Top 20 Happy Sounding Songs That Are Actually Depressing

Wedding music? Not exactly. For this list, we’re looking at songs that may sound like sunshine, lollipops and rainbows on the surface, but are actually quite dark, sad, or depressing upon closer inspection. Our countdown includes Of Monsters and Men, Green Day, Van Halen, Foster the People, Lily Allen, and more! Which of these songs hits you the hardest? Let us know in the comments!

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[alexius]

Bruce Springsteen wrote Born in the USA. More than one politician (Ronald Reagan) tried to use song to pump up the audience at a campaign rally. The song about being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Of a sibling perishing in the War. Of a returning vet being unable to find to find work. Hardly a happy song.

[karenkirby]

Every Breath You Take by The Police is often thought of as a love song but is about obsession and jealousy.

[judsonkr]

They did not included the MOST misunderstood song ever:
"You Are My Sunshine:
The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
And I hung my head and I cried

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

I'll always love you and make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me to love another
You'll regret it all some day

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between
But now you've left me and love another
You have shattered all my dreams

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

[sidneysalcido]

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something was upbeat but with a sad realization of a married couple who have nothing in common.

[Erishkigall]

HOW could You miss "Copacabana"?!
It's such a dancing song, but it talks about a woman who loses the love of her life due to a man's jealousy and then becomes an alcoholic before she dies!

[shahied]

20 LDN: Lily Allen 0:48
19 Little Talks: Of Monsters and Men 1:48
18 Basket Case: Green Day 2:52
17 Mr Jones: Counting Crows 3:52
16 Some Nights: Fun 5:02
15 Guns for hands: Twenty1 pilots 5:53
14 Electric avenue Eddy Grant 7:09
13 Today: Smashing Pumpkins 8:06
12 rock the casbah: The Clash 9:10
11 bad moon rising: Creedence Clearwater revival (reminds me of my dad) 10:06
10 You can call me Al
9 Hey YA: Outcast 12:06
8 Mr Brightside : The Killers 13:04
7 Detroit Rock City: Kiss 14:16
6 American pie: Don McLean 15:10
5: Jump : Van Halen 16:16
4 Bullet: Hollywood undead 17:14
3 Semi-charmed life: Third Eye. Blind 18:18
2 99 luftballons: Nina 19:16. Euro trip theme song hey - awesomeness!
1 Pumped up kicks: Foster the people 20:28

Have a beautiful day everyone!

[crawdaddy]

Who the heck ever thought “America Pie” was a happy song?

[moritzkersting]

The thing with, ,Mr Brightside“ is that you can sing this song and those lyrics with every emotion you could feel during a heartbreak. You can be sad, jealous, angry or happy that its over. The song fits to every vibe it just how you perform ot

[davidpumpkinsjr.]

While it does have a slower beat, frat boys and Parrotheads have spent decades holding up "Margaritaville" as the ultimate party anthem; a celebration of the hard-drinking, hard-partying beach life. If you listen to the lyrics, it's sung from the perspective from a man who's hard-drinking, hard-partying beach life has left him old, drunk and alone and he's slowly coming to understand that it's his own fault. To his credit, Jimmy Buffett tried for years to get people to realize this, but eventually gave up, probably because you can't reason with drunk people.

[mmmuuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiirrrrr]

My brother went to see Counting Crows in concert right after they put "Recovering the Satellites" out, and he said they looked DEPRESSED. I think they were touring themselves into mental illness at the time.
He said it was still one of the best concerts he'd ever been to. The depression actually came through on the music and made the music connect even more with the crowd.

[crawdaddy]

9:32 Anyone who thought The Clash wrote a single “happy” song clearly didn’t know The Clash.

[RichardHougland]

its an oldie, but Seasons in the Sun is a bouncy little ditty approaching death.

[ann-mariemeyers]

I could not get "Pumped Up Kicks" out of my head for the longest time when it came out. My husband had just died, and all music sounded weird to me. I kept singing g that song under my breath. I'm OK now.

[mosulmadman]

Should've done the theme song from the TV show MASH. It is actually called Suicide is painless, and most did not realize how dark this song truly is

[wendydavis]

I spent this whole list expecting "End of the World As We Know It" by R.E.M. to appear and was honestly surprised to see it overlooked. It's literally a super-happy song about the world ending and the singer feeling okay about it!

[michelleresistance]

‘MmmBop” by Hanson is catchy and sounds upbeat. The lyrics are about how relationships come along and go just as quickly, but you don’t know which one will last.

[raynor]

Semi-Charmed Life was my longtime pick for least appropriate candidate for a Kidz Bop album until Pumped Up Kicks came along.

[litterboxpaws]

"Alone Again, Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan. As a kid I thought it was a happy song and was shocked at how depressing it is. I bet it's not played on the radio anymore. A good song, but dang--so sad.

[noelleggett]

Behind many of ABBA’s catchy Europop melodies, there are often melancholy lyrics that tell of loneliness, bitterness, heartache, domestic violence, breakup and divorce, bitterness at the fleeting nature of youth and life, fear and the threat of authoritarianism. ‘The Visitors’, ‘The Piper’ and ‘Soldiers’ are stark and political. Even the lyrics of ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ suggest a sinister subtext. Strangely, ‘The Day Before You Came’ sounds like it is full of ennui and sorrow, but its message is one of joy and fulfilment.

[BladeStar-uqxe]

Her name was Lola
She was a Showgirl,
And she loved Tony,
He got his face shot off,
At the Copa, Copacabana!