What are the most upbeat songs with kind of depressing lyrics?
What are the most upbeat songs with kind of depressing lyrics?
The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
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99 Luftballons is upbeat and fun, and about some balloons inadvertently kicking off a cataclysmic war that leaves the world in ruins.
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It's about the cold war paranoia. Sound is all synth pop upbeat, though.
The English version is called "99 Red Balloons".
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The balloons were a metaphor for the mushroom clouds from the nukes going off
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So you’re saying that the person standing in ruin at the end of the song thinks of their loved one and sets off a nuclear bomb?
I think the red balloons were just red balloons, mistaken for an enemy attack.
You and I in a little toy shop Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got Set them free at the break of dawn 'Til one by one, they were gone Back at base, sparks in the software Flash the message "something's out there" Floating in the summer sky 99 red balloons go by 99 red balloons Floating in the summer sky Panic bells, it's red alert There's something here from somewhere else The war machine springs to life Opens up one eager eye Focusing it on the sky The 99 red balloons go by 99 Decision Street 99 ministers meet To worry, worry, super scurry Call the troops out in a hurry This is what we've waited for This is it boys, this is war The President is on the line As 99 red balloons go by 99 knights of the air Ride super high-tech jet fighters Everyone's a superhero Everyone's a Captain Kirk With orders to identify To clarify and classify Scrambling the summer sky 99 red balloons go by As 99 red balloons go by 99 dreams I have had In every one, a red balloon It's all over, and I'm standing pretty In this dust that was a city If I could find a souvenir Just the prove the world was here And here is a red balloon I think of you, and let it goFrom Wikipedia:
The lyrics of the original German version tell a story: 99 balloons are mistaken for UFOs, causing a military general to send pilots to investigate. Finding nothing but balloons, the pilots put on a large show of firepower. The display of force worries the nations along the borders and the defense ministers on each side encourage conflict to grab power for themselves. In the end, a cataclysmic war results from the otherwise harmless flight of balloons and causes devastation on all sides without a victor, as indicated in the denouement of the song: "99 Jahre Krieg ließen keinen Platz für Sieger," which means "99 years of war left no room for victors." The anti-war song finishes with the singer walking through the devastated ruins of the world and finding a single balloon. The description of what happens in the final line of the piece is the same in German and English: "'Denk' an dich und lass' ihn fliegen," or "Think of you and let it go."[11]
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In my opinion, the lyrics tell a pretty straightforward story, no real need for metaphor
Someone releases a bunch of balloons into the sky, they get mistaken for enemy aircraft/missiles, and set off a war.
If you get more out of it with your interpretation, more power to you, but it feels like a bit of an unnecessary stretch though.
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Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind is the usual one I see brought up.
Push by Matchbox 20 and Possum Kingdom by Toadies are arguable ones.
Also, Richard Cheese covers a lot of raunchy and dark stuff in a vegas lounge singer style. Rape Me sung in a cheesy upbeat tone is a trip.
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I fucking love Richard Cheese, especially his cover of Closer.
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Omg, this is a true pickmeup 🤣🤣
The intro sounds like it's some Blues Brothers number and then... I want to violate you
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Check out his close friend and confidant, Johnny Aloha!
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I wouldn't say Possum Kingdom is upbeat even in sound.
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Agreed. Maybe if it were set to the tune of Mr. Bluesky...
Please tell us guy
\ Please tell us why
\ You showed us your dark secret
\ Seeecret
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I do love the Richard Cheese cover of Down With The Sickness.
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I wouldn't say Push is up-beat. Or at least the fact that the refrain is so openly negative undercuts that vibe with immediacy, in comparison with Semi-Charmed Life, for example, where you don't realize it's all horrible unless you pay close attention.
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Hey Ya by Outkast.
Also pretty much everything I have ever heard by Steely Dan.
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Hey Ya is an excellent example.
Steely Dan seems more low key. And he hates on my alma mater lol. And he acted like kind of a dick when I saw him live. But I do love his sound, like warm tea with honey and a lil splash of bourbon.
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Ok, maybe just the bourbon, honey optional.
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People forget that Today by The Smashing Pumpkins is literally about suicide.
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But it's about the euphoria one may experience after deciding to go through with it. Yaayy
/s
PS, I have witnessed the euphoria, but I didn't recognize it for what it was at the time. They were calling to say goodbye. Fuck, that still gets to me.
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I wouldn't call the smashing pumpkins upbeat. Some are up tempo, .maybe, but upbeat is not their style. Their biggest album was titled Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness. Not exactly cheerful stuff.
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Good point. Born in the USA and Fortunate Son would probably fit in here as well.
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Semi-Charmed Life is the first thing that always comes to my mind
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hey ya -- Outkast It's about relationships that aren't working out, but you still stay together.
" thank God for Mom and Dad / for sticking two together cause we don't know how"
Then later
" are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here? / y'all don't want to hear me, y'all just want to dance"
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Born in the USA
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Someone's boat was blasting that at the 4th of July on the water. My brother in Christ, I understood the lyrics back in 1984. It's a jammin' tune, but damn.
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90% of ska/ska punk music is like this. A few examples:
"The Science of Selling Yourself Short" - Less Than Jake
"Beer" - Reel Big Fish
"Struggler" and "I Don't Love You Anymore" - Bomb the Music Industry!
"The Last Bell I Will Ever Hear", "1-800-ALARM-ME" and "Last on my List" - The Arrogant Sons of removed
"Ska Dream" and "Checkerboard Ashtray" - Jeff Rosenstock
"A Better Place, a Better Time" and "As the Footsteps Die Out Forever" - Streetlight Manifesto
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Absolutely this.
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Nearly Everything by Reel Big Fish. It's all fun ska and mostly about social anxiety, broken hearts, and substance abuse. I love them.
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Hey Ya - Outkast
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Y'all don't wanna hear me, you just wanna dance...
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Nice, I scrolled the comments hoping I'd find this one
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Ghettomusick - Outcast
It is a really sharp critique of the rap industry at the time.
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Pumped up kicks by foster the people
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pumped up kicks
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Pumped up kicks
Under the bridge Red Hot Chilli Peppers
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Came here to post pumped up kicks
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The Macarena I'd about a woman cheating on her BF getting drafted into the military with 2 other guys
Which is pretty intense for a song they taught to kids in grade school
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Every Stromae's songs.
It's always funny to see non-french-speaking people being so hyped by Stromae's songs, like they think it's joyful af and all... While his songs lyrics are litterally about :- a man who drinks and dances a lot in order to forget his shitty life ( Alors on danse )
- a song about his father who was killed during Rwanda's genocide ( Papaoutai )
- other songs about suicide, cancer, breakups, addictions, depression etc... But always with an upbeat melody !
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I don't speak a lick of French (I know enough Spanish to recognize some words if they are slightly similar, but that's it) but still enjoy Stromae, although I've never found his music to be upbeat. I think, especially in Papaoutai, you can hear the struggle and sadness in the tone of the song and in his voice.
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Bad Moon Rising by Creedence.
It's about the apocalypse, but you wouldn't know it from how upbeat it is.
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If they didn't use this song in True Blood or just about any other campy Mississippi delta monster/ slasher film, then they done messed up.
I could only make it through the first season of True Blood, having read all the books that were available at the time. I actually learned about the book series and the show from a SDCC panel (we wanted good seats for the panel immediately after the True Blood one). Watching as Charlaine Harris's fans lost their everloving minds got me all curious.
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Ah, rhe bathroom song.
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Pick any Smiths song
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🎶 if a ten-ton truck 🌈 🎤 killed the both of us 🎶
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"I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour, but Heaven knows I'm miserable now"
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Talking Heads - Life During Wartime and Once in a Lifetime spring to mind.
It's probably easier to list the Talking Heads songs that are not upbeat and depressing.
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- El Fusilado - Chumbawumba. A happy clappy sunshiney recounting of the life and times of one Wenceslao Moguel, a soldier of Pancho Villa's who was captured, executed by firing squad, and lived to tell the tale. Short version: He got knocked down, but he got up again.
- Scarborough Fair - Folk; often associated with Simon and Garfunkel. I'm stretching the definition of "upbeat" here, but it baffles me that this is counted by anyone as a love song. It's a song about two ex-lovers expressing how much they hate each other by assigning each other impossible tasks as conditions for taking them back. He says "tell her I'll take her back if she sews me a shirt with no seams, washes it in a dry well and hangs it to dry on a vine with no thorns." She says "O RLY? Well you tell him that if he finds an acre of land between the ocean and the beach, sews it all with one seed and reaps it with a leather scythe, I'll take him back. And I'll even make him his damn shirt." It's a bitter song.
- Another Day In Paradise - Phil Collins. Again I'm stretching the definition of "upbeat," it's slow in tempo, kind of heavy, but it has that big sexy hook, manages to feel kind of breezy, it feels designed for first dances at wedding receptions, and the refrain is "It's just another day for you and me in paradise." It feels like a competitor to Fields of Gold by Sting. It's not! The verses are about the humanity crushing power of abject poverty.
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Chumbawamba are great, especially that album.
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I don't like Mondays by boomtown rats
https://open.spotify.com/track/7JFoeg0arawADjGcz9gBnq
Quite a chill and happy song about a school shooting
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An actual school shooting and I think the shooter thanked Bob Geldof for making her more famous
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Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen. It's about realizing that you've peaked and your best days are behind you.
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This song hits different now that I have some mileage on me.
We'll time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but boring stories offfffff glory days
I can watch my nephew checking out in real time if we tell too many back in the day stories at family dinners.
Also, my favorite sports bar used to be Glory Days.
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Jonathan Coulton has a bunch of these. "I Feel Fantastic" "Betty and Me" "Blue Sunny Day" "Shop Vac" "Chiron Beta Prime" "Future Soon" off the top of my head. "Skullcrusher Mountain" and "Re: Your Brains" to a lesser degree.
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I love Future Soon.
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shop vac has been playing in my head on loop for a few weeks and it's been more than a decade since i last heard it. it's so depressing.
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Hey Ya
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David Bowie - Five Years Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight
And about half of Pink's oeuvre.
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Plenty of ABBA songs... Maybe Chiquitita?
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Semi-charmed Life
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Little talks - of monsters and men
It sounds very chill and upbeat but it’s about the loss of a loved one-
I had a period where I could not listen to this one. It hit too hard.
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You are my sunshine (The Dead South do an excellent job illustrating how dark the song really is)
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I'll Fly Away also fits that.
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Love The Dead South, their vaguely ominous horror take on folk is amazing! Johnny Cash also does a wonderfully depressing version of the song
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Nothing but Flowers by Talking Heads is a cheerful song about post-apocalyptic life.
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Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself Loneliness masked as liberation.
Bulletproof - La Roux Emotional numbness disguised as empowerment
Some Linkin Park songs (Bleed it out, Up from the Bottom, etc.)
There's so many such songs...
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- OutKast - Hey Ya!
- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
- Tones and I - Dance Monkey
- NENA - 99 Red Balloons
- The 88 - At Least It Was Here
- The Beatles - Help!
- R.A. the Rugged Man - Legendary Loser
- Theory of a Deadman - removed Came Back
- Atmosphere - The Best Day
- Atmosphere - Yesterday
- Gorillaz - DoYaThing (Full-Length)
- Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
- Foster The People - Best Friend
- The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright
- Tyler, The Creator - 48
- Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A
- KISS - Detroit Rock City
- Scissor Sisters - Laura
- The Dead South - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company
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Hard Times - Paramore first thing I thought of
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The only 2 songs I could think of, Pumped Up Kicks, and 99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons were already brought up. So I had to think of some different songs. And I can't. Looked through a bunch of songs on my phone and back of some of my CD cases and I can't think of any right now.
Closest I can think of was just a video of someone reacting to the Japanese vocaloid song 「ごめんね ごめんね」 ( I'm sorry I'm sorry )by Kikuo and not knowing what the song meant until looking up the lyrics. Even then, that's not a very upbeat song.
Edit:
I thought about "Belong" by R.E.M., but I would say it's near upbeat but not quite there. Also, the lyrics are more cryptic and confusing to dissect than depressing in my opinion.
Edit 2:
Wouldn't say it's quite upbeat either, but Mighty K.C. from For Squirrels as well. Not quite upbeat but definitely depressing lyrics considering it's about death.
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Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger?
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This was one I would absolutely belt out in the car when I was so over the DC life.
I'm not sick, but I'm not well
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I Am A Rock by Simon and Garfunkel
A winter's day In a deep and dark December I am alone Gazing from my window to the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow I am a rock I am an island I've built walls A fortress deep and mighty That none may penetrate I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain It's laughter and it's loving I disdain I am a rock I am an island Don't talk of love Well I've heard the word before It's sleeping in my memory I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died If I never loved I never would have cried I am a rock I am an island I have my books And my poetry to protect me I am shielded in my armor Hiding in my room safe within my womb I touch no one and no one touches me I am a rock I am an island And a rock feels no pain And an island never cries-
In that vein, I guess, "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel also deserves a mention, even if it's up for interpretation how depressing the lyrics by themselves are.
But the first line in the song is "Hello darkness, my old friend / I've come to talk with you again." and there is a cover version by the metal band Disturbed, which has no shame to really lean into that sort of vibe.
And yeah, after having heard the Disturbed version, listening to the original certainly feels like there is a massive disconnect between how sad the song perhaps should be and how upbeat the original is.
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In what world is The Sound of Silence considered upbeat
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Almost anything by Tom Lehrer.
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"I could be an expert on codependency, I could write the best book on underage tragedy. I've been spendin' my time at the local liquor store, I've been sleeping nightly on my best friend's kitchen floor. And so I sit and wait and wonder, "does anyone one else feel like me?" I'm so overdosed on apathy and burned out on sympathy"
Yeah, I think the song checks out lol
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Bullet by Hollywood undead
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A good chunk of They Might Be Giants' discography.
Hopeless Bleak Despair is about what's in the title.
Don't Let's Start "Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful"
My Man is about being paralyzed.
That just scratches the surface.
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Vamos a la playa - super catchy totally 80s pop song that was everywhere in amusement parks ..... and it's about nuclear hellscape.
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My Worst Enemy - Lit
Man, who is probably an alcoholic, wakes up the next day from a bender to find his girlfriend has left him.
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So I listened to some of Lit's new stuff, they went full religious man. Bummed me out.
Stroke 9 on the other hand are fucking amazing and I love nearly all their tracks, their latest two albums are sick, Lake got me back into them, then went back to all their stuff I missed. Here's a screenshot of my ratings :)
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You are my sunshine
The other night dear As I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms But when I woke up I was mistaken so I held my head and I cried You are my sunshine My ONLY sunshine
It doesn't get any better from there
Edit: I will never understand how to format things the way I want them to sorry
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I always found The Scientist by Coldplay to be a pretty upbeat song about the death of a loved one. And Viva la Vida upbeat, and all about the fall from grace.
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Zero 7 - Waiting to die
Snowpix mentioned lots of ska/ska punk I gotta agree, my pick is The Aquabats - chemical bomb
Maybe a bit of a stretch but just running with the musical tone doesn't match the lyrics Ben Folds - removed ain't shit cover
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pretty much anything by third eye blind
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Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People.
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Polish Dancing Cow song is upbeat and catchy but the lyrics are about a man struggling with his cocaine addiction.
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A solid majority of Bastille's discography comes to mind, though not as outright depressing as Pumped Up Kicks or Youth of a Nation, most of their tracks tend to be very instrumentally upbeat and lively, with gorgeous vocals, but thematically darker lyrics / topics. Happier comes to mind as immediately fitting the prompt (and having enough radio play to be recognizable), but The Draw, Haunt, and Skulls also fit well (I'd also included their cover of City High's What Would You Do, also long as being a cover isn't a immediate disqualifier).
I feel like they're kind of slept on since they don't get a whole lot of radio play outside of a handful of songs, but all their other work is just so good. Personal top favorite artist, hands down.
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It'd be hard for a song with a title like "Pompeii" to be anything but dark, LOL
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- Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles
- Some Nights by Fun (and the music video really reinforces it)
- I Wanna Get Better by Bleachers
- a bunch of different songs by P!nk
- Weird Al's presidential debate autotune songs ("Bad Hombres, Nasty Women" from 2016, "WE'RE ALL DOOMED" from 2020, and "Deja Vu (But Worse)" from 2024)
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I have to disagree with Elanor Rigby. Yes it's a quick tempo, but the E minor key makes it very bleak even without the lyrics. And I may be wrong but it's also an overall pretty bleak song for Paul's typical compositions. So it's kind of always stood out to me.
I do love it very much though.
I would submit And Your Bird Can Sing as an upbeat melancholy song off Revolver.
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I have to disagree with Elanor Rigby. Yes it's a quick tempo, but the E minor key makes it very bleak even without the lyrics.
Those strings go hard, though.
I guess it depends on your definition of "upbeat." It could mean cheerful and happy, or it could mean lively and fast-paced.
I don't think being in a minor key is necessarily enough to invalidate the first definition, let alone the second. I'm not gonna link it because fuck R*edit, but there's a thread there with plenty of examples of upbeat minor-key songs, including Uptown Funk, the Inspector Gadget theme, Get Lucky, Tunak Tunak Tun, Livin' LA Vida Loca, Get the Party Started, etc.
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Surprised that people haven't mentioned Yoru ni Kakeru (Racing into the Night) by Yoasobi. It's a Japanese song about depression and commiting suicide.
Specifically, it follows a guy who falls in love with a depressed and suicidal girl. Over time, the guy himself becomes depressed and tired of life and they both decide to commit suicide together.
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^ Scrolled all the way down looking for this one.
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Mark Knopfler has quite a few. Postcards from Paraguay. Quality Shoe. Romeo and Juliet. Boom Like That. It's a thing with him - contrasting the music with the theme.
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Mmmm Bop
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Timothy by The Buoys is a very happy song about men trapped in a mine collapse cannibalizing each other to survive.
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No Sunlight - Death Cab for Cutie
When I was young Lying in the grass I felt so safe In a warming bath Of sunlight, of sunlight The vast open sky Could do no harm Like an embrace Of a mother's arms In sunlight, in sunlight In sunlight, in sunlight With every year That came to pass More clouds appeared 'Til the sky went black And there was no sunlight, no sunlight And there was no sunlight, no sunlight anymore And it disappeared at the same speed As the idealistic things I believed When the optimist died inside of me No sunlight, no sunlight No sunlight, no sunlight It disappeared at the same speed As the idealistic things I believed When the optimist died inside of me No sunlight, no sunlight No sunlight, no sunlight No sunlight, no sunlight No sunlight, no sunlight No sunlight anymore -
Paul Thorn - Bull Mountain Bridge
Jonathan Coulton - Shop-Vac®
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Ring around the rosey
And
Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear
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Walking on broken glass - Annie Lennox
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I'm Only Me When I'm With You by Taylor Swift. Granted, I have no experience with healthy relationships, but the relationship in that song sounds extremely unhealthy and codependent
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the mountain goats - no children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS27S3mspjU
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Flo by Smash Mouth
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Fish Yu Mang is a great album, and I'll never miss an opportunity to give it love. Definitely the depressed thoughts of a dude who suffers from crippling alcoholism, but somehow manages to sound fun and upbeat the whole time.
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That's my take as well, I started giving it more attention only recently and there are many gems in it. Padrino is one of my all time favourites of the genre
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Looks like we all forgot Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA.
Adding You Haven’t Done Nothin’ - Stevie Wonder’s removed slap to Nixon, and CCR’s Fortunate Son.
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I mentioned Bruce & CCR in another nested comment a little before you posted, but I don't think I'm familiar with this Stevie song. I'll go check it out.
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Rock-a-bye, baby
On the tree top
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock
When the bough breaks
The cradle will fall
And down will come baby
Cradle and all
We sing that shit to literal babies, what the fuck is wrong with us?
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for some reason there's a bunch of upbeat sounding Japanese songs that are actually disturbing if you look into the lyrics (for example racing into the night)
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HEALTH - everything from the band is banger after banger but with lyrics that'll leave you feeling a certain type of sad
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Happier - by Bastille and Marshmello. It might depend on the listener tho.
Aint it fun - Paramore
Honestly, i don't like that a lot of radio music is so sad. I have to look to real oldies to find a happy song.
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My boyfriend said he thought about me when we listen to Saturday Night by the Misfits. I'm like.... do you want to murder me?...
The lyrics always sounded very murdery to me. I think they did an amazing job of making it sound romantic but bf read through the lyrics after that and hugged me when I got home and said he definitely didn't want to murder me.
Edit: Ok this one is purely personal but I just got done with work and it came out on the playlist, Achilles Come Down by Gangs of Youth.
I learned this song from my daughter. I let her control the music when we'd drive to school and back but I immediately loved this song because unlike me, she has an amazing voice. This is one I only ever heard underneath her crystalline soprano while she sang along.
It was always so beautiful that I didn't focus on the song so much as her. She made a haunting, sad song a beautiful, pleasant memory for me because now she's had her license for a while, she's doing her thing being an ambitious senior. I don't get to listen to her sing anymore between my work and her school/social schedule.
I miss the days when I stayed up after a 12 hour shift to take her to school because I miss listening to her sing. I brain was fuzzy and that morning sun seared my eyeballs but I cherish every morning now because I don't have many left. I acutally miss everything about my kids needing me now that one has been independent for quite a few years and the other two are almost independent. I'm listening right now and all I can hear is her voice.
Fuck that shit hits hard. Im going to be an empty nester soon. Fucking FUCK. Fuck does it hit hard. I should be proud. I am! Jesus am I. I don't know how I was blessed with these people, bio and adopted, that's how vlessed I am, but I don't want to look the gift horse in the mouth. Fucking wow, am I proud. But really I'm sad, too.
/soliloquy
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most of the after laughter album by paramore
also hey ya by outkast is often played at weddings while being about a relationship failing
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Twisting In The Wind - David Byrne
In fact, the whole album's full of dark yet upbeat songs.
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Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank by Barenaked Ladies is about the real stalking of a Canadian celebrity by a mentally unstable man who thought she was in love with him.
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I didn't see wake up boo by the boo radleys in here.
It's about suicide
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Komm Süsser Tod from The End Of Evangelion.
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It's a little more than kind of depressing but Bullet by Hollywood Undead comes to mind.
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I wish that I could fly!
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I think Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark is a perfect example.
It sounds upbeat and fun but it's about the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Some of the lyrics are incredibly powerful and I still get chills when I hear it.
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Mack the Knife https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ0OOHLWo4w
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Radiohead - No Surprises
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Sad lyrics and fast tempo :
Kazim Koyuncu - Narino
Bagpipe song with the lyrics "I lost my sanity", "I sat down and cried", and "I wish someone knew my pain" especially. Can find longer versions on youtube.French Gal - Poupèe de cire
Lyrics are about feeling more like a doll than human. TRIGGER WARNING FOR FRENCH LANGUAGEKazim Koyuncu - Fadime
Kemençe song with lyrics along same lines. Takes a bit before beat changes.Sad lyrics and happy music/tone :
Danny Gonzales - Downhill
Song argues with a young adult on how rest of their life will suck.Istanbul12 Orkestrasi - Bile Bile
Song about being unable to accept rejection.Ayase/YAOSABI - Into the night
I am 70% sure "upbeat sounding song about suicide" is a genre in Japanese music. -
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Really? I'll have to check out the lyrics now. Such an 80s staple that I think I just sang along and never really processed the words.
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The title of the song is a reference to nuclear war.
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Ye, Renew the Plaintiff by Of Montreal
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Ruru's suicide stream ? Would that one count ? Damn it's like all the songs flew out of my brain the moment I read this question ahahahh
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That's like Paul Simon's entire schtick. Alongside downbeat songs with uplifting lyrics.
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Little Foot Big Foot - Childish Gambino
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I always thought Free Four by Pink Floyd fit that category well.
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The entirety of hissing fauna are you the destroyer by of Montreal
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Bullet by Hollywood undead.
Singing about killing himself in a super upbeat song, even has kids at the end going "I wish that I could fly, way up in the sky", the part where he was singing about jumping off a skyscraper.
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I think I have the best answer here: Gwar - Rock N Roll Never Felt So Good
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The Motown hit Keep Me Hanging On by the Supremes is the classic example of this.
It was even recognized for its pathos and turned into a sadder slow version by psychedelic band Vanilla Fudge
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This is probably a controversial opinion, but Ive always felt a little bad for the guy this song is about.
I think it's unfair for her to say he doesn't care a thing about her. He obviously does. If he didn't he wouldn't want her to still be a part of his life.
This song is just about two people who want different things out of their relationship, and the singer is just unable to accept it.
She has the ability to cut him out of her life if that's what she really wants, same as he does. She should cut herself free if it's too painful for her to be his friend.
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The Antlers - Bear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnHCQe-Y0nw
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Brown Sugar
A lot of that album was pretty subversive but hidden behind upbeat rock. The olds didn't realize what the kids were listening to because they just heard pop rock.
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Someone else mentioned this too, but if anyone is into Japanese songs: I think there are probably more songs (especially Vocaloid ones) with extremely messed-up (and convoluted) lyrics than those that do not... I don't think most of them are well-known outside anime/vocaloid circles though. Trying to think about the more "cute and depressing" ones I could find:
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May I introduce you to The Smiths. Rusholme Ruffians and There is a Light That Never Goes Out are great examples, but really it describes most of their catalogue.
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Lots of great choices here - I'll throw in Moon Over Marin by Dead Kennedys.
Sounds like a bop, but is actually about the destruction of the environment.
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On the documentary 'shifty' they claimed that 'the land of make believe' by bucks fizz was written about Margaret Thatcher/Thatcherism. Really puts a depressing spin on it.
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I know that there are probably a lot that I'm forgetting but here are the ones I remember:
No more crying by Sound Holic (lyrics)
Border of my life by Sound Holic (lyrics)
THE END by A-One
IT IS SO by A-One
U.N. Owen Was Her? by A-One
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Living La Vida Loca and Macerena are both pretty dark.
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The fact that macarena has been played at nearly every wedding I've been to is diabolical.
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Hey Jealousy by The Gin Blossoms comes to mind.
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I always find it funny how upbeat the Cambodia version by Pulsedriver is. PTSD and dropping bombs on cambodia. What a topic for a dance tune.
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Checked out Apoptygma Beezerk's cover?
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Rise Against - Tragedy + Time
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Charlie's Inferno is about an innocent man being tortured in Hell. It's a 50's style tune reminiscent of Mr Sandman.
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Has anybody mentioned Joy Division yet?
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Fast Car
Pumped Up Kicks
Flowers on the Wall
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on melancholy hill - gorillaz
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Love - Forever Changes. The whole album.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lIfiGGgw0nJ6H3UcVvp1UbFhwr0LGPiBE
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Like half of Fall Out Boy's discography. "Hum Hallelujah" gets a special mention for literally being about a suicide attempt. Also "Dance In the Dark" by Lady Gaga, "Stomach Vs Heart" and "Humor of the Situation" by Barenaked Ladies ("Angry People" as well), "Slip Slidin Away" by Paul Simon, "When I Come Around" by Green Day...suffice it to say, I enjoy this trope a lot :P
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Porcupine Tree - Blackest Eyes
Mew - She came Home for Christmas
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Club America by The Cure
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Boys of Summer is about toxic obsession.
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Lots of mentions of The Boss, but not those other cheery Jerseyites. Bon Jovi with “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
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Just Ain't Gonna Work Out - Mayer Hawthorne
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You’re Gorgeous
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkrb4h4weW4
I can probably put some more but this one has been on me for a while.
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A lot of Elliott Smith songs.
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Renai circulation, from the monogatari series. It's super cute but hidden inside is a cry for help.
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Greenskeepers - Lotion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm86I_kezVY
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Mmmmbop
Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks
My (American) kids love this song. :D
This one immediately came to mind. They have a lot more good songs too.
That was my first thought.
Houdini is no slouch either