Ask Lemmy

You are my sunshine (The Dead South do an excellent job illustrating how dark the song really is)

Class A Team

Mmmmbop

It's a little more than kind of depressing but Bullet by Hollywood Undead comes to mind.

Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger?

Flo by Smash Mouth

Last Kiss by Wayne Cochran. You kids probably remember the Pearl Jam version, which was a bit more subdued. But the 1964 hit by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers is very upbeat and cheerful sounding. It’s about a boy who gets his girlfriend killed in a car accident while on a date and holding her as she dies. He’s consumed with guilt and can only think about dying so he can see her again in heaven.

The only 2 songs I could think of, Pumped Up Kicks, and 99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons were already brought up. So I had to think of some different songs. And I can't. Looked through a bunch of songs on my phone and back of some of my CD cases and I can't think of any right now.

Closest I can think of was just a video of someone reacting to the Japanese vocaloid song 「ごめんね ごめんね」 ( I'm sorry I'm sorry )by Kikuo and not knowing what the song meant until looking up the lyrics. Even then, that's not a very upbeat song.

Edit:

I thought about "Belong" by R.E.M., but I would say it's near upbeat but not quite there. Also, the lyrics are more cryptic and confusing to dissect than depressing in my opinion.

Edit 2:

Wouldn't say it's quite upbeat either, but Mighty K.C. from For Squirrels as well. Not quite upbeat but definitely depressing lyrics considering it's about death.

David Bowie - Five Years Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight

And about half of Pink's oeuvre.

Hard Times - Paramore first thing I thought of

I Am A Rock by Simon and Garfunkel

A winter's day  
In a deep and dark December

I am alone  
Gazing from my window to the streets below  
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow
I am a rock I am an island

I've built walls
A fortress deep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain
I am a rock I am an island

Don't talk of love
Well I've heard the word before
It's sleeping in my memory
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died
If I never loved I never would have cried
I am a rock I am an island

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock I am an island

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries

The Science of Selling Yourself Short by Less Than Jake

I know that there are probably a lot that I'm forgetting but here are the ones I remember:

No more crying by Sound Holic (lyrics)

Border of my life by Sound Holic (lyrics)

THE END by A-One

IT IS SO by A-One

U.N. Owen Was Her? by A-One

Little talks - of monsters and men
It sounds very chill and upbeat but it’s about the loss of a loved one

Plenty of ABBA songs... Maybe Chiquitita?

Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself Loneliness masked as liberation.

Bulletproof - La Roux Emotional numbness disguised as empowerment

Some Linkin Park songs (Bleed it out, Up from the Bottom, etc.)

There's so many such songs...

No Sunlight - Death Cab for Cutie

When I was young
Lying in the grass
I felt so safe
In a warming bath
Of sunlight, of sunlight
The vast open sky
Could do no harm
Like an embrace
Of a mother's arms
In sunlight, in sunlight
In sunlight, in sunlight
With every year
That came to pass
More clouds appeared
'Til the sky went black
And there was no sunlight, no sunlight
And there was no sunlight, no sunlight anymore
And it disappeared at the same speed
As the idealistic things I believed
When the optimist died inside of me
No sunlight, no sunlight
No sunlight, no sunlight
It disappeared at the same speed
As the idealistic things I believed
When the optimist died inside of me
No sunlight, no sunlight
No sunlight, no sunlight
No sunlight, no sunlight
No sunlight, no sunlight
No sunlight anymore

A good chunk of They Might Be Giants' discography.

Homeless Bleak Despair is about what's in the title.

Don't Let's Start "Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful"

My Man is about being paralyzed.

That just scratches the surface.

Not entirely upbeat, but people always play Linger by the Cranberries like it’s a love song. Most definitely isn’t.

Living La Vida Loca and Macerena are both pretty dark.

Porcupine Tree - Blackest Eyes

Mew - She came Home for Christmas

on melancholy hill - gorillaz

Renai circulation, from the monogatari series. It's super cute but hidden inside is a cry for help.

You’re Gorgeous

A lot of Elliott Smith songs.