Surprise! Songs in which a character gets surprised

[DarcyFarrow]

Name a song in which either the listener or a character in the song gets surprised, maybe pleasantly, maybe not.

For example, in "Heads We're Dancing" a woman discovers that the charming unnamed man she danced with last night is Hitler.

[DarcyFarrow]

Since You Went Away (Monkees):

she expects he can't manage without her; then comes the revelation:

"'Cause the plants have grown
The dog came home
The bills are all getting paid
Things are much better since you went away"

[JohnD131536]

When I Woke Up This Morning -the Bop Chords

[DarcyFarrow]

The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game (Grace Jones):

"Oh, you were the catch that I was after
But I looked up and I was in your arms and I knew that I was captured"

[DarcyFarrow]

Hammerhead (Offspring):  starts out seeming to be about a soldier in battle:

"I am the one
Camouflage and guns"

but at the end:

"And you can all hide behind your desks now
And you can cry "teacher come help me"
Through you all
My aim is true"

we learn it's a school shooting

[JohnD131536]

At My Front Door - the El Dorados

[1968Hoya46]

Dear One: Larry Finnegan (the letter he was eagerly awaiting at his mailbox turned out to be a Dear John letter, which by definition always surprises the recipient). Sorry Larry.

[DarcyFarrow]

Tie a Yellow Ribbon (Tony Orlando and Dawn):

"Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years, do you still want me?

. . . .

And I can't believe I see

A hundred yellow ribbons round the ole oak tree"

[1968Hoya46]

Laurie (Strange Things Happen): Dickie Lee (quick synopsis: Dickie meets Laurie at a dance, walks her home, lends her his sweater because she says she’s cold, she enters her house, he walks away but remembers his sweater, goes back to her house, her dad answers the door, Dickie explains about the sweater [are you following this?], dad gets angry, tells Dickie that his daughter died one year ago to the date, Dickie is drawn to a graveyard where he sees his sweater lying on Laurie’s grave. Surprise!!!).

[JohnD131536]

Peek-A-Boo   - the Cadillacs

[1968Hoya46]

It’s My Party: Leslie Gore (See: Lipstick On My Collar).

[JohnD131536]

My Surprise - the Six Teens

[1968Hoya46]

Lipstick On Your Collar: Connie Francis: Connie was surprised, shocked and probably outraged when her boyfriend returned to the record hop with her best friend, wearing red lipstick on his collar, when Connie’s was baby pink. 

[1968Hoya46]

Running Scared: Roy Orbison (My heart was breaking, which one would it be, then you turned around and walked away with me). Roy is happily surprised when she blows off her old pompous boyfriend and walks away with him.

[JohnD131536]

What A Surprise - the Crests

[DarcyFarrow]

In "Long Black Veil" (Johnny Cash and many others), the listener is the one surprised, discovering that the song's narrator is deceased:  

"She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me"

[JasD455899]

The Kinks - Lola

No explanation necessary, right?

[JohnD131536]

A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash

[DarcyFarrow]

Since You Went Away (Monkees):

starts off like a broken-hearted break-up song: 

"You said you couldn't tell the doormat from my face
You said if I had brains I would pawn them"

But the mood quickly turns to glee:  

" the plants have grown
The dog came home
The bills are all getting paid
Things are much better since you went away"

[DarcyFarrow]

Talkin' Song Repair Blues (Alan Jackson):  A mechanic/would be songwriter gets his comeuppance

[OscarE1968]

The Ocean - Led Zeppelin

Song's about how the crowd looks/moves from the view of the stage

[OscarE1968]

Fool In The Rain - Led Zeppelin

The chap thinks he's been dumped but then realizes he's on the wrong block 😆

[DarcyFarrow]

Ready or Not (Jackson Browne):

"Someone's gonna have to explain it to me
I'm not sure what it means
My baby's feelin' funny in the morning
She's having trouble getting into her jeans
Her waist-line seems to be expanding"

[MaVolta]

C'est La Vie  -  Chuck Berry

C'est la vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

[MarybethG691589]

Paradise by the Dashboard Light  Meatloaf. 

[MarybethG691589]

Ode to Billy Joe. Bobbie Gentry 

[DarcyFarrow]

Babooshka (Kate Bush):  to test her husband's loyalty, a woman disguises herself and arranges a rendezvous with him; he falls for this mystery woman because she reminds him of his wife "before the years flew by"

[Raynyky]

Escape (The Piña Colada Song)-Rubert Holmes

So I waited with high hopes
And she walked in the place
I knew her smile in an instant
I knew the curve of her face
It was my own lovely lady
And she said, "Aw, it's you"
Then we laughed for a moment
And I said, "I never knew"

[Raynyky]

Heard it Through the Grapevine-Marvin Gaye

It took me by surprise I must say
When I found out yesterday
Don't you know that I heard it through the grapevine

[MaVolta]

Cecilia  -  S & G

Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia
Up in my bedroom (making love)
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed
Someone's taken my place

🙀