# Songs that scared you when you were young
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 24, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823 "2001-08-24T01:50:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@okielady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/okielady)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/1 "2001-08-24T01:50:00Z")
Okay, in the spirit of the scary characters thread, what **songs** frightened you as a child?
I already mentioned “The Big Chair” by Tears for Fears, due to the soundbytes from the movie Sybil.
“Echoes” by Pink Floyd, from the album Meddle. I must’ve been 3 or 4 at the time. I shared a room with both my sisters, one 5 years older than me and the other 15 years older than me. You can imagine the delight of a teenage girl having to share her room with not one, but TWO younger sisters. When she wanted us to vacate “her” room, she would play “Echoes” for us. Just the sight of the album cover would send us screaming from the room.
“One Night in Bangkok” by Murray Head. _insert embarrassed chuckle here_ I liked this song, actually. Until the instrumental section. The flute (sounded like a flute anyway) always brought mental pictures of the half man / half goat thing that played the flute (I’ve been told many times what the creature actually is, but apparently I would rather block it out, because I never can remember.) I could see this thing, which to my preteen mind much resembled a demon, dancing around, playing the flute, and plotting my demise.
So now I’ve started my first thread. _patting myself on the back_
---
### Author:  [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/2 "2001-08-24T01:56:24Z")
Good idea for a thread.
American Pie by Don McLean freaked me out when I was young. The lyric “This’ll be the die that I die.” always scared me.
---
### Author:  [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/3 "2001-08-24T02:01:14Z")
Easy for me: “D.O.A.” which describes an auto accident and the singer’s death.
Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare,” especially “Only Women Bleed” and “Cold Ethel.” Now that I’m older, I’m not scared by it, but I’m really impressed by A.C.'s songwriting. It takes talent to write couplets like “If I live to / 97 / You’ll still be waiting in refrigerator heaven / You’re cool / You’re nice / Cold Ethel You’re my Paradise”
“All the Young Girls Love Alice” and “This Song Has No Title” from Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” double-album. Not too scary, but rather disturbing images for a teen like me. Still a cool album, though.
---
### Author:  [@okielady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/okielady)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/4 "2001-08-24T02:18:41Z")
Leader of the Pack scared me when I was little. I’m not sure WHY, aside from the fact that it was about a person dying in a motorcycle crash. I suppose that would be disturbing for a young child. And for some odd reason I associate it with haunted houses. 😕 No one said I was a _normal_ child…
---
### Author:  [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/5 "2001-08-24T02:26:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by pesch \*
> \*\*Easy for me: “D.O.A.” which describes an auto accident and the singer’s death.
>
> \*\*
Hey, if I heard “D.O.A.” _now_, I’d break my neck to turn the damn radio off.
Just like I did every time that nightmare came on back in the day when it was new. I hate that song. I’ll never understand how it ever got to be popular. _::shivers::_
---
### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/6 "2001-08-24T03:04:49Z")
Life
Is flowing from my body
Pain
Is flowing out with my blood
The sheets
Are red and moist where I’m lying
God in heaven teach me how to die
::cue the sirens::
---
### Author:  [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/7 "2001-08-24T03:19:57Z")
I was scared by “Hotel California”. I thought it was about a horrible haunted hotel and that if you went there you’d never be able to leave and you’d turn into a ghost. Oddly, I also liked the song as a child even though it scared me.
---
### Author:  [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/8 "2001-08-24T07:26:31Z")
I used to be scared of Helter Skelter by The Beatles. The first time I heard the song was in a documentary about the Manson murders. Every time I would hear the song on the radio, I would see bloody writing. But I was about three then.
---
### Author:  [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/9 "2001-08-24T11:02:34Z")
“John Henry” and “Casey Jones” (the folk songs).
Not just because the guys died in the songs pretty dramatically, but also I had relatives who worked on the railroad and in the coal mines (the mountains, just like where John Henry had to cut a path through), and my father used a hammer a lot.
Still dredges up bad times.
---
### Author:  [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/10 "2001-08-24T11:08:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SilkyThreat \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by pesch \*
> > \*\*Easy for me: “D.O.A.” which describes an auto accident and the singer’s death.
> >
> > \*\*
>
> Hey, if I heard “D.O.A.” _now_, I’d break my neck to turn the damn radio off.
>
> Just like I did every time that nightmare came on back in the day when it was new. I hate that song. I’ll never understand how it ever got to be popular. _::shivers::_ \*\*
Wasn’t this song named **the worst rock and roll song of all time** by Dr Demento?
My sister used to run out of the room whenever the theme song from _Perry Mason_ came on.
---
### Author:  [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/11 "2001-08-24T12:00:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lawoot \*
>
> My sister used to run out of the room whenever the theme song from _Perry Mason_ came on. \*\*
Oh my God! That is too funny and coincidental! My best friend used to do the same thing when that theme song came on. When I was off work after having a baby, he’d come over to have a cup of coffee and would turn the channel when _Perry Mason_ came on.
It was really hilarious considering he was in his late twenties at the time.
---
### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/12 "2001-08-24T12:51:46Z")
“Dust in the Wind”. I hated thinking about death when I was a kid, and this one made me cry.
Come to think of it, I still don’t like listening to it.
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/13 "2001-08-24T12:53:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Wasn’t this song named the worst rock and roll song of all time by Dr Demento?
If it was, the Dr. shows great perception.
---
### Author:  [@Jane\_D\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_D_oh)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/14 "2001-08-24T13:48:04Z")
My younger brother and I would put Iron Man by Black Sabbath on the record player (yikes!) and chase my nephew around the house pretending to be a big iron monster. Yep, my nephew, now 25 still can’t laugh about that.
We were a good aunt and uncle to that only child, doncha think?
---
### Author:  [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/15 "2001-08-24T14:01:54Z")
This song always gave me the willies; I thought it was about a ghost:
My bonnie lies over the ocean
My bonnie lies over the sea
My bonnie lies over the ocean
O bring back my bonnie to me.
Eeewww! I thought they were saying “body”.
What an idiot.
---
### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/16 "2001-08-24T14:16:11Z")
congrats on the thread, if you look in my profile, I’ve started some strange ones over time. Well, on the thread topic, anything by Michel Jackson scared the shit out of me.
---
### Author:  [@jellen92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellen92)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/17 "2001-08-24T14:18:28Z")
“I Always Feel Like Somebody’s watching Me” - Michael Jackson and someone else I believe?! Made me paranoid as a kid…
---
### Author:  [@Tabithina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabithina)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/18 "2001-08-24T14:34:52Z")
The song that struck the most terror into my young heart was _The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia_. This song was on the radio virtually every time my family went somewhere in the car, for _months_. My imagination would be busied with images of an innocent man swinging from the gallows, and a judge going home to his supper with bloodstained hands.
And then, there’s [Angie Baby](http://members.tripod.com/~Ladymafia/ml-458.html) :eek:
---
### Author:  [@finnofranco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/finnofranco)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/19 "2001-08-24T14:41:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jellen92 \*
> \*\*“I Always Feel Like Somebody’s watching Me” - Michael Jackson and someone else I believe?! Made me paranoid as a kid… \*\*
I think that it was Maxwell who did this song.
I have to agree with **Hugh Jass** about ‘American Pie’. I loved it, but the idea that it was a song about death sort of freaked me out.
---
### Author:  [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823/20 "2001-08-24T14:45:25Z")
OF course DOA. Then another one was “Careful With That Axe Eugenene”. The dude said that line and the beginning of the song and the rest the song was just slasher and terrifying screams. ::shudder::
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scared-you-when-you-were-young/77823.md?page=2)