# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/61 "2013-05-16T21:32:18Z")
Happy Days Are Here Again Was originally a depression era song and very cynical. Now its sung as a happy song. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/62 "2013-05-16T21:45:34Z")
Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.” ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/63 "2013-05-16T21:54:54Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > To me it’s about a relationship in which the singer doesn’t really give a shit (“A simple prop, to occupy my time”) and has no problem leaving (“This one goes out to the one I’ve left behind”) but likes keeping the other person around for amusement. He then discards them and moves on to another one (“Another prop, has occupied my time”). > > Just one opinion, I guess, but clearly not just a torch song. Thank you. That makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/64 "2013-05-17T00:26:34Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I decided to check this song out, because I found your post fascinating. Turns out, there is no evidence for the assumption that Mary was abused. She may just be a young lady who loves sex with lots of guys. I didn’t find the song dark. Well, I may be all alone here, but a young girl who goes down to the park at night to have sex with a bunch of the neighborhood guys does not sound like she just ‘has to have it’. The narrator in the song sounds wistful that the neighborhood punch went off with “a man with money” - a pimp? It sounds very unhealthy and dangerous, and what we know now suggests she is sexually working out some pathology due to previous abuse. Extreme promiscuity is not just scratching an itch, or wanting to be popular. Sex abuse victims either shut down or go hog wild taking on anyone and everyone, and that’s what it sounds like to me, and I’m sticking to it. If you had a teenage daughter, she would have a boyfriend, or girlfriend, go steady, wouldn’t she?. If she did what Mary Hill did, would you think that was a fine, normal thing for a teenage girl to be doing? It’s rather sick, and sad. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/65 "2013-05-17T01:56:58Z")
Well, “Listen to the Mockingbird,” the bouncy, raucous number that closes out the Three Stooges comedies, and was often used to similar effect in cartoons of the same era, was a Nineteenth Century song that went like this: I’m dreaming now of Hally, Sweet Hally, sweet Hally, I’m dreaming now of Hally, For the tho’t of her is one that never dies; She’s sleeping in the valley, In the valley, in the valley, She’s sleeping in the valley, And the mockingbird is singing where she lies. Listen to the mockingbird, Listen to the mockingbird, The mockingbird still singing o’er her grave; Listen to the mockingbird, Listen to the mockingbird, Still singing where the weeping willows wave. Ah! well I yet remember, Remember, remember, Ah! well, I yet remember, When we gather’d in the cotton, side by side; 'Twas in the mild September, September, September, 'Twas in the mild September, And the mockingbird is singing where she lies. Listen to the mockingbird, Listen to the mockingbird, The mockingbird still singing o’er her grave; Listen to the mockingbird, Listen to the mockingbird, Still singing where the weeping willows wave. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/66 "2013-05-17T02:20:25Z")
The Boomtown Rats’ [“I Don’t Like Mondays”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don%27t_Like_Mondays), inspired by a senseless mass shooting by a teenager who gave, as her reasoning for the attack, “I don’t like Mondays.” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/67 "2013-05-17T02:48:41Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Dionne Warwick’s “Walk On By” is the peppiest, perkiest agonized breakup song I know of. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The Boomtown Rats’ [“I Don’t Like Mondays”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don%27t_Like_Mondays), inspired by a senseless mass shooting by a teenager who gave, as her reasoning for the attack, “I don’t like Mondays.” I do not hear much that is perky or upbeat in those songs at all. They are straightforwardly, and quite bombastically, tragic, with the music appropriate to the lyrical and emotional content. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/68 "2013-05-17T03:06:57Z")
Yeah, a lot of songs mentioned here don’t camouflage their fairly depressing nature. “Pumped Up Kicks,” “King of Pain,” “The One I Love,” “Jeremy,” “I Don’t Like Mondays” all convey their darkness lyrically and melodically. Elvis Costello’s “Veronica” sounds like an upbeat song, but it’s about a woman suffering from dementia. “These days I’m not even sure she knows/That her name is Veronica.” ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/69 "2013-05-17T03:13:13Z")
It was strange hearing Of Monsters and Men’s “Little Talks” in the trailer for a romantic comedy the other day, considering that the lyrics aren’t exactly romcom material. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/70 "2013-05-17T03:14:22Z")
“Papa Loved Mama” by Garth Brooks. A perky, catchy tune about a man violently killling his unfaithful wife and her lover, as related by one of the now-orphaned kids (“Mama’s in the graveyard, Papa’s in the pen”). ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/71 "2013-05-17T03:37:05Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Well, I may be all alone here, but a young girl who goes down to the park at night to have sex with a bunch of the neighborhood guys does not sound like she just ‘has to have it’. The narrator in the song sounds wistful that the neighborhood punch went off with “a man with money” - a pimp? It sounds very unhealthy and dangerous, and what we know now suggests she is sexually working out some pathology due to previous abuse. Extreme promiscuity is not just scratching an itch, or wanting to be popular. Sex abuse victims either shut down or go hog wild taking on anyone and everyone, and that’s what it sounds like to me, and I’m sticking to it. > > If you had a teenage daughter, she would have a boyfriend, or girlfriend, go steady, wouldn’t she?. If she did what Mary Hill did, would you think that was a fine, normal thing for a teenage girl to be doing? It’s rather sick, and sad. I do have a teenage daughter. When she is old enough to make decisions maturely, with full understanding of the consequences and the proper precautions, she can have sex with whomever she likes, and it won’t be my business or anyone else’s. I don’t believe that all women who like sex with many men are ‘acting out’. But I respect your opinion on the matter, and I won’t hijack this thread any further. I may start a thread on it if you want to get into it a bit more. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/72 "2013-05-17T03:41:52Z")
Lily Allen’s “Fuck You” is probably the most cheerful and bouncy song of that title and lyrics ever. At least until Ceelo Green came out with his. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/73 "2013-05-17T04:16:48Z")
Slayer’s “Seasons In The Abyss” starts off so promising, but then… ---
**Author:** ![Mole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/74 "2013-05-17T04:27:31Z")
“Pretty in Pink” by The Psychedelic Furs, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/75 "2013-05-17T06:25:00Z")
Eric Bogle’s “Little Gomez” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/76 "2013-05-17T06:42:59Z")
“_[Still Alive](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI)_” from the Portal game. Very happy tune at the end of the game celebrating your triumph, but the song by GLaDOS lets the player know that she/it is still around and there are more humans she/it will experiment until their deaths. ---
**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 17, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/77 "2013-05-17T12:24:04Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > “[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” I forgot to mention my second-favorite song about cannibalism: “[Timothy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGNdvKvbxYQ)” by the Buoys. The gist of it was that the narrator and two other guys (including Timothy) got trapped in a mine. When the narrator woke up during his rescue, his stomach was as full as it could be, but nobody ever got around to finding Timothy. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/78 "2013-05-17T13:13:44Z")
Pretty Polly, the old timey song (more fitting for this thread in later bluegrass recordings) is about a psycho who gets engaged to a girl. He wants to have sex with her before the wedding. When she won’t do it, he lures her out into the deep woods and shows her the grave he’s dug for her. She begs for her life, at which point he smashes in her head and buries her in the grave. In early versions, he seemingly gets away with no consequences. In later versions, he immediately goes to the local police station and turns himself in. Seemingly because he knows he’ll get caught, not because he is remorseful.[http://youtu.be/3XV7mxfIIr0](http://youtu.be/3XV7mxfIIr0) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/79 "2013-05-17T13:54:12Z")
Oh! "Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think), written in 1949 and performed by Guy Lombardo. And many times afterwards. My favorite version is by ska -punk - rockers, The Specials. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/80 "2013-05-17T14:50:07Z")
_Norwegian Wood_ by the Beatles. I’m always surprised by how many people miss the fact that he burns down the girl’s apartment in the end since she refused to have sex with him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485.md?page=5)