Dark Music Lyrics Hidden in Sugarcoated Happy Sounding Songs

The irony of many cheerful, feel-good songs is that they're actually filled with dark, heavy lyrics of love lost, drugs and even suicide. Then, they're sugarcoated in musical sunshine. So the next time you're crying and put on a happy song, you might as well just turn it off and keep crying, because there's nothing happy about these bright sad songs.

"You Are My Sunshine" by Elizabeth Mitchell

Originally written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell in 1939, this song has been reproduced as one of the most purely feel-good child-friendly songs. But it's actually quite the maudlin tune (for those who pay attention to the words), referring to death and loss rather than sunshine and rain so much.

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away


"Jump" by Van Halen

A 1983 song released on their "1984" record, "Jump" is a Van Halen classic - their only song to reach number one in the charts. The song title, though, is less about exciting jumps and more towards the contemplation of committing suicide. David Lee Roth claims he saw a man on the news about to "check out early" from the 33rd floor of Arco Towers in Los Angeles. The crowd kept yelling "don't jump," while Roth in turn said "jump," and then wrote it down. Or it could be about life being hard and jumping rope to feel better, depending on your perspective.

You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real
Oh can't you see me standing here
I've got my back against the record machine
I ain't the worst that you've seen
Oh can't you see what I mean

Might as well jump Jump!
Might as well jump
Go ahead, jump Jump!
Go ahead, jump


"Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind

Stephan Jenkins is a lyrical genius best known for his sexual and suicidal metaphors, as well as very literal drug references. The band's 1997 breakthrough single uses catchy, upbeat happy chords and invokes a tendency for crowd sing-alongs, but the song itself is a bit about excessive cocaine snorting, crystal meth and doing drugs to make life less boring.

Doing crystal meth, will lift you up until you break
It won't stop, I won't come down
I keep stock with the tick-tock rhythm, I bump for the drop
And then I bumped up, I took the hit that I was given
Then I bumped again, then I bumped again
I said...

How do I get back there, to the place where I fell asleep inside you
How do I get myself back to the place where you said...

I want something else, to get me through this
Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby
I want something else, I'm not listening when you say good-bye...


"Hey Ya!" by Outkast

The 2003 "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" was a double-sided album for Andre 3000 and Big Boi. The hit single "Hey Ya!" was an infectious hip-hop single about how nothing lasts forever, challenging the long-held tradition of staying together in declining romantic relationships. Outkast's perspective lies in "life is short - be happy," "nothing gold can stay" and other platitudes.

My baby don't mess around
Because she loves me so
And this I know for sure.
Uh, But does she really wanna
But can't stand to see me
Walk out the door.
Don't try to fight the feelin'
'Cause the thought alone is killing me right now..
Uh, thank god for mom and dad
For sticking two together
'Cause we don't know how...
We get together
Oh, we get together
But separate's always better when there's feelings involved
If what they say is "Nothing is forever"
Then what makes, then what makes, then what makes
Then what makes, what makes, what makes love the exception
So why you, why you
Why you, why you, why you are we so in denial
When we know we're not happy here...


"Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People

The 2011 debut single from the Grammy-nominated pop group Foster the People sounds like a cool summer song with its catchy whistling and surfer music video. But the lyrics actually refer to finding your father's gun and a "box of fun," referring to bullets and chasing down the cool kids and their fancy shoes.

Yeah, he found a six shooter gun in his dad's closet hidden with a box of fun things.
I don't even know what but he's coming for you, yeah, he's coming for you.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run faster than my bullet.


"MMMBop" by Hanson

The three brothers boy band from Oklahoma rose to fame in 1997 with their hit debut "MMMBop," when the boys were respectively 15, 14 and 10 years of age. The catchy, upbeat song has a message that is quite depressing, though, in its honest depiction of how lonely life can be. Not a bad observation for three prepubescent bed-wetters.

You have so many relationships in this life
Only one or two will last
You go through all the pain and strife
Then you turn your back and they're gone so fast
Oh yeah
And they're gone so fast, yeah
Oh
So hold on the ones who really care
In the end they'll be the only ones there
And when you get old and start losing your hair
Tell me who will still care
Can you tell me who will still care?


"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by The Beatles

The Beatles were a twisted bunch - no doubt there - but their 1969 "Abbey Road" classic is in reference to a murderous young boy, Maxwell, who beats people he doesn't like over the head with a silver hammer.

Back in school again Maxwell plays the fool again
Teacher gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an unpleasant scene
She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away
So he waits behind
Writing 50 times "I must not be so" oh oh oh
But when she turns her back on the boy
He creeps up from behind

Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Do do do do do
Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead


"Celebrity Skin" by Hole

Nominated for four Grammys in 1998, Courtney Love's Hole released "Celebrity Skin" with the album title track revealed as its third single, a radio-friendly rock song with multiple literary references (Shakespeare's "Merchant in Venice," Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" and Dante Rossetti poetry). The song is about the rising stars of Hollywood, their inspiration being sucked dry in the name of making money and the eventual fading away. The Cobain-esque dark play on words is an energetic rocker song, sang conveniently by Love during her own rise in showbiz.

When I wake up in my makeup
It's too early for that dress
Wilted and faded somewhere in Hollywood
I'm glad I came here with your pound of flesh
No second billing 'cause you're a star now
Oh, Cinderella, they aren't sluts like you
Beautiful garbage, beautiful dresses
Can you stand up or will you just fall down?

You better watch out
Oh, what you wish for
It better be worth it
So much to die for


"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths

The Smiths released "The Queen Is Dead" in 1986 with the hit song, popularly used in the romantic comedy "500 Days of Summer" and covered by Noel Gallagher on his live "The Dreams We Have As Children" album. The song, however, is about wanting to go out and see things when you have no home, don't want to go home and wouldn't mind dying next to the person you're with - classic Smiths talk.

Take me out tonight
Where there's music and there's people
And they're young and alive
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I haven't got one
Anymore

Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people and I
Want to see life
Driving in your car
Oh, please don't drop me home
Because it's not my home, it's their
Home, and I'm welcome no more

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die


"It's My Party" by Lesley Gore

The meaning isn't too hidden in Lesley Gore's 1963 "It's My Party" classic from her "I'll Cry If I Want To" album. The song, famously used in the birthday party sabotage scene of "Problem Child," is about a girl who's in love with a guy who's with another girl, and like a polite young lad, he brings the girl to the her party unexpectedly and without asking.

Nobody knows where my Johnny has gone
Judy left the same time
Why was he holding her hand
When he's supposed to be mine
It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you


"Call Me Al" by Paul Simon

Another 1986 classic is little Paul Simon's big song from "Graceland," a bright, happy video with pink walls and Chevy Chase guest appearing. The song itself is actually about a man entering a mid-life crisis with questions like "where is my wife & family?" and "who'll be my role model?" in its lyrics.

A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And woe my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family
What if I die here
Who'll be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone Gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al


"Train in Vain" by The Clash

The year was 1979 and the album "London Calling," which features The Clash and a classic "you left me, girl" song. Though many songs are about loss and heartbreak, not many sound as chipper as "Train in Vain" with all its harmonicas and harmonies.

You say you stand by your man
Tell me something I don't understand
You said you love me and that's a fact
And then you left me, said you felt trapped

Well some things you can explain away
But the heartache's in me till this day
Did you stand by me
No, not at all
Did you stand by me
No way

 

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