contrast between lyrics and music

i was thinking about this with "feelin good" by nina simone, lyrics about birds flyin high, feeling good, but the entire tenor of the song is heartbreaking and mournful

"sittin on top of the world" is similar, though the lyrics give a little more insight into why the song is so sad

on the flip side there's "just a gigolo", with some of the most existential lyrics ever created by humankind, but delivered like a brassy showstopper

i'm sure there are more examples, and more modern, but i can't think of them, which is where you come in

dorky answer: They Might be Giants were masters at this, especially in their early days

i guess in the best examples the contrast creates a new meaning from the contrast - like louis prima may be alone and unloved but he is going to go out in a blaze of glory

The worst example of this is The Smiths' "Girlfriend In A Coma", which is a jaunty, bouncy song about a dude watching his loved one die; the whole thing is so drenched in irony and distance that the overall feeling is that the narrator really couldn't be fucked one way or the other and is just waiting for the song to end so he can hit the bars.

prince - when you were mine

(was just arguing about this song with a friend who prefers the crooked fingers version, which is slow and has banjo and strings. seems a little on-the-nose to me.)

Jim O'Rourke - "Halfway To A Threeway". Such a lovely and soothing melody that I didn't pay any attention to what the half-whispered vocals were actually saying at first. Fuuuucked up.

the Who, "New Song." Big, rockin', tailored-for-FM-radio arrangement. Daltrey throws in a few celebratory "Woo!"s amidst these cynical/defeatist lyrics:

"We hum the same old lines to a different crowd, and everybody wants to cheer it. We run on endless time to reach a higher cloud, but we never ever seem to get near it."

of Montreal's 'Hissing Fauna' is a concept album about mental breakdown soudntracked by major-chord sugary synths.

Then you've got a song like "Hey Ya!" which starts out as a floor-stomping dance number over which Andre is lamenting the disintegration of his relationship, until halfway through he throws up his hands and says "y'all don't hear me, you just wanna dance" and gives in to what the purported audience wants. That's a (possibly rare?) instance of a song where the lyrics eventually bend themselves into matching the music.

Never noticed that. Just when I thought it wasn't possible, I now love Hey Ya even more.

entire catalog of Steely Dan

^^^First name I thought of. Shakey OTM. "Born in the U.S.A." another obv. example.

Surely there are a bunch of remixes that accomplish this nicely. It's the major reason I'm a big fan of the Buffetlibre mix of the Antlers' "Two."

Top ten happy songs that make me cry:

http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/the-top-ten-happy-songs-that-make-me-cry.htm

Top 10 Breakup Songs That Instill An Ironic Sense of Hope:

http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-10-breakup-songs-that-instill-an-ironic-sense-of-hope.htm