3 Legendary Happy-Sounding Songs From the 1960s That Secretly Make You Feel Terrible

These legendary 1960s songs are sadder than you remember. They all hide their emotion underneath foot-tapping rhythms and memorable melodies. Revisit these tracks below and really hone in on the somber lyrics. You’ll hear them in a new light.

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“Build Me Up Buttercup” — The Foundations

Though this 1960s song has an infectious melody, it’s secretly a bummer. Beneath the brassy instrumentation are lyrics about a toxic, dysfunctional relationship. “Why do you build me up / Buttercup, baby / Just to let me down / And mess me around / And then, worst of all (Worst of all)  / You never call, baby / When you say you will,” the lyrics read.

This track is the sonic equivalent of smiling through the pain. From sound alone, you’d never assume this song was about heartbreak. You have to look past the song’s shiny gleam to get to the core of the emotion.

“Happy Together” — The Turtles

“Imagine me and you, I do / I think about you day and night, it’s only right / To think about the girl you love and hold her tight / So happy together,” the lyrics to The Turtles’ “Happy Together” read. On the surface, this 1960s song might seem like a devoted love song. In reality, it’s merely imagined, near-obsessive.

“If I should call you up, invest a dime / And you say you belong to me, and ease my mind,” the lyrics continue. If we really think about them, these lyrics make us feel a tad uneasy. The instrumentation is happy-go-lucky, but something more sinister brews beneath the surface.

“I Second That Emotion” — Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

“Oh, but if you feel like lovin’ me / If you’ve got the notion / I second that emotion / Say, if you feel like giving me / A lifetime of devotion / I second that emotion,” the lyrics read. This song is about wanting more from a relationship than you’re getting. In that regard, it’s far sadder than the melody suggests.

“Maybe you think that love will tie you down / And you don’t have the time to hang around / Maybe you think that love was made for fools / So you think it’s wise to break the rules,” the lyrics continue. It’s a Trojan-horse kind of track, hiding its real emotion beneath a layer of upbeat music.

(Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns)