Random Country Songs With Surprisingly Dark Meanings (15 items)

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  (#4) Whiskey Lullaby

  • Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss

  On the surface, Brad Paisley's "Whiskey Lullaby" seems like your average tale of country heartbreak, until you realize that the main character drinks himself to an early grave. If that isn't dark enough, the lover who broke his heart ends up with the same fate because of the guilt. The melody is light, but Paisley's lyrics are much more foreboding:

  He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
  And finally drank away her memory

  Bill Anderson and Jon Randall, who wrote the song, had to practically beg Paisley to record the song, saying , "It wasn't exactly like people were running up and down Music Row looking for double suicide drinking songs." Regardless of the disturbing message, the song hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
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  (#3) The Thunder Rolls

  • Garth Brooks

  No song that has a happy ending ever started with the sound of rolling thunder and such an ominous tone. Add in the lyrics, "He's heading back from somewhere that he never should have been" and you know something is about to go down. Over the course of the song, a wife goes from worrying about her husband making it home in the storm alive to realizing he's been out cheating: "And the lightnin' flashes in her eyes." 

  This song is apparently so dark that Brooks allegedly left out the third verse to make it more commercially viable, though he still performs it at his concerts. In this deleted verse, the woman decides to take fateful action against her husband: "'Cause tonight will be the last time she'll wonder where he's been."
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  (#14) Midnight in Montgomery

  • Alan Jackson

  Alan Jackson's 1992 hit "Midnight in Montgomery" isn't your average ghost story. It's a tale about the ghost of Hank Williams, and there's nothing more perfect to spook fellow country fans. Jackson pays homage to Williams by setting the scene on New Year's Eve, which is the day Williams got sick on his way to a show before passing the next day.

  The creepiest line? "Then the wind picked up, he was gone, was he ever really there?"
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  (#7) Creepin' - Eric Church

  Eric Church's upbeat and fast-talking song seems to be just another heartbreak song, but this one is a bit seedier than most. He's not only describing a descent into madness now that his lover is gone - okay, maybe not your typical asylum-type madness, but not being able to get her out of his head - but he's also describing all the ways he's tried to drown out her memories, and they're not... healthy. He mentions whiskey, caffeine, and controlled substances. He gets so deep into one of them that by the end of the song he almost ODs:

  Just last night I saw the light,
  At the end of that tunnel on the other side,
  Thought I found my way outta this pain,
  Only to find your memory train 

  Take your pick for which one you think brought him to that fate, but the come-down if he survives is going to be brutal either way.
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  (#8) Pictures From Life's Other Side

  • Hank Williams

  According to Rolling Stone, "Pictures from Life's Other Side" is a tale as old as time. The original dates back to the 19th century; it was covered by Woody Guthrie in 1944 and popularized by Hank Williams in the '50s. For a song that's stood the test of time, it sure is dark.

  "Pictures from Life's Other Side" conjures images of people moments from the end - a mother and child who drown in a river, and an old woman who perishes all alone. It doesn't really get more depressing than that.
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  (#2) You Are My Sunshine - Gene Autry

  Most of us are familiar with the refrain of Gene Autry's "You Are My Sunshine." At this point, it's a de facto nursery rhyme and mothers across the country sing the chorus to soothe their crying babies. In reality, those babies should probably keep crying because this isn't the sweet love song we all believe it to be. Instead, it's a gutting, desperate plea to a lover who has left the singer for another man, and it contains a bit of a threat if you listen to more than just the chorus:

  I'll always love you and make you happy
  If you will only say the same
  But if you leave me to love another
  You'll regret it all some day

  Just as it's been sung by many mothers as a lullaby, other artists have recorded this song, including Jimmie Davis and Johnny Cash.

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