Songs That Sound Happy But are Depressing
Mar 22, 2018 • Karina Sitaldas
We all enjoy jamming to songs with happy sounding beats, but how many times do we actually listen to the lyrics and analyze their meaning? My guess is not that often. Check out these songs that you would generally sing along to without realizing how dark the lyrics actually are.
Take a Walk – Passion Pit
I remember once sharing this song on my Facebook timeline and captioning it “My new feel-good song” – little did I know! This song, much like a lot of Passion Pit’s has a very happy melody but the lyrics suggest otherwise. They sing about a downward spiral of unfortunate things going on including the loss of money.
“But then my partner called to say the pension funds were gone. He made some bad investments, now the accounts are overdrawn”
Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People
This song was definitely a party favorite when it had just come out, and although people started to realize the meaning behind the lyrics, it stayed popular which seems to have worked in favor for the band. “Pumped Up Kicks” is a song about school shootings, and Foster the People’s purpose for creating this song is for parents to educate their children against gun violence. God knows we need so much more of that.
“You’d better run, better run, outrun my gun”
Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men
“Little Talks” sounds like a happy summer song to sing along to but when you listen to the lyrics, it sounds a lot like a conversation of a woman and a ghost from her past that’s haunting her.
“You’re gone, gone, gone away, I watched you disappear. All that’s left is a ghost of you”
Today – The Smashing Pumpkins
This one sings about how today is the greatest day he’s ever known, and then proceeds to say can’t live for tomorrow, because tomorrow is much too long. After hearing the first line you’d think the song would be about reasons that it was the greatest day, but instead you realize that he’s singing about suicide and how tomorrow may actually never come.
“Today is the greatest day that I have ever known, can’t wait for tomorrow, i might not have that long”
