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeLogic) : “wait wait wait… OMG the friend was the gun !” ! By contrast,\* Komm Süsser Tod\* is so upfront, and _that_’s what wrongfoots you. It’s just plain horrid from the get go, no misdirection, no twist. One second you’re mindlessly singing along, “So with sadness in my heaaart I feel the best thing I could do is end it aaaall and leave for-eh-ver”, and the next you go “waiiit, what did I just say ?!”. Or maybe it just did this to me because English isn’t my first language, I dunno. But L.A. County doesn’t do that for me. @\*\*Wordman \*\*: _Help_’s a good one - in fact, I never realized how tragic it was until right now :eek:. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/5 "2009-10-14T22:00:24Z")
Several Simon & Garfunkel songs, especially _The Sun is Burning_ and _7 O’Clock News._ ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/6 "2009-10-14T22:05:32Z")
I think [Bad Moon Rising](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE) by CCR qualifies. Cheery, uptempo Rock’n Roll with very creepy lyrics. Great song. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/7 "2009-10-14T22:11:42Z")
To add one more by the Beatles: [Run For Your Life](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOAYNKmjebs) ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/8 "2009-10-15T04:08:59Z")
My favorite is Dresden Dolls’ “Jeep Song”. Sounds just like a catchy upbeat sixties car song until you realize that it’s about a very painful breakup. > [@](#): > > But with every Jeep I see > My broken heart still skips a beat. > I guess it’s just my stupid luck > That all of Boston drives the same black fucking truck… I always get it stuck in my head, negativity nonwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/9 "2009-10-15T04:50:31Z")
Randy Newman does this often. Example: [“Sail Away”.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwwhHI_IMog&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/10 "2009-10-15T15:11:10Z")
As you say, the “happy lyrics/sad music” category is a tough one. Alicia Keys’ “No One” is maybe the closest thing to an example that I can think of right now… the lyrics are generally upbeat, but I find the music to be rather lugubrious. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/11 "2009-10-15T15:33:42Z")
(Shoot. Seems like lots of us are missing the OP – looking for the _opposite_ of up music/down lyrics. But I wrote this post so figured I’d share while thinking of something more appropriate.) Bruce Hornsby — [Lost in the Snow](http://www.amazon.com/Lost-In-The-Snow/dp/B0013AQJOW). Whoa. Not only is an upbeat tune with depressive lyrics, but it also has upbeat lyrics that _turn_ sad. Check out the opening: > [@](#): > > Come on kids y’all come with me > Let’s go looking for a Christmas tree > Across the river and through the woods > I’ve got my axe and it works real good Weeee! What a great day this is going to be! The song describes an eight-year-old Rockwellian boy in a Rockwellian scene. Then there’s the bridge: > [@](#): > > Got separated don’t know how > They went straight and I went around > Thought we’d meet up by that ravine > I’m hoping this is where I was last seen :eek::eek: Oh my. Oh my oh my. I hope this works out OK. But there’s the chorus: > [@](#): > > In the dimming light > On frozen ground I lay so helpless > No one else in sight > I’m so sure I just won’t last much longer And the last two lines… > [@](#): > > With a little boy lost in the woods you see > Wish my mama would come find me :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(☹ ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/12 "2009-10-15T16:57:55Z")
Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy” is a bouncy little number, complete with a backing chorus of "doo-wah-doo"s. It deals with insanity, rape, murder, and imprisonment! eta: Oops - got it backwards. This is happy tune, downer lyrics! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/13 "2009-10-15T17:00:29Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > The kind of music that makes you do a mental double take by mixing an upbeat, wholesome, even campy tune with the most depressing lyrics you could imagine. This is one of Weird Al’s gimmicks, as in [Christmas at Ground Zero](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGdrMOttV_s) and some of his polka medleys. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/14 "2009-10-15T18:02:55Z")
There’s bouncy, toe-tapping fun to be had when you listen to “Girlfriend in a Coma” by the Smiths. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-dichotomy/513813/15 "2009-10-15T18:09:29Z")
This is also one of Jonathan Coulton’s major themes. “I Feel Fantastic” might be the most over-the-top for the sheer mania of tune combined with a really depressing story if you think about it. Chiron Beta Prime gets points for being a really depressing Christmas tune.