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Music that sounds happy but the lyrics are more the opposite, and vice versa

Last posted Jul 20, 2016 at 04:06PM EDT. Added Jun 17, 2016 at 02:50AM EDT
21 posts from 19 users

First we'll start off with one musician that might not surprise anyone at this point ("OH MY GOD FORTUNE WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING OBSESSED WITH MR KITTY?!?!")

Musically it sounds like a song maybe you would have heard on a pop radio station in the 1980s. Lyrically though, here's the chorus:

"The rope around my neck will make my presence known
The gun held to my head will show how much I've grown
The knife that's in my back will leave your heart to roam
As pleasure turns to pain, I'll be alone
I'll be alone"

On the opposite end of the spectrum, listen to this song by the deathcore band "Impending Doom."

Sounds like a late-00s deathcore song with lots of low toned guitars and "pig squeal" vocals, but guess what? This is actually a CHRISTIAN band, and this song is about the Second Coming of Jesus during the apocalypse, basically a "light in a dark situation" sort of thing for those who are a part of the Christian faith.

Last edited Jun 17, 2016 at 02:51AM EDT

If you don't know English, you might think this song is silly and delightful.

But uh… yeah…

Down with the bedclothes
Up with the nightshirt!

You won't shout as I fiddle about

Did you know that kinda stupid but really awesome song about the kid who can't sense shit being a badass at pinball was immediately preceded by one where he gets fucking molested? Now you do!

The Who had balls, man

The song "Weaponry" from Phineas and Ferb sounds cheery and upbeat but the lyrics are about destruction and harm. Oh yeah and the line "Never mind the fatalities…" makes me wonder how that got past the radar.

Okay, just gonna say, this song's a little weird. It is one of those happy-sounding songs with a dark subject. In this case, the subject is death. However, the lyrics describe that we shouldn't be afraid to die (it's literally in the song name), which can be positive or negative depending on how you look at it.

Last edited Jun 17, 2016 at 06:48PM EDT


It's about slavery. More specifically, it's told from the perspective of a slave recruiter telling potential victims that things will be great in America and they should just get on the ship.

Tyrone the Clone wrote:

That school shooter song that the radio played for like a year straight. "Pumped Up Kicks" was it?

Did anyone actually listen to the lyrics? lol

It was actually banned from playing on the radio since the Sandy Hook shootings happened a year later when it was still circulating radio stations at the time, and it took a while (maybe a few years even I dunno) for the ban to lift, but by then its popularity had faded.
Back on topic~

Financial instability:

Crystal meth addiction:

Based on an elderly couple dying in a car crash:

Hey Ya! by Outkast

- Famous for its upbeat sound to the point the song was used in commercials even for children's television shows.
Well, if you pay attention, you'll notice it's truly about relationship infidelity and the subsequent divorce afterwards. Andre 3000 even calls it out in-song, stating
"Y'all don't wanna hear me, you just wanna dance".

Can't Feel My Face by The Weeknd

- Yet another extremely popular, yet dissonant song which also seen use in commercials, promos, and radio. A major oversight, considering the song is about a struggling drug addict trying to break the habit.

Confetti by Cold Cave

- Depending on your definition of happy, but it is definitely an upbeat song, well, upbeat considering it's about a person fighting off depression and soon developing into a psychopath.

Last edited Jun 18, 2016 at 01:19PM EDT

Musically it sounds like a happy trance/drum-n-bass mix, but of course the singer is just outright saying "I hope you die, please die right now," and of course the music video's got a whole bunch of surreal imagery. There's also a little bit of hardbass in the beat at parts since Little Big is a Russian group.

(I recently discovered Little Big's existence and the best comparison I can make is they seem to be the Russian version of Die Antwoord, as they're both electronic/rap groups that love surreal imagery and "looking like trash")

Last edited Jul 13, 2016 at 09:48PM EDT

Some people think this is a happy song for some reason, despite the lyrics being depressing as hell, like "times are gone for honest men" and "hang my head, drown my fear, til you all just disappear".

I personally never got the impression that it was a happy tune, so maybe I've been around some weird people. Or maybe I'm just a bit more perceptive than the people around me, because I don't just take things at face value.

Last edited Jul 16, 2016 at 01:05AM EDT
Skeletor-sm

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