• Song Blogs
  • Song of the Day
  • Albums
  • Word!
  • Animals
  • About/FAQs
  • Contact
Menu

Song Bar

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Music, words, playlists

Your Custom Text Here

Song Bar

  • Song Blogs
  • Song of the Day
  • Albums
  • Word!
  • Animals
  • About/FAQs
  • Contact

Always look on the … bright songs about dark subjects

May 10, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Altogether now .... 

Altogether now .... 


By The Landlord


“First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.” – Steve Martin

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” – Mel Brooks

“I only hate two things – living things, and objects.” – Jerry Sadowitz

“The bad news is nothing lasts forever. The good news is nothing lasts forever.” – J. Cole

Must the best sad songs always sound downbeat? And are happy songs, by necessity, always jaunty? Music and lyrics often work well when form and content are similarly matched, but they can be far more potent when polar opposites. As Charles Dickens, that grand narrator of optimism through grim Victorian times, puts it in The Pickwick Papers: “There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.”

So this week the topic is songs that have wonderfully uplifting music but their lyrical content touches on, or delves into the darkest matters - heartbreak, death, illness and misery in its many forms. But we are not swallowed by those emotions or stories described, because the music that delivers them simultaneously lifts us up, inspiring laughter, and unlocks comedy, tragedy or empathy – and that contrast, often the starker the better, is where the magic lies.

Such songs can have a peculiar effect on us, but often the equation of the depressing plus the upbeat equals the inevitable result of black humour and complex feelings. So this week, to set the ball rolling, I’ll offer a few songs that have mostly been chosen for other topics that do this. To begin with, you can’t get much darker and funnier than an upbeat song during crucifixion, as brilliantly whistled (see songs about whistling) by Eric Idle and the Monty Python team in The Life of Brian. Why? 

“For life is quite absurd, 
And death's the final word,
You must always face the curtain with a bow
Forget about your sin
Give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.”

The key thing here is that the perspective may be upbeat, but the topic is grim, and most of all the music is remorselessly cheerful.

Plenty of performers and writers have entered the Bar this week with a spring in their step, but a doleful message in words. “The rest of us can find happiness in misery,” say the band Fall Out Boy. “There's always this weird dark humour within a lot of Depeche Mode songs that people miss, tongue-in-cheek and also very British,” says Dave Gahan. “Bad news has good legs,” meanwhile reads Richard Llewellyn from his book, How Green Was My Valley.

Now a couple of dead comedians are hear to confirm what this is all about. “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious,” announces Peter Ustinov, drolly. “Yes! Comedy is acting out optimism,” says Robin Williams.

But perhaps the true master of contrasting music and lyrics is that witty deliverer of bad news, the American singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer, who, during this live performance later titled An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer, did this in 1959, when nuclear holocaust really felt on the horizon. He tells us, with that jaunty piano style and grinning voice delivery:

“And we will all bake together when we bake
There'll be nobody present at the wake
With complete participation
In that grand incineration
Nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak.”

The “optimism” here, apart from the music of course, is in the idea that we will not need to attend each others' funerals or grieve, although, when you think about it, going up an a sizzling nuclear inferno is a quite a big price to pay. By contrast however, the wonderfully dark film Harold and Maude, about a relationship between a 79-year-old woman and a death-obsessed young man, has dark humour running through it like lines through a stick of rock. They meet at a funeral of someone neither of them know, simply because they enjoy the aesthetics of coffin processions, and Harold constantly rehearses suicidal scenes to attract the attention of his cold-hearted, indifferent mother. A dark shadow plays across the plot, but in the meantime, the film is decorated with the funeral flowers of enjoying life while you can, and wonderful songs by Cat Stevens:

Perhaps though the most potent and common form of music-lyric contrast in heartbreak over relationships, and best of all in the era of Motown, which will surely feature highly this week, with hundreds of terrific songs about lost love but delivered in the most uplifting music ever written. Side-stepping this for now, here’s parallel one by the British band, The Foundations, with Build Me Up Buttercup, one of the most uplifting songs every way in its music, putting a true spring in the step, but really it’s all about relationship disappointment:

“Why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around?”

Meanwhile Outkast’s wonderful Hey Ya! is less about being messed around or failing to get into a relationship, more about the sadness around how breakup might be inevitable. But you’d never imagine so by listening to the music:

“Then what makes love the exception?
So why, oh, why, oh
Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh
Are we still in denial when we know we're not happy here.”

Pop songs work on many levels of perception, and often they are successful because they are uplifting despite lyrical content, or because those lyrics are shrouded or ignored. Moreover, many songs not even understood on a deeper level because listeners may only pick up on certain hooks or phrases, or because their commercial success is about the sounds of the words, not their meanings. The Monkees were put together to sell records for that very reason, but in Last Train To Clarksville, the romantic farewell to has a very dark side. Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, it pertains to heading off to the Vietnam War because with that telling final line: “I don't know if I'm ever coming home.”

Talking of Vietnam, can there be any song that makes you want to dance more, but tells a more tragic tale than that of this by Jimmy Cliff. The description of the mother receiving the official letter is heartbreaking.

Not all music-lyric contrast songs are about war, death or relationships. Morrissey’s lyrics are famously depressing, but perhaps the true secret of The Smiths’ success is how his words were such a deep contrast to the extraordinarily positive, life-affirming style inherent in the guitar work of Johnny Marr. You only need to read their autobiographies to see the contrast. In Rusholme Ruffians, we hear of urban fights and walking home alone, but Marr’s guitar and the rest of the music is perhaps here at its most potent by contrast:

Loneliness, in especially mental health problems can be powerful in lyrics, but there’s nothing more difficult to listen to than a depressing-sounding song about depression. So by contrast, let’s have a song on that subject, but delivered in the very opposite by Lawrence, formerly of Felt and Denim, but here from the recent album by Go-Kart Mozart, which no doubt contains some level of autobiography by the talented songwriter who has no doubt had more than his fair share of dark times:

We began with Monty Python and dying, and so let’s end with the Monty Python and dying. From The Meaning of Life. It takes a lot to stop the jaunty stiff upper lip of a posh English dinner party or the chatty optimism of American guests. So let’s see what happens when, by stark contrast, the Grim Reaper arrives. Beware of the salmon mousse.

And so then, this week’s upbeat optimist conducting songs about the downright depressing is the highly perceptive philipphilip99! Welcome behind the pumps! Deadline (an exceptionally appropriate word on some lyrics) for your upbeat-sounding songs is 11pm UK time on Monday, for playlists published next Wednesday. I’m sure the contrasts coming in will not only be stark, but also superb.

New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...

Fancy a turn behind the pumps at The Song Bar? Care to choose a playlist from songs nominated and write something about it? Then feel free to contact The Song Bar here, or try the usual email address.

In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, music, metal, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags Songs, playlists, death, relationships, War, comedy, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Jerry Sadowitz, J. Cole, Charles Dickens, Monty Python, Eric Idle, Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan, Richard Llewellyn, Peter Ustinov, Robin Williams, Tom Lehrer, Harold and Maude, film, Cat Stevens, The Foundations, Motown, OutKast, The Monkees, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Jimmy Cliff, Vietnam War, The Smiths, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Go-Kart Mozart, Lawrence, depression
← Playlists: bright songs about dark subjectsPlaylists: songs about bags and other portable, personal containers →

DRINK OF THE WEEK

Pink martini

Pink martini.jpg

SNACK OF THE WEEK

grilled artichoke hearts

grilled artichoke hearts.jpg

MORE MUSIC …

Featured
Feb 18, 2019
New albums: Chaka Khan, Ladytron, Piroshka, Methyl Ethel, Cass McCombs, Stats, Czarface and Ghostface Killah, Bis, Homeshake
Feb 18, 2019

Alongside full funk and pop from Prince’s great friend Chaka, experimental, indie and electronica dominate this week’s roundup, including Australia’s Methyl Ethel and long due return from Glasgow’s catchy popsters Bis

Feb 18, 2019
Feb 11, 2019
New albums: International Teachers of Pop, Yak, LCD Soundsystem, Elder Island, Mercury Rev (& various), Flat Worms, Jessica Pratt, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Panda Bear, Lemonheads
Feb 11, 2019

Electronic pop from the International Teacher and Elder Island, Yak’s long -awaited indie, covers by Mercury Rev and Lemonheads, slow beauty by Jessica Pratt and lo-fi live studio recordings by LCD Soundsystem are among this week’s bumper roundup

Feb 11, 2019
Feb 4, 2019
New albums: Beirut, The Specials, Ian Brown, Rustin Man, Tiny Ruins, Unloved, The Cool Greenhouse, Angel Bat Dawid, Cherry Glazerr
Feb 4, 2019

Brass beauty from Beirut, a 40th anniversary album from The Specials. and a new solo album from the Stone Roses frontman are among this week’s roundup of releases that are various experimental, rock, electronica and more

Feb 4, 2019
Jan 29, 2019
New albums: Toy, Swervedriver, Better Oblivion Community Center (Conor Oberst & Phoebe Bridgers), DAWN, Rat Boy, Sunflower Bean, Mike Krol
Jan 29, 2019

From an experimental album by New Orleans artist DAWN to a collaboration between Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers, as well as a return by 90s shoegazers Swervedriver, this week’s roundup has plenty of surprises

Jan 29, 2019

Featured
Feb 20, 2019
Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters – A Quiet Place
Feb 20, 2019

Song of the Day: Following Miles Davis with In A Silent Way, a beautiful ‘64 soul number pleading for silence on a noisy street by the artist who grew up in Philadelphia and developed his Sam Cooke-like voice in church and doo-wop bands

Feb 20, 2019
Feb 19, 2019
Miles Davis – In A Silent Way
Feb 19, 2019

Album of the Day: A special edition to mark the anniversary of a unique masterpiece recorded 50 years ago today on 18 February 1969 at New York’s CBS 30th Street Studio. Davis’s contribution was small, but key, fitting perfectly alongside the work of other greats

Feb 19, 2019
Feb 15, 2019
The Staple Singers – Bridges Instead of Walls
Feb 15, 2019

Song of the Day: On the day Donald Trump calls an attention-seeking national emergency to get funding for his controversial wall project, a song from 1973 by the great soul and gospel family with a message that’s loud and clear

Feb 15, 2019
Feb 12, 2019
The Beatles – Birthday
Feb 12, 2019

Song of the Day: Combining two birthdays, one for the Song Bar itself - now three years old, and less significantly, the Bar’s Landlord, this off-the-cuff rock number was written during the White Album recordings on 18 September 1968

Feb 12, 2019
Feb 3, 2019
The Groundhogs – Cherry Red / Eccentric Man (plus John Lee Hooker)
Feb 3, 2019

Song of the Day: Deliberately one day after the traditional date of Groundhog Day, life and music repeats itself with two songs by the British 60s band were inspired the great American bluesman and one of his numbers

Feb 3, 2019
Jan 22, 2019
Sandie Shaw / Ron Moody / Galliano – Reviewing The Situation
Jan 22, 2019

Song of the Day: To capture the current state of farcical flux and political impasse over Brexit and US government shutdown, a classic written by Lionel Bart for the musical Oliver!, which also became a feminist 60s pop hit for the female star

Jan 22, 2019
Jan 15, 2019
Alabama 3 – Woke Up This Morning
Jan 15, 2019

Song of the Day: After Miss Otis Regrets, another songs about a women who decided to stop taking abuse from a man, this time by the band from Brixton whose song eventually became synonymous with the Sopranos

Jan 15, 2019
Jan 14, 2019
Ella Fitzgerald / Ethel Waters – Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable To Lunch Today)
Jan 14, 2019

Song of the Day: After yesterday’s She Drew The Gun songs, let’s go back to an original Cole Porter number from 1934, which contains that shot line of defiance and revenge, a tragic tale about a society woman who simply would not take it anymore

Jan 14, 2019

Featured
Feb 17, 2019
Word of the week: flimflam
Feb 17, 2019

Word of the week: It means pseudo-intellectual nonsense, insincerity or a confidence trick perpetrated by elected officials, so while antiquated, always current and relevant, and with a lovely musicality where has it been used in lyrics?

Feb 17, 2019
Feb 9, 2019
Word of the week: gabardine
Feb 9, 2019

Word of the week: Let’s extend the lyrical wardrobe. It’s a smooth, durable, twill-woven worsted, rayon or cotton cloth material and also the name of coat, but is a also beautifully sounding, musical word, perfectly suited to sung words

Feb 9, 2019
Feb 2, 2019
Word of the week: harridan
Feb 2, 2019

Word of the week: It traditionally means a scolding, bossy, unpleasant woman, possibly with origins from the 17th century and related to the verb to harry, or hassle, and has a certain comical quality, but where does it come up in song lyrics?

Feb 2, 2019
Jan 23, 2019
Word of the week: ichthyosaur
Jan 23, 2019

Word of the week: After last week’s fictional Jabberwocky, a real-life deep-sea dinosaur, a fish-reptile with an extraordinary evolutionary history on land and sea, famous in fossils, but where can we dive to find it in song lyrics?

Jan 23, 2019
Jan 16, 2019
Word of the week: jabberwock
Jan 16, 2019

Word of the week: It’s best known as the mythical monster in Lewis Carroll’s poem from Through The Looking Glass (1871), but the word also means nonsense or gibberish, something that continues to be very much at large

Jan 16, 2019

Song Bar spinning.gif