Ever hear an upbeat song you’ve known for a long time, but then really listen carefully to the lyrics, and find yourself thinking wait, what? Well, you just heard a sad banger.

I recently discovered (or, rather, Siri kept suggesting I might like) the band Foster The People, who had a hit a decade or so ago called Pumped Up Kicks. I loved it right away and listened to it a lot without really taking in the lyrics. It has an interesting, catchy musical structure, and it’s about gun violence from the point of view of a teenager who wants to shoot everyone. You better run, better run, outrun my gun. Oh.

Here are a few more sad bangers from my collection (I’ll keep adding to the list as I discover more, or actually listen to the lyrics of songs I already know!):

• Luka – Suzanne Vega
• Leader of the Pack – The Shangri-Las,
• Mississippi Goddamn – Nina Simone
• Alone Again (Naturally) – Esther Phillips (the original was decidedly not a banger)
• Semi-Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind
• The Way – Fastball

That version of Alone Again (Naturally) could also be on a list of “songs that contain flubs” because Esther sings “eighty sixty-five years old” instead of just “sixty-five years old” in the last verse and they left it in. I imagine it being the last song of the recording session, the people in the control room asking for another take and Esther saying “That’s good enough, I am not singing that dumb song again!” and heading out the door. Didn’t matter: she’s amazing, it’s a lovely cover and the flub is charming and I love hearing it every time.

The only other flub I can think of off the top of my head of is Ella Fitzgerald forgetting the lyrics to Mack The Knife. She won a Grammy for that oopsie and had to sing the improvised lyrics for the rest of her career, a perfect reminder to not be too hard on yourself when you make a mistake.