The two I can think of are:
- It’s Not Unusual
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
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
Hey Jealousy by The Gin Blossoms comes to mind.
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?
Fast Car
Pumped Up Kicks
Flowers on the Wall
- 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
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
Pumped up kicks
Under the bridge Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Came here to post pumped up kicks
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.
Pumped up kicks fits this for me.
what do you mean? isn’t that just about the modern american dream?
Shooting up your school? What schools did you go to?
Shot up ones
It’s about pumping up your shoes before b ball at recess.
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
Nearly Everything by Reel Big Fish. It’s all fun ska and mostly about social anxiety, broken hearts, and substance abuse. I love them.
I’ll have to listen to that one! “I Know You Too Well to Like You Anymore” fits the bill as well. A very ugly fight between a couple who hate each other but can’t live without one another.
Oops, I messed up my capitalization. I just meant nearly every song by them.
Absolutely this.
Semi-charmed Life
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.
Like half of Fall Out Boy’s discography. “Hum Hallelujah” gets a special mention for literally being about a suicide attempt. Also “Dance In the Dark” by Lady Gaga, “Stomach Vs Heart” and “Humor of the Situation” by Barenaked Ladies (“Angry People” as well), “Slip Slidin Away” by Paul Simon, “When I Come Around” by Green Day…suffice it to say, I enjoy this trope a lot :P
My (American) kids love this song. :D
This one immediately came to mind. They have a lot more good songs too.
That was my first thought.
Houdini is no slouch either
99 Luftballons is upbeat and fun, and about some balloons inadvertently kicking off a cataclysmic war that leaves the world in ruins.
It’s about the cold war paranoia. Sound is all synth pop upbeat, though.
The English version is called “99 Red Balloons”.
Damn, I gotta go read those lyrics.
excerpt from the last verse
It’s all over and I’m standin’ pretty
In this dust that was a cityIf I could find a souvenier just to prove the world was here… here it is, a red balloon. I think of you, and let it go…
The balloons were a metaphor for the mushroom clouds from the nukes going off
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]
Holy cow those lyrics are dark, I somehow never noticed. Lol
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.
