(310) FiveFiveFive-2817. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant No, wait...]]

So you have a musical number. The music is absolutely beautiful, and the instrumental part makes you want to cry or go "Awwww...". But wait, something's wrong. There is something that is keeping you from bursting into tears. What could it be?

Humor.

You're hearing a Creator/MelBrooks number, not necessarily a bad thing, unless you don't like musicals.[[note]]And sometimes even if you do...[[/note]] This song can be described as:
* A song with beautiful or classic-sounding orchestral arrangements but that features humorous or inappropriate lyrics.
* A song with orchestral arrangements and gorgeous lyrics, but the choreography is funny. Or the actors are in funny costumes or wearing fake noses. Or...
* A song that sounds like the perfect TearJerker... until you discover what it is really talking about.

This song is always PlayedForLaughs. A subtrope of {{Bathos}} and LyricalDissonance. Named for the quintessential master of this kind of song, Creator/MelBrooks.
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!!Examples

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[[folder:Film]]
* The TropeNamer is Creator/MelBrooks. Many of the songs he writes fit this trope, most obviously "SpringtimeForHitler" from the first film version of ''Film/TheProducers''.
** "Hope For the Best, Expect the Worst" from ''Film/TheTwelveChairs'' is a defeated, bleak folk tune about the fickleness of life, sounding authentic and beautiful...while also phrasing its concepts in very amusing ways.
** A famous Brooks anecdote is that Frankie Laine didn't realize ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' was a comedy when recording the theme (Brooks said that the lyrics should be sung by "a Frankie Laine type" but the producers got the genuine article), and Brooks didn't have the heart to tell him after such a sincere performance. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiF0M4uOhgI ensued.]]
*** Also "The French Mistake" parody of a classic 50's musical chorus, filled with HoYay lyrics.
---->"And one and two and [[CrossesTheLineTwice WATCH ME FAGGOTS!"]]
** ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'' gave us a... rousing performance of "The Night is Young, and You're So Beautiful" with all the [[PassThePopcorn Merry Men sitting down to enjoy the show.]] At the end of the song it looks like Robin has a 3-foot erection (which prompts a standing ovation from his men followed by disappointed sighs when the optical illusion is broken and they realize it was just his sword).
*** It also had the titular "We're Men... [[RealMenWearPink We're Men In Tights]]!"
** In addition to "SpringtimeForHitler", the musical movie version of ''Film/TheProducers'' also gave us "Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop" played over the credits in typical AwardBaitSong style.
** In ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', Dr. Frankenstein performs a beautiful rendition of "Puttin' On The Ritz"... until the monster's [[CuteButCacophonic turn for the chorus]] comes up. And then there's the dancing.
** ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI'' has a sort of inverted example, a BusbyBerkeleyNumber that has all the trappings of cheerful musical comedy, [[LyricalDissonance and is about the Spanish Inquisition]].[[note]][[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Nobody expects it, of course.]][[/note]]
** Even ''Film/HighAnxiety'', otherwise a nonmusical sendup of Creator/AlfredHitchcock tropes, has Brooks performing the title number at a swank soiree.
* "Brian", from the opening of ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', fits this to a tee--beautiful orchestration and a fantastic singer (essentially a take-off of Shirley Bassey's performance in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'') undercut by silly graphics and increasingly silly lyrics.
** ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'' has "The Galaxy Song", a light, cheery number with a lovely instrumental break...that turns out to be about an individual human's insignificance in the universe, and "Every Sperm Is Sacred," an anthemic hymn sung by Catholics of all ages (including ancient relics) about sperm.
** ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' has "Knights of the Round Table," which includes very silly choreography and increasingly painful rhymes for "Camelot."
** ''Film/MontyPythonLiveAtTheHollywoodBowl'', perhaps [[RefugeInAudacity most audaciously]], features "Sit On My Face," a rousing up-tempo choral anthem about anilingus.
* The four Oompa-Loompa songs in the 2005 version of ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' play out this way. Music/DannyElfman assigns each one a different genre (mambo for Augustus Gloop, psychedelic FolkRock for Veruca Salt, etc.) and gives them terrific melodies and arrangements. The lyrics (pulled from the original novel) are still about naughty kids getting their comeuppance, though, and the "rather rehearsed" dance numbers the Oompa-Loompas -- all voiced by Elfman -- mount are parodies of Busby Berkeley numbers, heavy metal videos, etc.
* ''Film/WalkHard'' is full of these. While some of the songs ("Guilty As Charged" comes to mind) could easily pass for a 60s Johnny Cash hit, others ("Let's Duet") are gleefully silly and filled with double entendres.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* "The Lumberjack Song" from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', where the backing chorus breaks up due to the lyrics' ridiculous emphasis on transvestism.
* The bread and butter of ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend''. Notable numbers include:
** "You Stupid Bitch" - a soliloquy of self-loathing, but some of it comes out [[BigStupidDoodooHead less than poetically]]. Just to pile on the cringe, Rebecca [[AudienceParticipationSong has the audience sing along with her]] at one point.
** "(Tell Me I'm Okay) Patrick" - gets more silly as the number goes on, including a package playing the piano, despite the number being about desperately needing comfort and validation
** "The Moment Is Me" - this song's lyrics are completely earnest; it's the deliberately listless delivery that makes it this trope
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[[folder:Music]]
* Music/TomLehrer was also infamous for these kind of songs. A bright, cheery serenade about killing pigeons ("Poisoning Pigeons in the Park")? A parlor-music piss-take on school fight songs ("Fight Fiercely Harvard")? Full orchestral backing for songs about humanity's utter annihilation by nuclear war ("We Will All Go Together When We Go" and "So Long, Mom"), a guy TooKinkyToTorture ("Masochism Tango"), and RecklessGunUsage ("The Hunting Song")? And this is only a fraction of the man's catalog.
* Music/JonathanCoulton is incredibly fond of these. "I Crush Everything" is a tale of loneliness and depression. As told by a giant squid. Or the nostalgia-packed ballad about a girl he knew in high school: "The Town Crotch."
* Singer-songwriter [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brute_Force_(musician) Brute Force]] (real name Stephen Friedland) is a skilled musician with a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} sensibilty, so naturally he specializes in these. His most famous song, "The King of Fuh", which was one of Apple Records' first [[Music/TheBeatles non-Beatles]] releases, is a beautiful ballad with exquisite strings and stirring piano. The lyrics are about the king of the land of Fuh, and the [[PrecisionFStrike obvious pun]] gets used many times.
* Parts of ''Music/{{Ylvis}}'s'' song, ''"The Fox,"'' would genuinely have a feeling of wonder and mystery, if were not for the entire song being about something as random as wondering what sounds a fox makes, with ridiculous gibberish words (presumably "speculation" about said sounds) and a section asking if said fox would come across a horse, would it speak to it in Morse code?

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[[folder:Theatre]]
* One could convincingly argue that this trope should be called The Creator/GilbertAndSullivan Number. One of the reasons their operettas have endured with such popularity is their wonderful use of TheComicallySerious, avoiding cheap laughs and instead writing beautiful melodies filled with inane, [[HurricaneOfPuns punny]], or ridiculous lyrics.
** Perhaps one of the best is "When the Foeman Bears His Steel" from ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'', in which the Police sing a rousing song about how they're afraid of the pirates, while the women sing about how [[GoYeHeroesGoAndDie glorious their deaths will surely be]], and the two choruses are combined in counterpoint, a highly-technical musical effect that is difficult to pull off.
** Also from ''Pirates'', 'WithCatlikeTread', a song about how stealthy and silent the pirates are...sung at the top of the lungs with cymbals and trumpets during a burglary.
** ''Theatre/HMSPinafore'' gives us "He Is An Englishman," a number with a stirring martial melody celebrating the main character's PatrioticFervor... until you notice the lyrics are mocking the entire concept of patriotism by explaining it means he has actively resisted temptations to be a person of any other nationality.
* "Something Has Happened", from the little-known musical ''I Do! I Do!''
* ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'' has "Class", which has a beautiful melody (the sheet music notes that it should be played "quasi Music/FranzSchubert") but is packed with swearing and grammatical errors.
** [[HypocriticalHumor And the characters singing it, a murderer and a corrupt jailer, are complaining about how the world is going down the gutter.]]
* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' is full of these:
** "Hasa Diga Eebowai" and "Joseph Smith, American Moses," have catchy African-style melodies and lyrics full of blasphemy and VulgarHumor.
** "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" is a bombastic production number that depicts infernal torment no more than semi-seriously, including [[OminousLatinChanting fake-Latin chanting]], [[RockMeAsmodeus a Satanic guitar solo]], Johnny Cochran, [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment coffee torture]] and a LastChorusSlowDown.
* While the entire show is hysterical, "You Won't Succeed On Broadway" from ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'' is definitely one of these... especially since the song talks about Broadway shows flopping if they can't get Jews in the cast.
* Discussed in ''Theatre/TheDrowsyChaperone''. "Bride's Lament" is a beautiful, sad song sung by Janet van de Graaf after breaking up with her fiancé. However, the lyrics are completely ridiculous. The Man in Chair (who is listening to the cast recording of the ShowWithinAShow) says it's best to ignore the lyrics.
--> ''I put a monkey on a pedestal\\
And tried to make that monkey stay\\
And he did for a time, but he needed to climb\\
And with other monkeys play, far away''
* Much the way that the [[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory 2005 version did]], the 2013 stage musical adaptation of ''Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' (music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman) handles the four naughty kids' demises with different musical styles befitting each child's personality, while their lyrics are pure TheVillainSucksSong material. The most spectacular example is probably "Juicy!", in which Violet's transformation into a blueberry is presented as a glittering, joyous GratuitousDiscoSequence ending with a ConfettiDrop over the audience...''the result of her exploding in a shower of glitter.''
* The Gospel-Sermon "God Said" from Music/LeonardBernstein's ''Mass'' starts out as a mostly pious uptempo song-and-dance number, but the last line of the refrain, "And it was goddamn good," foreshadows the lyrics' descent into increasingly vicious satire on religion.
* "Lizzie Borden" from ''New Faces of 1952'' is positive proof that you can have a hoe-down with a double ax murder trial. (Coincidentally, one of the writers of the movie version was a certain Melvin Brooks.)
* ''Theatre/TheBibleTheCompleteWordOfGodAbridged'' ends with a cheerful song-and-dance salute to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt as prophesied in the Book of Revelation: "That's Armageddon!"
* "The Cookie Chase" from ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle'', in which Cora's underlings try to arrest forty-nine people of any description while Fay repeatedly schemes to free them, is a gleefully overdone classical ballet pastiche in three-quarter time, with vocal sections for barbershop quartet and coloratura soprano thrown in for good measure.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'': "Sloprano", the boss theme for the battle against the Great Mighty Poo... which is also sung by said boss. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_quP6N7sZ3A instruments are beautiful and dramatic]], and the boss honestly does have a good singing voice, but the lyrics are about what you would expect for a battle against a giant literal pile of crap.
* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank3'': "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQFvUQA4p4U Death to the Squishies]]" is about [[OmnicidalManiac robots rising up to exterminate all organic life in the universe]], sung as a perky bubblegun-pop song by a Music/BritneySpears expy.
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[[folder: Web Video]]
* ''WebVideo/PuppetHistory'' features a song every episode by a puppet representing a character or object relating to the topic at hand. Some of them are appropriately silly, but then some of them are overly dramatic while still sharing absurd or irreverent premises with the rest. The best examples would be [[https://youtu.be/q4vdACLx-hQ?list=PL8rSRNukjnn6R_uKzQZ5LQIwOjvBoyN3I&t=1672 the dramatic rock ballad]] from a train lamenting it never got to transport Abraham Lincoln; [[https://youtu.be/myM5SY1mHoA?list=PL8rSRNukjnn6R_uKzQZ5LQIwOjvBoyN3I&t=1422 a triumphant ballad]] from the Olympic torch in which it ''screams furiously at the listener'' to subject themselves to ever-greater pain to win a gold medal; [[https://youtu.be/ybBxueA5OuA?list=PL8rSRNukjnn6R_uKzQZ5LQIwOjvBoyN3I&t=1668 the Randy Newman-style]] chipped coin song, which may be one of the series's least outright goofy songs in its writing and performance, but nonetheless is so upfront with its AffectionateParody and applies it to such a niche concept that it retains a good bit of inherent humor; and [[https://youtu.be/S7bSLlN_C1A?list=PL8rSRNukjnn6R_uKzQZ5LQIwOjvBoyN3I&t=1698 the tragic romantic duet]] between an oar and a former oar-turned-sword.
* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azEvfD4C6ow ode to the Bagger 288 bucket wheel excavator]]. The verses sound so epic they may have you shed a tear but the frenzied chorus kills the mood with pure absurdity.
** Also note the lyrics: "The leader of the Germans stood with a triumphant roar." Now consider who is the current German chancelor and imagine ''her'' acting out what the lyrics say. Or the Germany guy in ''Webcomic/{{Hetalia|AxisPowers}}''.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* "Up There", from ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut''. One of the better [[IWantSong "I Want" Songs]] . . . sung by Satan.
** "La Resistance" is a beautifully stirring MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber in the vein of "One Day More" from ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' . . . featuring lyrics such as:
--->"They may cut your dick in half,\\
And serve it to a pig,\\
And when it hurts, you'll laugh,\\
And dance a dickless jig.\\
But that's the way it goes,\\
In war you're shat upon.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' had "Yakko's Universe", a musical {{Expy}} of Monty Python's "Galaxy Song", with a charming uptempo orchestral arrangement straight out of a classic Disney cartoon.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has the song "Fish Out Of Water" The tone of the vocals has tearjerker in spades and the accompanying piano doesn't help either but when you realize this is a song about a literal goldfish that Buford lost while swimming in the ocean, things turn out a little differently.
-->'''Singer:''' When I'm soaking in my bath,\\
I dunk you in the tub.\\
There's no need to say another word.\\
You had me at "glub"
* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'': "The Star of Christmas" has the title characters of [[ShowWithinAShow "The Princess and the Plumber"]] sing a melodious love duet with absurdly unromantic plumbing-themed lyrics.
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