Creepy Pop Songs

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:27 pm

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about the Kendalls. I'd swear I've also seen them do Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Mois? on TV, though they don't seem to have recorded it. It's not the songs that are creepy to me, but the performances--knowing their relationship.

The story line of Janie’s Got a Gun is more than a tad creepy.

So is Suzanne Vega's Luka.

I find most murder ballads basically creepy. There aren't that many that qualify as "pop", though. Maybe Hey Joe?

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:51 pm

JES wrote:My all time pick for creepy is Yummy Yummy Yummy (I've got love in my tummy)... by The Archies...I think?

Ohio Express, I think. Still, pretty creepy. Right up there with 123 Red Light by The 1910 Fruit Gum Company. And what about Andy Kim?

Sinead O'Conner seems pretty creepy to me all round.

djm

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:51 pm

"Lola" is my pick.

"Private Eyes" is Shan's.

--James

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:55 pm

Darwin wrote:It's not the songs that are creepy to me, but the performances--knowing their relationship.

Heh heh... yeah.

djm wrote: Sinead O'Conner seems pretty creepy to me all round.

I couldn't decide among Madonna's songs.

Darwin wrote:I find most murder ballads basically creepy. There aren't that many that qualify as "pop", though. Maybe Hey Joe?

Babes in the Woods, The Cruel Mother, and Banks of the Ohio qualify as creepy. Perhaps Tom Dooley crossed over from the creepy ballad "genre" to pop song.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:00 pm

peeplj wrote:"Lola" is my pick.

Man, I'd forgotten that one. Good choice! L-o-l-a- Lola

djm

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:01 pm

Walden wrote:I couldn't decide among Madonna's songs.

...but she's consistent...

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:17 pm

Mack The Knife.....it has such a catchy beat to it, you can't help but like it. Then you really listen to what it's about and it all just seems so bizzare

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:35 pm

In the pop realm, I would have to say any of the vehicular death songs, like Last Kiss, Teen Angel, Dead Man's Curve, and (especially) D.O.A.

In the trad realm, it could be practically any of those old Irish, Scottish and English folk songs (e.g. Twa Corbies and The Two Sisters) that tend to reproduce like rabbits, with the offspring having different tunes and only slightly different lyrics than their ancestors, and which often show up on albums by Steeleye Span and Altan.

markbell · Post by **markbell** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:38 pm

izzarina wrote:Mack The Knife.....it has such a catchy beat to it, you can't help but like it. Then you really listen to what it's about and it all just seems so bizzare

Yup, I was thinking about that one too!

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:59 pm

Walden wrote:Babes in the Woods

My mother used to sing that and Barbara Allen. It's as close as I come to being in the "folk tradition", since her mother used to sing them to her.

I guess Rain and Snow counts as pop, since the Grateful Dead did it.

Bo Diddely's Who Do You Love is sort of funny creepy.

Can we include Tex Ritter's Blood on the Saddle?

    There was blood on the saddle and blood all around
    And a great big puddle of blood on the ground

    A cowboy lay in it all covered with gore
    And he never will ride any broncos no more

    Oh, pity the cowboy, all bloody and red
    For the bronco fell on him and bashed in his head

    There was blood on the saddle and blood all around
    And a great big puddle of blood on the ground

Now that I think about it, I always considered Bobby Vinton's Blue Velvet creepy--both in style and in content.

How about every cover song Pat Boone ever did--from Little Richard and Fats Domino songs to his Heavy Metal period?

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 10:09 pm

peeplj wrote:"Lola" is my pick.

"Private Eyes" is Shan's.

--James

Lola is not creepy.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 10:46 pm

"Warning Sign."

I love the Talking Heads, but wow.

As a side note, is anyone else saving up for the EXQUISITE BOX SET?

EDITED TO ADD:

"Suzanne," Randy Newman (another of my favorite musicians).

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:06 pm

izzarina wrote:Mack The Knife.....it has such a catchy beat to it, you can't help but like it. Then you really listen to what it's about and it all just seems so bizzare

Well spotted, Iz. Most of the people who sing that one, including Louis Armstrong, don't seem to have any idea what it's about, although it would have been a Weill idea to present it as a jolly song.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:23 pm

'Warm Leatherette', The Normal (I think Grace Jones did this one too.)
Insignificance, Jim O'Rourke (Yeah, the whole album)

This pair are pretty much in a league of their own—Google up the words to 'Warm Leatherette' if you don't believe me. O'Rourke's 'Get a Room' might win if he weren't trying so hard. I'm not sure how popular they were.

Others:
'Get Out of the Car', Richard Berry (You gotta walk home baby 'cause you just don't treat me right. Date pressure from a randy male perspective, a common 50s theme.)
'Romance Without Finance', Tiny Grimes (It's a nuisance!)
'Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town', Kenny Rogers. (Hey kid, finished your patriotic chores yet?)
'Endless Sleep', Jody Reynolds
'Dirty Old Man', The Fugs
'(He'll Never Be an) Ol' Man River,' TISM (I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix!)
'Kill Yourself Now and Avoid the Rush', TISM

TISM also lose points for trying too hard.

khl · Post by **khl** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 1:23 am

Anyone here remember "Timothy" by the Buoys? Three guys trapped in a cave for a long time. They get hungry. Two survive. That probably fits under creepy, no?

One that is brillantly creepy is David Bowie's "Space Oddity."

Ground control to Major Tom . . .