Plaisir d’amour ne dure qu’un moment,
Chagrin d’amour dure toute la vie.
Freely translated: The joy of love lasts only a moment,
The sadness of love lasts a lifetime.
And the last verse of “O Waly Waly” (“The Water is Wide”):
O! love is handsome and love is fine,
And love’s a jewel while it is new;
But when it is old, it groweth cold,
And fades away like morning dew.
“A Fool in the Rain” - Led Zepplin
“Mr. Jones” - Counting Crows
“What a Fool Believes” - Doobie Brothers
Hell, anything by Weezer, mostly from the blue album. No One Else and The World Has Turned especially.
“Reeling In The Years” --Steely Dan
I always kinda thought A Fool in the Rain had sort of a happy-ish ending: He stands there thinking he’s been stiffed, then realizes he’s been waiting in the wrong spot.
Then he starts running to where he’s supposed to be, thinking about what an idiot he is. Humm–yeah, I guess it is kinda sad.
Never mind.
99 Red Balloons
Lou Reed’s Perfect Day should fool no-one as being truly happy, but the Beeb still managed to use it as promo material.
Woman in the Wall by the Beautiful South. it’s about a guy that kills his wife and stuffs her in a wall, all to a light and bumpy tune.
A host of Springsteen songs fit the category. Somebody already metnioned “Glory Days,” which is a perfect example. It’s all about how life passes us by, and leaves us with nothing but hazt memories of our supposedly glorious youth. Whenever I heard it played at Giants Stadium, I thought, don’t they understand what this song is saying? It’s saying, a few years from now, Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms will be old farts in a bar, boring other patrons with stories of how they once won the Super Bowl.
“Hungry Heart” is another example. When Bruce plays the song in concert, everybody sings along merrily… as if they don’t realize the song is about a dissatisfied husband who abandons his family, in search of… something. Something he can’t identify, and will almost certainly never find.
A non-Springsteen example? How about “Vicky Verky” by Squeeze, an energetic, catchy ditty about a 13 or 14 year old girl who has an abortion while her baby’s father is off in reform school.
Elvis Costello - Veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her
own and a delicate look in her eye
These days I’m afraid she’s not even sure if her name is Veronica
An upbeat peppy song about an abandoned woman with Alzheimer’s sitting in a rest home. Cheerful, wot?
Here are a couple:
“The Town I Loved So Well” – The Dubliners
and
“The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” – The Pogues
“The Merry Minuet,” sung by the Kingston Trio, is a funny song about hatred, natural disaster, and WW III.
How much had you been smoking when you came to the conclusion this was a happy sounding song?? :eek:
Can’t believe nobody’s mentioned the song “Last Kiss”.
Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
But don’t let my glad expression
give you the wrong impression.
Really I’m sad.
I’m sadder than sad.
You’re gone and I’m hurtin’ so bad.
Like a clown I pretend to be glad.
Heard another one today that I forgot about.
Smoke of a Distant Fire - Sanford Townsend
How about The Kingston Trio’s Tom Dooley
It’s quiet and soothing but with lyrics like these:
Met her on the mountain,
There I took her life,
Met her on the mountain,
Stabbed her with my knife
Mmmmmkay.
i agree that just like heaven is sad sounding, but i think the one of the cures saddest-sounding fast songs is ‘cut here’
oops i forgot.
as well also Pulp: Common People and Disco 2000
“Til the Morning Comes” by Neil Young
One of Neil’s happiest sounding songs, but actually among his saddest lyrics.
I was watching the “Top 80 of the 80’s” and Estevez points out that if you listen to the verses, you realize it’s Vietnam protest song!