There have been popular songs with creepy or spooky lyrics since the beginning of rock music. Sure, there are entire genres of rock music that are intentionally dark and scary, but when you filter out songs by shock rockers, heavy metal bands, and gothic groups, there are still plenty of songs that seem a little “Off” in disturbing ways.

Here are a few of those I thought of off the top of my head, and I will probably add more as time goes on:

Wildfire – Michael Martin Murphey (1975)

This gentle sounding 70’s soft rock tune is a weird one for sure. The lyrics:

“She comes down from Yellow Mountain

On a dark, flat land she rides

On a pony she named Wildfire

With a whirlwind by her side

On a cold Nebraska night

Oh, they say she died one winter

When there came a killing frost

And the pony she named Wildfire

Busted down it’s stall

In a blizzard he was lost

She ran calling Wildfire [x3]

By the dark of the moon I planted

But there came an early snow

There’s been a hoot-owl howling by my window now

For six nights in a row

She’s coming for me, I know

And on Wildfire we’re both gonna go

We’ll be riding Wildfire [x3]

On Wildfire we’re gonna ride

Gonna leave sodbustin’ behind

Get these hard times right on out of our minds

Riding Wildfire”

If I read this right, the song is about some spooky ass ghost and her ghost pony, coming down off of a mountain in Nebraska somewhere, to claim the soul of a hard working farmer, who seems to long for the sweet embrace of death. That’s some heavy shit right there. Great song to listen to right before bed.

2. D.O.A. – Bloodrock. (1971)

Ok, this is one example of a song that was written by a band that was probably trying to be spooky. I include it here because as far as I know, it was Bloodrock’s only truly scary song, and the band itself is still a relatively obscure one that scored a hit with this creepy oddity. Being a Texas band, a lot of radio stations will play this tune around Halloween in my neck of the woods.

The Lyrics:

“I remember, we were flying low,

And hit something in the air

Laying here, looking at the ceiling,

Someone lays a sheet across my chest.

Something warm is flowing down my fingers

Pain is flowing all through my back.

I try to move my arm and there’s no feeling

And when I look, I see there’s nothing there.

A face beside me stopped the totally bleeding

The girl I knew has such a distant stare.

I remember, we were flying a-low,

And hit something in the air.

Then I look straight at the attendant,

His face was pale as it could be

He bends and whispers something softly,

He said “there’s no chance for me”.

I remember, we were flying a-low,

And hit something in the air.

Life is flowing out my body,

Pain is flowing out with my blood.

The sheets are red and moist where I’m lying

God in Heaven, teach me how to die.

I remember, we were flying a-low,

And hit something in the air.”

Yeah… I’ll remember that stuff about flying low and hitting something in the air the next time I board a plane. Thanks Bloodrock!

3. Obsession – Siouxie and the Banshees (1982)

This is another case where some people might cry foul and complain that Siouxie and the Banshees was a gothic band, so it makes sense that their songs are creepy, but the band carved out their own identity and was never really a cookie cutter goth band. They don’t have a lot of songs specifically about death or vampires, or any of the cornier themes that many gothic bands seemed to gravitate towards.

No, what makes this song creepy, is that it describes a person obsessed with another. Anyone that used to date within their local gothic scene would probably find a lot to relate to and to be creeped out by.

The lyrics:

“Do you hear this, breath it’s an obsessive breath

Can you feel this beat? It’s an obsessive heart beat

Waiting to be joined with its obsession

I close my eyes but I can’t sleep

The thin membrane can’t veil

The branded picture of you

The signs and signals show, the traffic lights say, go

Again you baffle me, pretending not to see, oh, me

I broke into your room, I broke down in my room

Touched your belongings there and left a lock of my hair

Another sign for you

You screamed into my face, get the hell out of my place

Another sign for me, can you forgive me?

For not understanding your ways

You know sometimes you take it all too far

Then I remember it’s a game between you and me

A divine test for us two

It’s all in my imagination

Yes they even say that our mission

Is only my obsession

Do you hear this breath? It’s an oppressive breath

Suffocating in the poison of your obsession

Can you feel this beat? It’s a possessive beat

Your pulse stops in the claws of your obsession

The signs and signals show, the traffic lights say, go

Again you baffle me pretending not to see, oh, me”

Yeah… shiver.

4. I Can’t Stand Losing You – The Police (1978)

The Police started out as a relatively edgy band, but there’s something incongruent about the mostly non threatening and happy image the band had, and this dark song about some guy about to kill himself to guilt trip his recent ex.

The Lyrics:

“I’ve called you so many times today

And I guess it’s all true what your girl-friends say

That you don’t ever want to see me again

And your brother’s gonna kill me and he’s six feet ten

I guess you’d call it cowardice

But I’m not prepared to go on like this

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing you

I can’t stand losing you

I can’t stand losing you

I can’t stand losing you

I see you sent my letters back

And my L.P. records and they’re all scratched

I can’t see the point in another day

When nobody listens to a word I say

You can call it lack of confidence

But to carry on living doesn’t make no sense

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I guess this is our last goodbye

And you don’t care, so I won’t cry

And you’ll be sorry when I’m dead

And all this guilt will be on your head

I guess you’d call it suicide

But I’m too full to swallow my pride

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand

Can’t stand losing you”

Yep… That’s some pretty dark subject matter there lost in that mountain of “Can’t” , and it’s particularly dark all wrapped up in the context of a catchy pop song.

5. I Don’t Like Mondays – The Boomtown Rats (1979)

Here’s another innocent sounding song, after all who DOES like Mondays?

The Lyrics:

“The silicon chip inside her head

Gets switched to overload.

And nobody’s gonna go to school today,

She’s going to make them stay at home.

And daddy doesn’t understand it,

He always said she was as good as gold.

And he can see no reason

‘Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to be shown?

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

I want to shoot

The whole day down.

The telex machine is kept so clean

As it types to a waiting world.

And mother feels so shocked,

Father’s world is rocked,

And their thoughts turn to

Their own little girl.

Sweet 16 ain’t so peachy keen,

No, it ain’t so neat to admit defeat.

They can see no reasons

‘Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to be shown?

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

I want to shoot

The whole day down.

All the playing’s stopped in the playground now

She wants to play with her toys a while.

And school’s out early and soon we’ll be learning

And the lesson today is how to die.

And then the bullhorn crackles,

And the captain crackles,

With the problems and the how’s and why’s.

And he can see no reasons

‘Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to die?

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don’t like Mondays.

I want to shoot

The whole day down.”

Hmmm… A few weird lyrics about killing and shooting in this pop tune. What’s up with that?

The song is about the 1979 school shooting committed by a teenager named Brenda Anne Spencer in San Diego. She managed to kill two men and wound eight students and Alice officer before being stopped.

When asked what her murderous motivation had been Spencer replied:

“I don’t like. Mondays. This livens up the day.”

6. Brown Sugar – The Rolling Stones (1971)

My mom used to dance her ass off to this song when I was growing up, and it’s a pretty good tune. I could never understand the lyrics, and I’m sure my mom couldn’t either, because if she had, she might have chosen a different song to dance to.

The Lyrics:

“Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields

Sold in a market down in New Orleans

Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing alright

Hear him with the women just around midnight

Brown sugar

How come you taste so good?

Brown sugar

Just like a young girl should

Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot

Lady of the house wonderin’ where it’s gonna stop

House boy knows that he’s doing alright

You shoulda heard him just around midnight

Brown sugar

How come you taste so good, now?

Brown sugar

Just like a young girl should, now

Get along, brown sugar

How come you taste so good, baby?

Got me feelin’ now, brown sugar

Just like a black girl should

I bet your mama was a tent show queen

Had all the boyfriends at sweet sixteen

I’m no schoolboy but I know what I like

You shoulda heard me just around midnight

Brown sugar

How come you taste so good, baby?

Brown sugar

Just like a young girl should, yeah

I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah

How come you, how come you taste so good?

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Just like a, just like a black girl should

Yeah, yeah, yeah”

Ah, the realization that for most of your life you’ve been jamming to a song that seems to be about a scary old slave owner raping his female slaves. Priceless.

That’s a nice Segway into my next creepy picks, which are of a similar theme.

7. You’re Sixteen, You’re Beautiful, and You’re Mine – Johnny Burnette (1960)

Ok, I’ll admit that this one is more of contextual creepiness based on the passage of time. I hear this song on the radio at work about once a day, and it’s happy sounding delivery is not the problem. It hails from an era where most of the people listening to rock and roll were teenagers, and in 1960, it was still relatively common for girls to get married at that age. The song gains extra creep points from the Ringo Starr cover version.

The Lyrics:

“you come on like a dream, peaches and cream

lips like strawberry wine

you’re sixteen, you’re beautiful and you’re mine

you’re all ribbons and curls, ooh what a girl

eyes that sparkle and shine

you’re sixteen, you’re beautiful and you’re mine

you’re my baby, you’re my pet

we fell in love on the night we met

you touched my hand, my heart went pop

ooh, when we kissed i could not stop

you walked out of my dreams and into my arms

now you’re my angel divine

you’re sixteen, you’re beautiful and you’re mine

you’re my baby, you’re my pet

we fell in love on the night we met

you touched my hand, my heart went pop

ooh, when we kissed i could not stop

you walked out of my dreams, and into my car

now you’re my angel divine

you’re sixteen, you’re beautiful, and you’re mine”

Seems pretty innocent, and I guess it was. But Johnny Burnette sounds like an older guy to me, and there’s something distasteful when I hear this song with modern ears and sensibilities. It’s like I almost hear an additional line in there:

You’re sixteen, you’re beautiful, and you’re mine. Now get in the van and take off your dress.”

8. Going Blind – KISS (1974)

I like a few of KISS’s older songs. They’re not high art or anything, but a few are catchy rock tunes, and sometimes that’s enough.

But that doesn’t change the fact that KISS is now comprised of elderly men that dress like clowns and sing about sex with teenagers, making “Going Blind” hit a little close to the mark than is pleasant.

The Lyrics:

“And I know how it should be

There is nothing more for you and I

Some are young and some are free

But I think I’m goin’ blind

‘Cause I think I’m goin’ blind

And I know how it should be, yeah

Little lady, if only [Incomprehensible]

You’re so young and so much different than I

And I know how it’s to be

Can’t you see I’m goin’ blind?

‘Cause I think I’m goin’ blind

And I know how it should be, yeah

‘Cause I think I’m goin’ blind

And I know how it should be, yeah

Little lady, can’t you see?

You’re so young and so much different than I

I’m ninety-three, you’re sixteen

Can’t you see I’m goin’ blind?

‘Cause I think I’m goin’ blind

And I know how it should be, yeah”

The 1970’s were a… “Unique” decade, and rock stars in their 20’s and 30’s writing songs about sex with teenaged girls was commonplace. Jimmy Page was knowingly fucking a 13 year old at one point, and I’m sure that kind of thing was commonplace.

Still, “Going Blind” is just a creepy song of many creepy ones by KISS. It’s made creepier still since they still perform it live now that they are all hitting their golden years.

And I guess that is a fitting note to end on – Old men wearing clown paint, singing about molesting teenaged girls.