this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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The two I can think of are:

  • It's Not Unusual
  • Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
(page 3) 50 comments
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[–] geogaddi@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago
[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 4 points 1 month ago

Ring around the rosey

And

Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear

[–] Octavio@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Last Kiss by Wayne Cochran. You kids probably remember the Pearl Jam version, which was a bit more subdued. But the 1964 hit by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers is very upbeat and cheerful sounding. It’s about a boy who gets his girlfriend killed in a car accident while on a date and holding her as she dies. He’s consumed with guilt and can only think about dying so he can see her again in heaven.

[–] webpack@ani.social 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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)

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago
[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 3 points 1 month ago

Twisting In The Wind - David Byrne

In fact, the whole album's full of dark yet upbeat songs.

[–] Spider89@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago
[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

most of the after laughter album by paramore

also hey ya by outkast is often played at weddings while being about a relationship failing

[–] lemmyman@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago
[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/12/31/A-love-sick-farmer-who-has-pursued-singer-Anne-Murray/8301378622800/

[–] LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

Komm Süsser Tod from The End Of Evangelion.

[–] Huffkin@feddit.uk 3 points 1 month ago

I didn't see wake up boo by the boo radleys in here.

It's about suicide

[–] ThePunnyMan@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's a little more than kind of depressing but Bullet by Hollywood Undead comes to mind.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I wish that I could fly!

[–] EK13@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk 3 points 1 month ago
[–] JargonWagon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Radiohead - No Surprises

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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.

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

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

[–] unicornBro@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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.

[–] GoddessGundy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The entirety of hissing fauna are you the destroyer by of Montreal

[–] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Ye, Renew the Plaintiff by Of Montreal

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Has anybody mentioned Joy Division yet?

[–] geogaddi@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[–] Underwaterbob@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

That's like Paul Simon's entire schtick. Alongside downbeat songs with uplifting lyrics.

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