Happy Music... Depressing Lyrics [Archive] - Comic Book Resources Forums

David O Burcham

09-16-2006, 09:12 PM

So, I get home from work and start flipping through the channels when I see this infomercial with Barry Williams selling one of those Time/Life 70's music collections. One of the songs is "Billy, Don't Be A Hero". It's been forever since I've heard this song, but I always remembered the happy, upbeat music from my childhood.

Then I remembered how damn depressing the story of the song is.

Billy, don’t be a hero, don’t be a fool with your life
Billy, don’t be a hero, come back and make me your wife
And as he started to go she said, Billy, keep your head low
Billy, don’t be a hero, come back to me

I heard his fiancee got a letter
That told how Billy died that day
The letter said that he was a hero
She should be proud he died that way
I heard she threw that letter away …

Another depressing song masquerading as a happy song is "Flowers On the Wall", by The Statler Brothers.

It's good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright
Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete

Countin' flowers on the wall
That don't bother me at all
Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo
Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do

I'm thinking of making a comp with these type of songs. Any suggestions?

Expletive Deleted

09-16-2006, 09:27 PM

The Decemberists' "A Cautionary Song"

Although that's not so much depressing as . . . disturbing.

Screwtape

09-16-2006, 09:38 PM

"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" - Billy Joel
"Annie Waits" - Ben Folds
"Nothing Better" - The Postal Service

WhiteRose

09-16-2006, 09:41 PM

Gah.

Clare Bowditch's "The thing about Grief."
It's a happy song...about grief and losing someone close.

And Imogen Heap's "The Walk."
The song is dance-club worthy, but it's about meeting an ex who you still have feelings for.

K'Nort

09-16-2006, 09:44 PM

Pretty much anything by The Smiths.

MacQuarrie

09-16-2006, 11:33 PM

Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again, Naturally."

Downright jaunty piano music, happy as hell, and lyrics that go:

In a little while from now
If I’m not feeling any less sour
I promise myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower
And climbing to the top will throw myself off
In an effort to make it clear to who
Ever what it’s like when you’re shattered
Left standing in the lurch at a church
Where people're saying:
"My God, that’s tough
She's stood him up
No point in us remaining
We may as well go home"
As I did on my own
Alone again, naturally

To think that only yesterday
I was cheerful, bright and gay
Looking forward to, as who wouldn’t do,
The role I was about to play
But as if to knock me down
Reality came around
And without so much as a mere touch
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt
All about God and His mercy
For if He really does exist
Why did He desert me?
In my hour of need
I truly am indeed
Alone again, naturally

It seems to me that there are more hearts
broken in the world that can’t be mended
Left unattended
What do we do? What do we do?

Alone again, naturally

Now looking back over the years
And whatever else that appears
I remember I cried when my father died
Never wishing to hide the tears
And at sixty-five years old
My mother, God rest her soul,
Couldn’t understand why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken
Leaving her to start with a heart so badly broken
Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever spoken
And when she passed away
I cried and cried all day
Alone again, naturally
Alone again, naturally

Doesn't that make you want to shoot yourself in the foot to cheer up?

Fish Sauce

09-17-2006, 01:21 AM

I found Blow Up the Pokies by The Whitlams reasonably cheerful. Then I found out that it was about one of the founding members who comitted suicide due to his gambling addiction. After listening to the lyrics, it's now one of the saddest songs I know.

There was the stage
Two red lights and a dodgy P.A
You trod the planks way back then
And it's strange that you're
Here again - here again

And I wish , I wish I knew the right words
to make you feel better
Walk out of this place
Defeat them in your secret battle
Show them you can be your own man again

Don't, don't explain
Lots of little victories take on the pain
It takes so long to earn
You can double up or
You can burn - You can burn

And I wish, I wish I knew the right words
To make you feel better
Walk out of this place
Defeat them in your secret battle
Show them you can be your own man again

And I wish, I wish I knew the right words
To blow up the Pokies and
Drag them away
'Cause they're taking the food off your table
So they can say that the trains run on time

Flashing lights - It's a real show
And your wife - I wouldn't go home
The little bundles need care
And you can't be a father there
Father there

And I wish, I wish I knew the right words
To blow up the Pokies and
Drag them away
'Cause they're taking the food off your table
So they can say that the trains run on time
Not a man there was made the trains run on time

Matt Linton

09-17-2006, 02:42 AM

The Beatles - Run For Your Life

I’d rather see you dead, little girl,
Than to be with another man.
You’d better keep your head, little girl,
Or I won’t know where I am.
You’d better run for your life if you can, little girl,
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man,
That’s the end - ah, little girl.
Well you know that I’m a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind,
And I can’t spend my whole life tryin’,
Just to make you toe the line.
You’d better run for your life if you can, little girl,
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man,
That’s the end - ah, little girl.
Let this be a sermon,
I mean everything I said,
Baby, I’m determined,
And I’d rather see you dead.
You’d better run for your life if you can, little girl,
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man,
That’s the end - ah, little girl.
I’d rather see you dead, little girl,
Than to be with another man.
You’d better keep your head, little girl,
Or I won’t know where I am.
You’d better run for your life if you can, little girl,
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man,
That’s the end - ah, little girl.

chicainery

09-17-2006, 08:09 AM

The Beatles - Run For Your Life

That's the first one I thought of when I saw the thread title.

Melbourne Mew Mew

09-17-2006, 01:49 PM

I remember Nick Cave called "Better The Devil You Know" by Kylie Minogue the most disturbing song he had ever heard, all the moreso because of Kylie's joyful innocence. Kylie sang about going back to the guy who treated her badly because "better the devil you know..." (than the devil you don't).

Gilda Dent

09-17-2006, 03:17 PM

Another depressing song masquerading as a happy song is "Flowers On the Wall", by The Statler Brothers.

It's good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright
Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete

Countin' flowers on the wall
That don't bother me at all
Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo
Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do

I'm thinking of making a comp with these type of songs. Any suggestions?

"Bed of Rose's" is another good one. A nice happy, bouncy little tune about a boy whose family kicks him out, is found begging, and is taken in by a prostitute who has recently died as the song begins.

"Every Breath You Take" is about a stalker/voyeur and at one point was used as some people's wedding songs.

GILDA

Aaron Kashtan

09-17-2006, 04:36 PM

Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street." Happy, upbeat music coupled with bitter, angry lyrics:

You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that's winning

You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt
Why then don't you show it

You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You're in with

Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you?" "Good luck"
But you don't mean it

When you know as well as me
You'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once
And scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I'd rob them

And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you

MacQuarrie

09-17-2006, 05:36 PM

Booby Darin proved himself the undisputed master of ironic counterpoint with one song, "Artificial flowers". I believe he did this song this way intentionally, with the idea that the audience would get so caught up in the swinging tune that they wouldn't notice the bleak lyrics at first.

Here's a snippet of the music: Artifical Flowers at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B0000634HG001010/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_010/103-2339070-7683840)

And here are the lyrics:

Alone in the world
Was poor little Anne
As sweet a young child as you'd find.
Her parents had gone
To their final reward
Leavin' their baby behind.

This poor little child
Was only nine years of age
When mother and dad went away.
Still she bravely worked
At the one thing she knew
To earn her few pennies a day.

She made artificial flowers
Artificial flowers
Flowers for ladies of fashion to wear.
She made artificial flowers
Ya know those artificial flowers
Fashioned from Annie's despair.

With paper and shears
With some wire and wax
She made up each tulip and mum.
As snowflakes drifted
Into her tenement room
Her baby little fingers grew numb.

From makin' artificial flowers
Those artificial flowers
Flowers for ladies of high fashion to wear.
She made artificial flowers
Artificial flowers
Made from Annie's despair.

They found little Annie
All covered with ice
Still clutchin' her poor frozen shears.
Amidst all the blossoms
She had fashioned by hand
And watered with all her young tears.

There must be a heaven
Where little Annie can play
In heavenly gardens and bowers.
And instead of a halo
She'll wear 'round her head
A garland of genuine flowers.

No more artificial flowers
Throw away those artificial flowers
Flowers for ladies of society to wear.
Throw away those artificial flowers
Those dumb-dumb flowers ...

Fashioned from Annie's ...
Fashioned from A-a-a-annie's des-pa-a-a-air.

Give her the real thing!

Cam63

09-17-2006, 05:47 PM

" Ring-a-Ringa Rosie " is about the Black Death plague, so I guess it may count.

Bouncing Boy

09-17-2006, 06:25 PM

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper"

[Written by Blue Oyster Cult]

All our times have come
Here but now they're gone
Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain
We can be like they are

Come on baby... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby take my hand... Don't fear the Reaper
We'll be able to fly... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby I'm your man...

Valentine is done
Here but now they're gone
Romeo and Juliet
Are together in eternity...
Romeo and Juliet

40,000 men and women everyday... Like Romeo and
Juliet
40,000 men and women everyday... Redefine
happiness
Another 40,000 coming everyday...We can be like
they are

Come on baby... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby take my hand... Don't fear the Reaper
We'll be able to fly... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby I'm your man...

Love of two is one
Here but now they're gone
Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear we couldn't go on
The door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew and then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared
Saying don't be afraid

Come on baby... And we had no fear
And we ran to him... Then we started to fly
We looked backward and said goodbye
We had become like they are
We had taken his hand
We had become like they are

Come on baby...don't fear the reaper

Corrina

09-17-2006, 07:05 PM

Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy."

After ten long years, they let him out of the home
Excitable boy, they all said
So he dug up her grave and made a cage of her bones
Excitable Boy, they all said
He's just an excitable boy...

---it has do-woops. Name me another song about a sociopathic killer/rapist with do-woops. :)

There's also Randy Newman's "Sail Away," which sounds beautiful as covered by Linda Ronstadt. Except the song is about a man kidnapped by slavers in Africa...

Gilda Dent

09-17-2006, 07:14 PM

"Mack the Knife" is another Bobby Darrin ditty about a less than cheerful subject--a hood who kills three people during the song.

GILDA

David O Burcham

09-17-2006, 08:04 PM

I'm adding "1999", "Safety Dance", and "99 Luftballons" to the comp disc. Three of the peppiest armageddon songs I know.

The Xenos

09-17-2006, 11:42 PM

I myself am fond of My Chemical Romance's Headfirst for Halos.

And now the red ones make me fly,
And the blue ones help me fall,
And I think I'll blow my brains against the ceiling.
And as the fragments of my skull begin to fall,
Fall on your tongue like pixie dust just think happy thoughts,

And we'll fly home,
We'll fly home,
You and I,
We'll fly home.

C'mon!

The Peter Pan reference is pretty nice too. Nothing like perverting stories you loved as a child. At least Wendy isn't jerking off Peter. -looks at Alan Moore-

MacQuarrie

09-18-2006, 12:35 AM

"Mack the Knife" is another Bobby Darrin ditty about a less than cheerful subject--a hood who kills three people during the song.

GILDA

Ever hear the other lyrics?

Big explosion in the market
Twenty people blown to death
In the crowd stands wide-eyed Mackie
Only slightly out of breath.

Hey, what happened to that cabbie
Used to drive drunks home for free
He was last seen driving Mackie
But old Mack says "Why ask me?"

There was rape down by the harbor
Little Suzie caused a stir
Claiming that she was assaulted
Wonder what got into her?

Gilda Dent

09-18-2006, 01:54 AM

Ever hear the other lyrics?

Big explosion in the market
Twenty people blown to death
In the crowd stands wide-eyed Mackie
Only slightly out of breath.

Hey, what happened to that cabbie
Used to drive drunks home for free
He was last seen driving Mackie
But old Mack says "Why ask me?"

There was rape down by the harbor
Little Suzie caused a stir
Claiming that she was assaulted
Wonder what got into her?

Wow. I'm not sure whether to be impressed or disgusted by the rape double entendre in the last verse.

GILDA

MacQuarrie

09-18-2006, 09:09 AM

Wow. I'm not sure whether to be impressed or disgusted by the rape double entendre in the last verse.

GILDA

In context, both.

The song is the opening to "Threepenny Opera", a play in which the heroes, in addition to Macheath (Mack The Knife, a murderer-arsonist-extortionist-bigamist-pimp-gangleader), are gangsters, beggars, prostitutes and thieves, and the villains are the police, businessmen and government officials. The show opens with a news vendor selling "penny dreadfuls" (tabloid publications full of lurid "true crime" stories). The tale of Mack the Knife sells a lot of papers.

Deathstroke

09-18-2006, 09:10 AM

I don't have time to read the whole thread, but did anyone mention Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy" yet?

The Xenos

09-18-2006, 09:44 AM

What the...? Those are the real original second verse lyrics or something? Did you just make that up? Who sings that part? I want to know.. so I can.. not? .. buy their album? Um.. yeah..

MacQuarrie

09-18-2006, 04:13 PM

What the...? Those are the real original second verse lyrics or something? Did you just make that up? Who sings that part? I want to know.. so I can.. not? .. buy their album? Um.. yeah..
Mack the Knife was written in German by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. It was translated into English a couple of times. The most famous translation is by Marc Blitzstein, and that's the one that was recorded by (among others) Louis Armstrong, Bobby Darin, and Ella Fitzgerald. The other translation is far darker and less witty. Lyle Lovett has recorded it.

As far as I know, the lyrics I quoted here have only been heard in stage productions of Threepenny Opera; I'm not sure they've ever been recorded. The song is really long in the show, as it's sung while all the characters enter and take their places.

incubus442

01-11-2010, 02:41 PM

I am surprised that no one mentioned the song Hemingway by Blue Clocks Green. It must be the most overlooked example of "Happy Death Music" that I have ever heard of. The music itself, if heard without the lyrics, is happy and upbeat - almost bubblegum type of music. Then there are the lyrics - which are all about suicide.

In another time, when everything was fine
I often felt I created situations
Now I know, wherever I go
I can rest my mind on deep concentration

And just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

Just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

In another time, when everything was fine
I often looked to you for inspiration
Now I know, wherever I go
Don't set my life on great expectations

And just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

Just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

There's no goodbyes
No, no, no, no, no
There's no goodbyes
No, no, no, no, no
It's just a dirty trick

And just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

Just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

Just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

Just like Hemingway
He showed me anyway
You can be a hero, all you have to know is what to say
And if I want to die just like Hemingway
I'll put a pistol in my mouth and blow my head away

Joe Acro

01-11-2010, 02:43 PM

How about "Do They Know It's Christmastime?"

It's very upbeat, but if you listen to lyrics you might end up feeling guilty and/or depressed.

FeminineMystique

01-11-2010, 02:52 PM

Blue Sunny Day by Jonathan Coulton is a deliberate example of this

JKCarrier

01-11-2010, 03:05 PM

Nick Lowe's "Cruel to be Kind" -- the peppiest tune about an abusive relationship I've ever heard:

Well I do my best to understand dear
But you still mystify and I want to know why
I pick myself up off the ground to have you knock me back down
Again and again and when I ask you to explain
You say, you've got to be
Cruel to be kind in the right measure
Cruel to be kind it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind means that I love you
Baby, got to be cruel, you got to be cruel to be kind

CutterMike

01-11-2010, 03:29 PM

DubipR

01-11-2010, 03:33 PM

Would 'Southern Man' by Niel Young count?
The guitar does kick on the track

Benel Germosen

01-11-2010, 03:37 PM

The Decemberists' "A Cautionary Song"

Although that's not so much depressing as . . . disturbing.

That song is the world's most elaborate " Yo momma " joke.

scandalsavage

01-11-2010, 03:49 PM

Gilda Dent

01-11-2010, 04:01 PM

Despite the fist pumping that accompanies it when played, "Born in the USA" by Springsteen is very depressing

I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run aint got nowhere to go

Born in the u.s.a., I was born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., I'm a long gone daddy in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., I'm a cool rocking daddy in the u.s.a.

Springsteen has a number of songs that have downbeat lyrics in counterpoint to a peppy tune. "Workin' on the Highway" is about a man working on a prison work detail after running off with an underage girl. "Johnny 99" follows a man who, after losing his job and murdering a convenience store clerk during a botched robbery, begs the court to put him to death rather than prison for the 99 years in the title.

The Beast Of Yucca Flats

01-11-2010, 04:05 PM

The Smashing Pumpkins' "Lily (My One & Only)."

Indigo Al

01-11-2010, 04:06 PM

Outkast's "Hey Ya" is absolutely a misery song - it is wracked with personal pain, but utterly irresistable on a dance floor.

JamesRitcheyIII

01-11-2010, 04:09 PM

"Mack the Knife" is another Bobby Darrin ditty about a less than cheerful subject--a hood who kills three people during the song.

GILDA

Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and (English Translator) Marc Blitzstein (a genius in his own right) mighta had a little to do with it, too--having written it. Kudos to Darrin fer swingin' it out--but those three guys are some of my personal music heroes, and Threepenny Opera (in original notation) is an avant-garde masterpiece. Just as jaunty and happy musically, but macabre as hell lyrically, in the original version.

Fun Factoid--that song would have never existed except that the guy playing MacHeath in the original stage play threatened to quit if his character didn't have an introductory song.

scandalsavage

01-11-2010, 04:11 PM

Springsteen has a number of songs that have downbeat lyrics in counterpoint to a peppy tune. "Workin' on the Highway" is about a man working on a prison work detail after running off with an underage girl. "Johnny 99" follows a man who, after losing his job and murdering a convenience store clerk during a botched robbery, begs the court to put him to death rather than prison for the 99 years in the title.

You're right, he does have a lot of them. Hungry Heart is another one that comes to mind.

Dark Galaxy

01-11-2010, 04:16 PM

"Mack the Knife" is another Bobby Darrin ditty about a less than cheerful subject

That's the first one that popped into my head, when I read the thread title. Damn dark tune, with a poppin' beat.

Gilda Dent

01-11-2010, 04:23 PM

Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and (English Translator) Marc Blitzstein (a genius in his own right) mighta had a little to do with it, too--having written it.

Of course. I cite Bobby Darrin because that's the version that became a pop standard.

If we're going to go musical theater, there are a number of good candidates, but I don't think anything can top "A Little Priest":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnVd3wgTX0&feature=related

40footwolf

01-11-2010, 04:25 PM

Two-The Antlers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-BFLjyIb04)

In the middle of the night I was sleeping sitting up,
when a doctor came to tell me, "Enough is enough."

He brought me out into the hall (I could have sworn it was haunted),
and told me something that I didn't know that I wanted to hear:
That there was nothing that I could do to save you,
the choir's gonna sing, and this thing is gonna kill you.
Something in my throat made my next words shake,
and something in the wires made the lightbulbs break.
There was glass inside my feet and raining down from the ceiling,
it opened up the scars that had just finished healing.
It tore apart the canyon running down your femur,
(I thougth that it was beautiful, it made me a believer.)
And as it opened I could hear you howling from your room,
but I hid out in the hall until the hurricane blew.
When I reappered and tried to give you something for the pain,
you came to hating me again and just sang your refreain:

You had a new dream, it was more like a nightmare.
You were just a little kid, and they cut your hair,
then they stuck you in machines, you came so close to dying.
They should have listened, they thought that you were lying.
Daddy was an asshole, he fucked you up, built the gears in your head,
now he greases them up. And no one paid attention when you just stopped eating. "Eighty-seven pounds!" and this all bears repeating.

Tell me when you think that we became so unhappy,
wearing silver rings with nobody clapping.
When we moved here togehter we were so dissappointed,
sleeping out of tune with our dreams disjointed.
It killed me to see you getting always rejected,
but I didn't mind the things you threw, the phones I deflected.
I didn't mind you blaming me for your mistakes,
I just held you in the doorframe through all of the earthquakes.
But you packed up your clothes in that bag every night,
and I would try to grab your ankles (what a pitiful sight.)
But after over a year, I stopped trying to stop you from stomping out that door,
coming back like you always do. Well no one's gonna fix it for us, no one can.
You say that, 'No one's gonna listen, and no one understands.'

So there's no open doors and there's no way to get through,
there's no other witnesses, just us two.

There's two people living in one small room,
from your two half-families tearing at you,
two ways to tell the story (no one worries),
two silver rings on our fingers in a hurry,
two people talking inside your brain,
two people believing that I'm the one to blame,
two different voices coming out of your mouth,
while I'm too cold to care and too sick to shout.

You had a new dream, it was more like a nightmare.
You were just a little kid, and they cut your hair,
then they stuck you in machines, you came so close to dying.
They should have listened, they thought that you were lying.
Daddy was an asshole, he fucked you up, built the gears in your head,
now he greases them up. And no one paid attention when you just stopped eating. "Eighty-seven pounds!" and this all bears repeating.

Karen El

01-11-2010, 04:33 PM

The British electric folk group Steeleye Span specialized (for the most part) in -- well -- electrified versions of old British folk songs. They had a knack for saving their peppiest, most upbeat arrangements for songs of death and destruction. The Maid and the Palmer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RolZ6HoG0iE) is quintessential Steeleye Span.

They also did a version of The Black Freighter, also from The Threepenny Opera, which is delightful.

Another of theirs that fits this thread and I particularly like is Long Lankin. Having seen them do this live, you would not believe how cheerfully Maddy Prior sings lines like:

There was blood all in the kitchen
There was blood all in the hall
There was blood all in the parlour
Where my lady she did fall

I'd also recommend a possible source in the book I Hate Myself and Want to Die by Tom Reynolds. Although it's all about depressing songs, I'm sure it includes some that sound a lot happier than they actually are.

scandalsavage

01-11-2010, 04:42 PM

Of course. I cite Bobby Darrin because that's the version that became a pop standard.

If we're going to go musical theater, there are a number of good candidates, but I don't think anything can top "A Little Priest":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnVd3wgTX0&feature=related

For musical theater Stephen Sondheim is the king of the happy music, depressing lyrics songs. The score of Company is full of them.

40footwolf

01-11-2010, 05:01 PM

Toughest Street In Town-Thin Lizzy (http://www.lala.com/#album/360569445172781740/Thin_Lizzy/Black_Rose:_A_Rock_Legend)

Outside the window the neon flashes
In the morning light
Down on the sidewalk there's a woman with a problem
But she don't know how to fight

She's destined to be broken down
She softly whispers, "Is there no one around?"
And no one hears the sound
Her knees give way and hit the ground

This is the toughest street in town
This is the toughest street in town
This is the toughest street in town
This is the toughest

Like a rat in a pack it attacks
From the back
Through a crack in a track
And you're taking smack

And Jack has had a hard day
No one told him it would be like this
He's had to score the hard way
And there's that trick he'll always miss

This is the toughest street in town
This is the toughest
It's tough stuff
This is the toughest street around
This is the toughest
Don't you go down nohow

It's just another black spot
Where far too many people have died
It's just another grave yard
And there's not too many people left alive

This is the toughest
Are you tough enough
This is the toughest
Are you rough enough
This is the toughest
Can you bluff enough

Just a minor misery did me no harm
But it's there as a constant reminder, and it's there to warn
The neon is still flashing in the morning light
Down on the sidewalk that woman was blown away
Out of sight

All across the city no one gives a damn
All across the city no one seems to understand

This is the toughest
This is the toughest street in town
This is the toughest street around
This is the toughest

Black Atom

01-11-2010, 05:06 PM

Of course. I cite Bobby Darrin because that's the version that became a pop standard.

If we're going to go musical theater, there are a number of good candidates, but I don't think anything can top "A Little Priest":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnVd3wgTX0&feature=related

That's amazing. I never knew there was a version besides Louis Armstrong's. I had to YouTube it (Darrin's, that is).

Oh yeah. "Angel is the Centerfold" by J. Geils Band.

Gilda Dent

01-11-2010, 05:08 PM

"You Don't Mess Around With Jim"

A nice country boy named Slim tracks down the title character, a violent hoodlum, tortures him to death, and then throws his freshly butchered corpse into the pool room where Jim had the audacity to beat him in a game of pool.

The 70's were a simpler, gentler time.

spair

01-11-2010, 05:34 PM

This Disco classic sprang to mind

There But for the Grace of God Go I By Machine

Carlos and Carmen Vidal just had a child
A lovely girl with a crooked smile
Now they gotta split 'cause the Bronx ain't fit
For a kid to grow up in
Let's find a place they say, somewhere far away
With no blacks, no Jews and no gays

Chorus:
There but for the grace of God go I

Poppy and the family left the dirty streets
To find a quiet place overseas
And year after year the kid has to hear
The do's the don'ts and the dears
And when she's ten years old she digs that rock 'n' roll
But Poppy bans it from home

Chorus

Baby, she turns out to be a natural freak
Popping pills and smoking weed
And when she's sweet sixteen she packs her things and leaves
With a man she met on the street
Carmen starts to bawl, bangs her head to the wall
Too much love is worse than none at all

pariah-1972

01-11-2010, 06:44 PM

Band of Gold by Freda Payne -very Motown-ish song but the lyrics are very depressing i think it's about girl getting married and then on there Honeymoon he doesn't even wanna sleep in the same room with her.

Oasis by Amanda Palmer very upbeat song about rape.

Calvin Government

01-11-2010, 06:56 PM

The Decemberists and They Might Be Giants do this all the freakin' time.

TMBG: They'll Need A Crane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XdqMGBZjGM

The Decemberists: O Valencia!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbsHwuyfnnw

CutterMike

01-11-2010, 07:18 PM

They also did a version of The Black Freighter, also from The Threepenny Opera, which is delightful.

Another of theirs that fits this thread and I particularly like is Long Lankin. Having seen them do this live, you would not believe how cheerfully Maddy Prior sings lines like:

There was blood all in the kitchen
There was blood all in the hall
There was blood all in the parlour
Where my lady she did fall

I'd also recommend a possible source in the book I Hate Myself and Want to Die by Tom Reynolds. Although it's all about depressing songs, I'm sure it includes some that sound a lot happier than they actually are.

How could I have forgotten "Long Lankin"?

Seriously; their songs always seem happiest when someone is being fiendishly done in!

"Marrowbones" is another one:

So loudly she did holler and loud for mercy call.
But the old man says, "i am so blind, i can't see you at all".
And sing folderol-diddle-all-fol-di-day
Sing folderol-diddle-all-day!

She swam and she swam and she swam around till she came to the further brim.
But the old man got the barge pole and he pushed her further in.
And sing folderol-diddle-all-fol-di-day
Sing folderol-diddle-all-day!

MacQuarrie

01-11-2010, 07:38 PM

Another Bobby Darin classic. This one is downright subversive in its contradiction. Even peppier and more swinging than his version of "Mack the Knife", with horribly depressing lyrics...

Artificial Flowers (http://www.google.com/url?q=http://s0.ilike.com/play%23Bobby%2BDarin:Artificial%2BFlowers:32783:s4 0481082.10814584.1512500.0.2.47%252Cstd_532c87596a 564ad8b020274b79aaf853&ei=Ve1LS5DtPJPgtgPW6oWEDA&sa=X&oi=music_play_track&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=2&ved=0CAsQ0wQoADAA&usg=AFQjCNEwkWdYQ8OTfFytnAiXEOqOkYsV1A)

Alone in the world
Was poor little Anne
As sweet a young child as you'd find.
Her parents had gone
To their final reward
Leaving their baby behind.

This poor little child
Was only nine years of age
When mother and dad went away.
Still she bravely worked
At the one thing she knew
To earn her few pennies a day.

She made artificial flowers
Artificial flowers
Flowers for ladies of fashion to wear.
She made artificial flowers
Those artificial flowers
Fashioned from Annie's despair.

With paper and shears
With some wire and wax
She made up each tulip and mum.
As snowflakes drifted
Into her tenement room
Her baby little fingers grew numb.

From making artificial flowers
Those artificial flowers
Flowers for ladies of high fashion to wear.
She made artificial flowers
Artificial flowers
Made from Annie's despair.

They found little Annie
All covered with ice
Still clutching her poor frozen shears.
Amidst all the blossoms
She had fashioned by hand
And watered with all her young tears.

There must be a heaven
Where little Annie can play
In heavenly gardens and bowers.
And instead of a halo
She'll wear 'round her head
A garland of genuine flowers.

No more artificial flowers
Throw away those artificial flowers
Flowers for ladies of society to wear.
Throw away those artificial flowers
Those dumb-dumb flowers ...
Fashioned from Annie's ...
Fashioned from Annie's despair.

Give her the real thing!

MacQuarrie

01-11-2010, 07:56 PM

The true masters of this art, however, are the Irish. The more jaunty the jig, the more grim the lyrics. Check out "The Two Sisters" or "Greenwood Sidey" for but two examples.

The Two Sisters (http://www.google.com/url?q=http://s0.ilike.com/play%23Clannad:Two%2BSisters:137411:s46478878.1187 1570.21011342.0.2.93%252Cstd_eba6b3af08c8419db1ab0 2627aa5a1df&ei=r_JLS9WFPIykswO-l7SIDA&sa=X&oi=music_play_track&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=2&ved=0CAgQ0wQoADAA&usg=AFQjCNGolm66F-bVamAhDLq6pXoiflaYIw)
Performed by Clannad

There were two sisters side by side
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
There were two sisters side by side
The boys are bound for me
There were two sisters side by side
The eldest for young johnny cried
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Johnny bought the youngest a gay gold ring
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Johnny bought the youngest a gay gold ring
The boys are bound for me
Johnny bought the youngest a gay gold ring
He never bought the eldest a single thing
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Johnny bought the youngest a beaver hat
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Johnny bought the youngest a beaver hat
The boys are bound for me
Johnny bought the youngest a beaver hat
The eldest didn't think much of that
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

As they were walking by the foamy rim
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
As they were walking by the foamy rim
The boys are bound for me
As they were walking by the foamy rim
The eldest pushed the youngest in
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Sister, oh sister give me thy hand
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Sister, oh sister give me thy hand
The boys are bound for me
Sister, oh sister give me thy hand
And you can have johnny and all his land
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Sister I won't give you my hand
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Sister I won't give you my hand
The boys are bound for me
Sister I won't give you my hand
And I'll have johnny and all his land
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

So there she sank and away she swam
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
So there she sank and away she swam
The boys are bound for me
So there she sank and away she swam
Until she came to the miller's dam
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Miller took away her gay gold ring
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
Miller took away her gay gold ring
The boys are bound for me
Miller took away her gay gold ring
And then he pushed her in again
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

The miller was hanged on the mountain head
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
The miller was hanged on the mountain head
The boys are bound for me
The miller was hanged on the mountain head
The eldest sister was boiled in lead
I'll be true for my love
If he'll be true to me

Greenwood Sidey (http://www.harp-thistle.com/tunes/GreenwoodSidey.mp3) (also called "The Cruel Mother")
Performed by Train to Sligo

There was a lady lived in York - all the lee and loney
Fell in love with her father's clerk - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She loved him up, she loved him down - all the lee and loney
Loved him 'til he filled her arms - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She leant her back against an oak - all the lee and loney
First it bent and then it broke - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She leant her back against a thorn - all the lee and loney
There she had two fine babes born - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She took out her reaping knife - all the lee and loney
There she took those fine babes' lives - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She wiped the blade against her shoe - all the lee and loney
The more she rubbed, the redder it grew - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She went back to her father's hall - all the lee and loney
Saw two babes a-playing at ball - down by the greenwood sidey-o

'Oh babes oh babes if you were mine' - all the lee and loney
'I'd dress you up in scarlet fine' - down by the greenwood sidey-o

'Oh Mother Oh Mother when we were yours' - all the lee and loney
'Scarlet was our own hearts' blood' - down by the greenwood sidey-o

'Oh babes Oh babes it's Heaven for you' - all the lee and loney
'Oh Mother Oh Mother it's Hell for you' - down by the greenwood sidey-o

Karen El

01-11-2010, 09:22 PM

Total Eclipse of the Heart is probably one of the most emo songs ever, if you take a close look at the lyrics.

There's another song that might fit, but I can't remember the title, or who it's by, to check. It's about some guy who keeps calling his girlfriend on the phone but all he gets is her answerphone message. Eventually he find out that she has died, so he calls her machine again just to listen to her voice. It's hugely maudlin, but I think it might be quite poppy music.

Oh, and then there's The Ballad Of Bonnie & Clyde - Georgie Fame & Blue Flames (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubOI9yY55JU). A happy love song tune about a pair of gangsters stealing and murdering, who die in a hail of bullets at the end of the song.

Not forgetting Keith West's Excerpt from a Teenage Opera (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENblHOxi1c4) AKA Grocer Jack. A cheery song about an old man dying while his fellow villagers complain about him not being at work on time.