The thread about Ridiculous Lyrics that Deckham started has shown that some songs don’t really have ridiculous lyrics as such, but that people have not understood what the lyrics mean and what the song was meant to convey.
So here is a thread about songs that were very popular in their day, and people think they understood them, but didn’t really.
And not only that, if they had understood them, they would have been scandalised given the morals of the times the songs appeared.
Here is a selection I can suggest from different decades of the last century:
Cotton Eye Joe (1930s) Jambalaya (1950s) Lola (1960s) Turning Japanese (1980s)
I could explain them here but that would be too easy. Some are more famous than others and no doubt they will be explained early, For the others, or if you haven’t heard them before, it is too easy to refer to Google: use your grey matter to hear the lyrics and turn them 180o to find what the songs really mean. That will be more rewarding for you.
And of course the thread is open for other nominations. But just to be clear: we are not talking about songs whose lyrics are obscure; or difficult to understand; or particularly suggestive or otherwise controversial.
We are talking about the most difficult thing to do in popular culture: hiding the meaning in plain sight.
The other condition is that the songs have been mainstream hits at the time. This is to prove that they fooled most of the people most of the time.
There’s quite a lot of songs that have a tempo or air that belies its content.
Interesting question, but I think not. It is quite famous, but the lyrics do not indicate the opposite of what they suggest. Also, the music conveys a sense of dread.*
As for tempo or air belying content, I suggest the “O Lucky Man” soundtrack by Alan Parsons (ex-Animals). It sounds all happy and jolly but the lyrics are dark. I particularly commend the song “Justice”. I did not include this in my original post because it was not a mainstream hit.
*I am assuming you are referring to “Mack the Knife” from Brecht’s Threepenny Opera. If there is another song “Mac the Knife” then the above is not relevant so in that case please provide more information.