# Songs that sound happy but are actually dark **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775 "2009-12-10T21:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/1 "2009-12-10T21:21:53Z")
The Cyrkle’s [“Red Rubber Ball”](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtlsb_cyrkle-red-rubber-ball_music)(written by Paul Simon) is such a happy sounding song with a nice beat. However, when you listen to the lyrics, it is obvious that Simon was a very bitter man. > [@](#): > > The story’s in the past with nothin’ to recall > I’ve got my life to live and I don’t need you at all > The roller-coaster ride we took is nearly at an end > I bought my ticket with my tears, that’s all I’m gonna spend Ouch. I would mention The Police’s “Every breath you take” but it’s just misunderstood by people playing it at weddings. It doesn’t sound happy to me. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/2 "2009-12-10T21:24:43Z")
It’s the end of the world as we know it… And I feel fiiiiine! ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/3 "2009-12-10T21:25:32Z")
Jack and Diane ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/4 "2009-12-10T21:28:29Z")
_You Are My Sunshine._ I dreamed I held you in my arms But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken So I hung my head and cried. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/5 "2009-12-10T21:33:46Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > _You Are My Sunshine._ > > I dreamed I held you in my arms > But when I awoke, dear, > I was mistaken > So I hung my head and cried. There’s a lot of good, old-timey songs like that. I don’t know if “Awful, Dreadful Snake” qualifies. Maybe it isn’t upbeat enough, but a lot of old bluegrass music does that. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/6 "2009-12-10T21:37:26Z")
At least half of **Elvis Costello** ’s and **Nick Lowe** ’s early stuff; the entire first **Housemartins** album. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/7 "2009-12-10T21:40:13Z")
The songs to Buffy’s _Once More With Feeling_ was composed with this concept in mind, it seems like. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/8 "2009-12-10T21:42:32Z")
Bobby Darin’s “Artificial Flowers” is probably the most depressing upbeat song I’ve ever heard. Or vice versa. It’s about an orphan girl who earns what money she can by making artificial flowers and selling them to rich people, until she dies from the cold weather in her tenement. It’s a bouncy tune. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/9 "2009-12-10T21:42:54Z")
_Semi-Charmed Life_ by Third Eye Blind ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/10 "2009-12-10T21:43:23Z")
**Perfect Day** by Lou Reed **Golden Brown** by the Stranglers Both about heroin addiction. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/11 "2009-12-10T21:46:31Z")
**Love Me Dead** by Ludo > [@](#): > > _Love me cancerously > Like a salt-sore soaked in the sea. > ‘High-maintenance’ means > You’re a gluttonous queen > Narcissistic and mean. > Kill me romantically > Fill my soul with vomit > Then ask me for a piece of gum. > Bitter and dumb > You’re my sugarplum. > You’re awful, I love you!_ ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/12 "2009-12-10T21:49:05Z")
Bad Moon Rising, by Creedence Clearwater Revival ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/13 "2009-12-10T21:49:12Z")
Alone Again, Naturally. I remembered it as a hippy, dippy sorta Herman Hermitish poppy tune. And then one day out of the blue I heard it when I was an adult. Holy cow, what a fucked up song! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/14 "2009-12-10T21:50:05Z")
The Barenaked Ladies usually have a very lighthearted tone to their songs regardless of subject matter. The song [“The Old Apartment”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Apartment) is about a guy who goes back to where he and his girlfriend used to live but someone else lives there now, and ends up **breaking in** (note, new occupant is apparently not home) and criticizing the changes made from when they used to live there. Sugar’s “A Good Idea” sounds kind of sexy and fun in how the singer (Bob Mould) delivers it, and the plot starts out that way - the guy in the song says to a girl that they should go to the river, lay in the water, have fun, and she says “That’s a good idea.” Well, by the next verse, their fooling around turns dark: > [@](#): > > He held her down deep in the stream > He saw the bubbles and matted hair > Mixed in with seaweed > She started to scream He doesn’t really vary the delivery of the verses that much, and if you just concentrate on the sultry start and the upbeat “That’s a good idea, she/he said” choruses, you might miss what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/15 "2009-12-10T21:55:34Z")
Springsteen’s Born in the USA - chorus sounds like a jingoistic rally song (enough that Reagan’s team wanted it for his reelection campaign). ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/16 "2009-12-10T21:59:03Z")
“From A Distance” which basically ends by saying “It sucks down here and God doesn’t notice or give a shit about the problems on the planet.” And not just “You are my sunshine,” but the entire “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/17 "2009-12-10T21:59:47Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > The Barenaked Ladies usually have a very lighthearted tone to their songs regardless of subject matter. The song [“The Old Apartment”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Apartment) is about a guy who goes back to where he and his girlfriend used to live but someone else lives there now, and ends up **breaking in** (note, new occupant is apparently not home) and criticizing the changes made from when they used to live there. Even “One week” is a song about a couple fighting but they’re both too proud to apologize. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/18 "2009-12-10T22:12:56Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Springsteen’s Born in the USA - chorus sounds like a jingoistic rally song (enough that Reagan’s team wanted it for his reelection campaign). LOADS of Springsteen songs come to mind. How about “Glory Days,” which is really about miserable people who are getting old, and who spend all of their time drinking and reminiscing about their lost youth? ---
**Author:** ![Laalune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Laalune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laalune)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/19 "2009-12-10T22:13:01Z")
Jona Lewie - [Stop The Cavalry](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hVEdE0O5tA). It’s about a soldier stuck in a neverending war. _Dub a dub a dum dum_… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775/20 "2009-12-10T22:21:12Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > _You Are My Sunshine._ > > I dreamed I held you in my arms > But when I awoke, dear, > I was mistaken > So I hung my head and cried. I was singing in the shower once with my wife in the bathroom and she accused me of making up the final verse of _“Puff the Magic Dragon”_. Having only ever heard the refrain, she assumed (and this seems fairly common) that it was just some light, folksy children’s song. > [@](#): > > A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys > Painted wings and giant strings make way for other toys > One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more > And Puff, that mighty dragon, ceased his fearless roar > > His head was bent in sorrow; green scales fell like rain > Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane > Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave > So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-happy-but-are-actually-dark/520775.md?page=2)