My favorite thing about pop music is the means by which some artists attempt — either consciously or unintentionally — to subvert its sugary idealogical simplicity. "She’s My Girl" by the Turtles is a great example of such a subversive song. It hints at being a murder ballad in the vein of antique Americana, while maintaining the pretense of contemporary pop fluff. Of course, the song was never a major hit, but many of the band’s singles did fare well on the charts, despite the Bay Area psych-pop group’s penchant for dark, political themes amid catchy hooks.
   Most of you would immediately recognize the Turtles classic song "Happy Together" and perhaps a fraction of you would be able to actually name the band that wrote & performed it. Regardless, The Turtles were a pretty consistent hit-machine of subversive ideas wrapped up in extremely catchy music.  The slinking bass line and ominous, fetishistic tone to the lyrics reminds me of antique murder ballads like "Pretty Polly" as the singer intones in a frightening falsetto, "She’s my girl/ I took her away last night/Up in the sky." The changes in time signature and leaps in vocal range evoke a certain frenzied emotion that makes the song particularly eerie.

(Dowload - "She’s My Girl")