Ask Lemmy

Pumped up kicks

Under the bridge Red Hot Chilli Peppers

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

Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks

99 Luftballons is upbeat and fun, and about some balloons inadvertently kicking off a cataclysmic war that leaves the world in ruins.

Pumped up kicks fits this for me.

• 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 - Bitch 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

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 Bitches

"Ska Dream" and "Checkerboard Ashtray" - Jeff Rosenstock

"A Better Place, a Better Time" and "As the Footsteps Die Out Forever" - Streetlight Manifesto

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.

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?

Hey Jealousy by The Gin Blossoms comes to mind.

Hey Ya by Outkast.

Also pretty much everything I have ever heard by Steely Dan.

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

Semi-charmed Life

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 !

People forget that Today by The Smashing Pumpkins is literally about suicide.

Fast Car

Pumped Up Kicks

Flowers on the Wall

Hey Ya - Outkast

Pumped up kicks by foster the people

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.

Semi-Charmed Life is the first thing that always comes to my mind

Rockin in the Free World by Neil Young

Born in the USA

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"

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.

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.

Zero 7 - Waiting to die

https://youtu.be/ge1_eVMO-mU

Snowpix mentioned lots of ska/ska punk I gotta agree, my pick is The Aquabats - chemical bomb

https://youtu.be/Y3fXdcHQY4o

Maybe a bit of a stretch but just running with the musical tone doesn't match the lyrics Ben Folds - bitches ain't shit cover

https://youtu.be/gjFRy8jQ_0U

pretty much anything by third eye blind

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.

Ring around the rosey

And

Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear

HEALTH - everything from the band is banger after banger but with lyrics that'll leave you feeling a certain type of sad

Vamos a la playa - super catchy totally 80s pop song that was everywhere in amusement parks ..... and it's about nuclear hellscape.

pumped up kicks

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

Mmmm Bop

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

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 LANGUAGE

Kazim 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.

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.

Bad Moon Rising by Creedence.

It's about the apocalypse, but you wouldn't know it from how upbeat it is.