# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/121 "2015-06-20T02:58:17Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Ah! > > Cherry Hill Park by Billy Joe Royal. A peppy little ditty about a girl who regularly “plays games way after dark” with “all the guys”. Yes, she is happily, voluntarily gang-banged by all the guys in the neighborhood until she is ‘bought’ by a guy with money. The singer is sad this disturbed young woman isn’t around to service them any more, and is disappointed that she’d stop giving it away for free - but would stoop to taking up with “a guy with money”. A girl who probably was severely sexually abused as a child and is acting out has the nerve to leave them, to become a paid whore! The nerve! Except that there’s no reason to assume she’s disturbed, nor that she was “severely abused”, let alone “as a child”. How in hell did you get such ideas from the song? Absolutely nothing in the lyrics points to that. She also doesn’t become a paid whore, but “married away” and now “plays a one man game”. Basically, the song is about a girl who had a lot of sex with boys of the neighborhood, but now settled with a single (wealthy) guy, to said local boys disapointment. I’m not sure where you found your interpretation, but there’s absolutely nothing sinister in this song. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/122 "2015-06-20T02:59:24Z")
I see a new ipod mix in my future… ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/123 "2015-06-20T03:04:10Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > _Beer For My Horses_ by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson has a lively, cheerful tune, and it’s about lynching. Why do you think it’s about lynching? I always thought it was just about the Old West code of “give them a fair trial and hang 'em” justice. Toby Keith’s inspiration for the song is [here](http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2746). ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/124 "2015-06-20T03:41:33Z")
> [@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’. […] what we know now suggests she is sexually working out some pathology due to previous abuse. I hadn’t read this post when I wrote mine, but wow! Just wow! So, in your mind, being promiscuous means “having been raped as a child”??? You created your own whole story, starting with childhood sexual abuse and ending up with prostitution, when nothing of the sort is mentioned, or even remotely implied. Everything you wrote comes straight from your imagination, and has nothing to do with the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/125 "2015-06-20T03:43:19Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > As freakin’ eerie as your version is, I don’t think there was ever much controversy on this one. It’s, “Jeremy spoke in class today.” Well, whattya know? I’ve heard that song countless times and thought the line was " Jeremy’s spoken, clear as day." “Spoke in class today” makes much more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/126 "2015-06-20T03:43:29Z")
[Starz In Their Eyes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNoEz6kPLkI) by Just Jack, a stupid-ish but catchy tune, an uptempo pop-rock/disco/dance, but the lyrics are both brilliant and downright depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/127 "2015-06-20T11:45:34Z")
> [@The\_Conqueror\_Worm](#): > > Isn’t **[Alone Again](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_P-v1BVQn8)** the ultimate example of this? It’s what I thought of. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/128 "2015-06-20T15:43:04Z")
Obscure, but [I Killed Mommy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvqHWMPN48s) by the **Dayglo Abortions** is a very upbeat song with, um, disturbing lyrics. (But if you’re familiar with their work, you would know that it was all done out of humor.) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/129 "2015-06-20T18:05:49Z")
How about these: “Yesterday, When I Was Young” – Roy Clark Just about anything by Tammy Wynette “The Ballad of Thunder Road” – Robert Mitchum (yes, THAT Robert Mitchum) “Honey” – Bobby Goldsboro “I Fall to Pieces” – Peter & Gordon “Tucumcari” – Jimmie Rodgers “Mr. Bojangles” – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast” – Wayne Newton ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485/130 "2015-06-21T01:46:09Z")
Ue o Muite Arukou (better known as “Sukiyaki” outside of Japan) by Kyu Sakamoto: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUA-DcW1lFc) The original title translates, “I Look Up When I Walk”, and it’s a song about lost love. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-sound-upbeat-but-have-darker-meanings/658485.md?page=6)