10 Happy Songs That Are Insanely Dark
8. Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan
From the start of their career, Steely Dan were almost condemned to stay in the realm of Dad Rock. With their jazz accentuations and subdued vocals from Donald Fagen, the band's greatest hits seemed to be nothing more than your typical mood music. On the contrary, songs like "Kid Charlemagne" led to something much more interesting... and terrifying.
Many people under 35 probably just know this song for its eventual sample in Kanye West's "Champion," but the titular Charlemagne has quite a dirty rap sheet. According to Fagen, this tune was actually written in tribute to Owsley Stanley, who was a sound man for the Grateful Dead and the most in-demand psychedelic chef in the San Francisco scene.
The whole song seems to be an homage to the man's more experimental uses with LSD, but things take a darker turn once you get to the end of the guitar solo. It appears that Charlemagne's name has gotten around, and he now has to clean up his entire house before the police nab him in a drug bust.
Just as things start to heat up, Charlemagne takes off in a car, with the listener unsure of where he's headed. You might call it bland at first, but this tune contains more dramatic heft than many feature films could hope to have.