I thought I’d start a thread for creepy pop songs. Pop songs, for these purposes, will be defined as any commercially recorded and released secular, non-classical, songs.
I nominate,
Heaven’s Just A Sin Away, sung by father-daughter country & western duo, The Kendalls.
He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss), sung by 1960’s “girl band” The Crystals.
I think I’m having a problem here Denny commented on in another thread. I can see now that the others are creepy for reasons the writer did not intend. Stop laughing, Denny. Is this irony? If it is, that’s why I can’t do it.
Surely Walkng on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves has to be a candidate. Also Lean on Me by Bill Withers. These are both so icky sweet that you just know there must be a malevolent spirit force driving them forward.
Okay, I think we have ironic and we have unintentionally creepy, two categories which do not overlap. I can think of no songs for either category. I am, however, looking forward to seeing other people’s creepy songs. Ack!!!
While I believe this started life as a poem by Lewis Allan, rather than popular song, its famous recording by Billie Holiday is indeed disturbing, especially for those of us in regions where it was all too true (which is much more of the United States than is often mentioned).
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?
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.