But for European leaders, this downbeat reaction is part of a pattern: they often react morosely to success.

ECONOMIST: The EU's leaders needn't always look so gloomy

Martin Starr is a morosely unattractive Russian-lit major who complains about everything in the lugubrious drone of a campus coffee-shop wit.

NEWYORKER: Adventureland

Ron McClary provides a solid presence as bartender Herman, and Margot White is morosely funny as recently dumped birthday girl, Myrtle.

WSJ: Review: 'Happy Birthday' a booze-filled romp

"It's just lying, " he'd told me morosely, shaking his head.

NPR: Hide the Hot Fudge

In another song, "Seduced and Abandoned, " Merritt assumes the guise of a woman who's been left with her newborn child by a dastardly cad, and she meditates morosely on her future.

NPR: The Magnetic Fields' Hard-Headed 'Realism'