Seemingly fun jovial songs with serious lyrics/subject matter

[Floogal]

Over the years there's cheery sounding songs which either have heavy lyrics or later you find out what the song is about.

1. Embarrassment by Madness is apparently about teenage pregnancy and racism. Apparently a lot of their songs have serious undertones
2. Beds are burning by Midnight oil sounds funny but it's about Aboriginal Australian rights
3. Oliver's army by Elvis Costello.
4. I might be wrong but that song moving too fast by Artful Dodger. I think it's about sexual harassment.
5. Bump and grind by R Kelly, now knowing what we know, I think is about rape from the perpetrators point of view

Blurred lines - robin thicke

Any song from the 60s about underage sex, and how awful to have to wait until 16.

i listened to Moving to fast so much when it came out - never thought what the song was about though but now you say it!

Enola Gay by OMD

Movies by Alien Ant Farm

It's a really sad break up song and actually makes me tear up

Mamma Mia - ABBA (about someone who won’t stop cheating)
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer - The Beatles (about a serial killer)

What is love by Howard Jones is very profound

Tears for Fears songs have deep lyrics

Tim Minchin The Pope Song about the Catholic Church covering up sexual abuse of children. Uses lots of swearing to make his point in a very clever way, so don’t google if you’re offended by profanity…..

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks. Was humming along for a long time before realsing what that was about .

I love these kinds of songs - a jaunty tune but serious lyrics. I think they might be my favourite genre!

Delilah by Tom Jones.

Goodbye Earl by The Chicks- an abused wife and her friend murder the offending husband

Lots by the Beautiful South

I'm sure I'll think of more

Mmmbop is not as cheery as the tube would have you think (though it's hard to hear the lyrics as the singer mumbles)

Tune. Not tube

Born in the USA

Barrett's Privateers is a jaunty sounding sea shanty by Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers- sounds like it's going to be a cheerful rascal underdog getting out of a tight spot story- um nope.

Practically the whole genre of reggae

Happy Talk from South Pacific. Anything but

Beds are Burning doesn't sound funny?

I think a few people don't get "it's not living if it's not with you" by the 1975 and think it's a love song about a person. If you miss the line about veins, than I guess it can be misunderstood maybe.

Don’t stand so close to me - really creepy lyrics about a teacher shagging a pupil. No idea how it gets played on the radio still. Roxanne about a prostitute, and every breath you take sounds pretty stalker-ish to me.

Drugs don’t work - not a jovial song but it is about Richard Ashcroft’s dad dying of cancer, not recreational drugs

some people treat the Foo Fighter’s “best of you” like a motivational song, I think it is someone accusing their partner of cheating

Tracy Chapman's Fast Car. Nice tune that clips along, hopeful song, everything is going to be great. Nope.

Hey Ya by Outkast sort of fits the bill. It's not mega serious but it is about how hard it is to make love last and the breakdown of a relationship ('they say nothing is forever so what makes love the exception?' and 'why are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here?'), which is at odds with the super happy and upbeat sound of the song.

Roxanne, by Sting: prostitution;
Message in a bottle, idem: loneliness or depression, I'm not quite sure;
Every breath you take, idem: harassment (and people think it's a romantic song and play it in weddings);
Luka, by Suzanne Vega: child abuse.

Hollywood Undead - Bullet.

Very uptempo, jolly song about committing suicide.

My mother used to tap her feet to it and say how much she liked the song until one of my kids enlightened her about the lyrics!

@SlipperyLizard yeah, always thought that about Sting. Especially as he was a teacher

Blue ‘Too Close’.
Literally about a dude getting a boner on the dance floor. 🤮

Happy Hour by the Housemartins - a very jolly tune and a line about ‘what a good place to be’ but it’s about the misogynistic attitudes of certain types of men in the workplace.

Christy Moore's Well Below the Valley is quite sweet and innocent fresh faced country living for the first half.

It's a Sin by the Pet Shop boys. Listened to it for years but it was only when I heard Olly Alexander's version that I realised how sad it is ☹️