# Songs that sound upbeat but have darker meanings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485 "2013-05-16T03:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/21 "2013-05-16T12:41:51Z")
Chick Habit by April March No Good by Amy Winehouse (it’s kinda up-beat, right?) People Who Died by Jim Carroll Accidents Will Happen by Greenday Ciao! by Lush Like a Friend by Pulp ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/22 "2013-05-16T12:49:50Z")
The classic example for me has to be [Mack the Knife](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qrjtr_uFac), especially as sung by Bobby Darin. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/23 "2013-05-16T13:10:41Z")
Springsteen’s _Born in the USA_ is way bleaker than most people think. ---
**Author:** ![natterj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/dbc845/32.png) [@natterj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natterj)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/24 "2013-05-16T13:16:59Z")
Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/25 "2013-05-16T13:42:45Z")
“[Cannibal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhF1thmPeg)” by Ke$ha: “be too sweet, and you’ll be a goner/Yup, I’ll pull a Jeffery Dahmer” “Buffalo Soldier” by Bob Marley ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/26 "2013-05-16T13:48:11Z")
_Don’t Fear The Reaper_ is a fairly morbid song about death. _Mr. Tambourine Man_ is about drug addiction. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/27 "2013-05-16T13:50:30Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > “Hey Ya” is a very danceable song. I didn’t realize how depressing it was until I heard an acoustic cover of it. [Antidote.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sKrwsHweGc) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/28 "2013-05-16T13:57:52Z")
“Mexicali Blues” by Bob Weir/Grateful Dead is a very upbeat, chirpy song about being on the run, and fleeing to Mexico, after having (sort of inadvertently) committed murder. “I Should Be So Lucky”, by Kylie Minouge is about unrequited love, but sounds very upbeat and happy. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/29 "2013-05-16T14:01:51Z")
Poi Dog Pondering’s God’s Gallipoli. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/30 "2013-05-16T14:03:55Z")
“You Are My Sunshine” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/31 "2013-05-16T14:13:08Z")
Oh! “We’ll Sing In The Sunshine” by Gail Garnett. that’s usually my go-to answer. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/32 "2013-05-16T14:43:11Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Springsteen’s _Born in the USA_ is way bleaker than most people think. LOADS of Springsteen songs sound upbeat but have really bleak lyrics. “Glory Days” SOUNDS like a happy sports-themed song, which is why so many pro football and baseball teams play it over the loudspeakers during breaks… but lyrically, it’s a downer of a song about how quickly our youth passes, and how soon we turn into boring, nostalgic, drunken old farts with nothing but memories. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/33 "2013-05-16T14:48:18Z")
> [@Renifer](#): > > Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” (about a school shooting) is one of their more upbeat songs. Is it? Dude, they aren’t so depressing that Jeremy is one of their more upbeat songs. Yellow Ledbetter is more upbeat than that one. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/34 "2013-05-16T14:54:27Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/35 "2013-05-16T15:07:27Z")
The song that goes “Oh where oh where can my baby be…” I was enjoying it one day when I started actually listening to the lyrics - it’s about a fatal car accident. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/36 "2013-05-16T15:19:39Z")
_Fast Times at Clairemont High_ by Pierce the Veil doesn’t sound very upbeat – on the surface it sounds like an angsty emometal song about not having friends, but in the background there is sometimes party shouts like “let’s take this a bit faster” which makes it sound less serious. Then, on a third layer, when you read the lyrics, the guy really is pining for the girl with all his heart – so that he and her can consummate their love in the middle of a burning building. So yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/37 "2013-05-16T15:20:37Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > Ring Around The Rosie :dubious: Please don’t spread that myth. This IS the Straight Dope after all. [Cite](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.asp) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/38 "2013-05-16T15:25:17Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > The song that goes “Oh where oh where can my baby be…” > > I was enjoying it one day when I started actually listening to the lyrics - it’s about a fatal car accident. “Last Kiss” by Wayne Cochran. The oldies version most well-known is probably the one by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. Or perhaps you’re familiar with the Pearl Jam version. I’m 37, and I find it somewhat surprising at how many people I’ve met thought this was a Pearl Jam song, not an oldie from the 60s. While we’re at the whole “dead teenager” song genre (why in the hell was this ever a “thing”?), I’ve always been particularly amused by [Laurie (Strange Things Happen)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0N4nyYS5aA). ---
**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:** [May 16, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/39 "2013-05-16T15:33:56Z")
The entire recorded output of The Housemartins. Also the first few albums by Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/40 "2013-05-16T15:41:20Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > REM’s “The One I Love”- a shallow view of the song might make you think it is a traditional love song-it most certainly isn’t… Extreme’s “More Than Words” gets played at weddings. If you really listen to the words, it’s a dude telling his girlfriend that she’s history unless she has sex with him. :rolleyes: How about “Brick” by Ben Folds Five, although that one’s kind of obvious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485.md?page=3)