What are the most upbeat songs with kind of depressing lyrics?
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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
wrote last edited by [email protected]- 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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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
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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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
I always thought Free Four by Pink Floyd fit that category well.
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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
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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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
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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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
wrote last edited by [email protected]Looks like we all forgot Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA.
Adding You Haven’t Done Nothin’ - Stevie Wonder’s bitch slap to Nixon, and CCR’s Fortunate Son.
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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.
It'd be hard for a song with a title like "Pompeii" to be anything but dark, LOL
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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.
wrote last edited by [email protected]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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Good point. Born in the USA and Fortunate Son would probably fit in here as well.
Other songs frequently misunderstood by people of a certain political party
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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.
The balloons were a metaphor for the mushroom clouds from the nukes going off
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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself
Loneliness masked as liberation.Bulletproof - La Roux
Emotional numbness disguised as empowermentSome Linkin Park songs (Bleed it out, Up from the Bottom, etc.)
There's so many such songs...
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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
That's like Paul Simon's entire schtick. Alongside downbeat songs with uplifting lyrics.
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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
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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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Born in the USA
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The balloons were a metaphor for the mushroom clouds from the nukes going off
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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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
wrote last edited by [email protected]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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Born in the USA
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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The two I can think of are:
- It's Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Little Foot Big Foot - Childish Gambino
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The balloons were a metaphor for the mushroom clouds from the nukes going off
wrote last edited by [email protected]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]
