…but she’s consistent… 
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 
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. 
Yup, I was thinking about that one too!
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?
Lola is not creepy. 
“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).
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.
‘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.
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 . . .
I saw the American version of The Threepenny Opera a very long time ago. The way they did Mack was fairly campy. They also left out some fairly grim verses. The guy who sang it came out on stage with a rose between his teeth. The song Pirate Jenny was pretty creepy. Although Mack was a murderer and doer of many evil deeds and sentenced to hang a Deus ex machina saved the day.
Sung to the Mack the Knife tune
Happy ending, nice and tidy
It’s a rule I learned in school
Get your money every Friday
Happy endings are the rule.
I didn’t know about the poem so I googled it. They guy who wrote it apparantly set it to music himself after writing the poem.
I googled my home town a couple of days ago looking for something. It is not in the south but there were several pictures of a lynching that took place there. You’re right; it wasn’t only southern trees.
no,no,no - Timothy wasn’t a person, he was a mule (or donkey or horse or something). If you bought the 45, the whole thing was explained on the jacket cover.
I don’t remember the title of the song, but how about the one from the late '50’s - early 60’s where the guy dances with a girl, walks her home and lets her borrow his sweater, goes back the next day and finds out she died a year ago, and finds his sweater on the grave stone? Something like “Strange things happen in this world”.
I think it’s hard to really know what it’s about, at least right away (well, for those that redid it, there’s no excuse). It’s that beat! It makes you want to snap your fingers and dance around. I went for quite a while dancing around to that song, without knowing what it said exactly. Plus, it doesn’t help that whomever is singing it seems to be having so much fun while they sing it. So there I was, dancing around to a song glorifying some serial killer 
Well, more of a thug, I’d say. It’s a fine line though.
Timothy was a mule?
And if we’re allowed to nominate the purposefuly creepy, then Alison by Elvis Costello.
Here’s a little background on Mack the Knife, The Beggar’s Opera and The Threepenny Opera.
I am a huge Hendrix fan, but that song creeps me out… and I can’t begin to tell you how many times folks ask me where I’m going with that gun in my hand… if I had a dollar for…
There is a wonderful version of Mack the Knife by Ella Fitzgerald where she forgets the words and improvises some gags about the band and other versions of the song.
Slan,
D.
Oooooh, is that the punk song where two punks (a boy and a girl) get into a car crash and decide to boink one more time before they die of their massive injuries? It has been ages since I heard that one!
I love that song. I think Watching the Dectectives is a little creepier.
Every Breath You Take, by the Police… a song about stalking.