That post, I'll note, is in fact amazingly popular; ever since I had this blog track which posts are the most popular, it's remained the number-one most popular post on the site... probably because if you google "Best Songs That Make You Feel Good" that post is the third-top result on Google:
That's kind of a boring image for this blog, don't you think? I should try to spice it up a bit. Try this:
Much better. It really highlights where my mind is at today.
Anyway, the post is popular, probably because people go looking for songs to make them feel better, find that post, then realize only too late that the songs themselves only superficially make you feel better, but when you get down into the meat of the lyrics, those songs are terribly depressing.
But they have a good beat and you can dance to them.
So now, "Anonymous" has suggested, just yesterday, that I missed a song for this list -- and that song, he said, is "Always Summertime" by The Gregory Brothers:
That's the video that comes up from the link supplied by Anonymous, who didn't break it down for you the way I did on the original post, so I'll try for him:
Why It'll Make You Feel Good: Well, first, it mentions summertime, and what's not to like about summertime? (I mean besides killer bees and heart attacks.) Plus, the song has that tinkly, summer-night feel to it: bells-y kinds of things in the background, light, breezy music. It's like a glass of lemonade on a day that's just hot enough to enjoy drinking lemonade.
Why It'll Then Make You Feel Bad: So look at the lyrics, which you probably didn't pay that much attention to the first time around because you were lost in lemonade-y thoughts:
It's always summertimeOr, as I was thinking when I first listened "Yeah, summertime. I love summer. Summer love... what's that now?"
Here in my miiiiind
When
I think of how we were when we went out, so very
Happy together
Not afraid of foreverrrrrr
But you changed your mind
The song goes on: in life revised the two never had to say good-by, and in fact it's always wintertime in her mind when she thinks about him now, all because he changed his mind. Stupid summertime! I hate you! And I'm not crazy about lemonade, either! It's very tart!
The lyric that should've tipped you off: This song's sneaky -- but it's right there in the fourth line "until you changed your mind." But it tips back and forth, throwing phrases in that you'll catch "happy together" and "you never went away" and all, and the way the song is sung those phrases independently hang there waiting for you to piece them together. So I don't blame you for missing it the first time around.
Thanks, Anonymous! for the suggestion!
3 comments:
Recently I downloaded a couple of John Prine songs that make me feel good when I listen to them: Clay Pigeons (which I guess is a cover of the original by someone I never heard of) and Day is Done (which I heard on a rerun of "My Name is Earl" and I liked it so I wanted to find it but I had to search for it by the lyrics first--why can't TV shows put in the credits what songs they use?)
I recently reconnected with Earth, Wind and Fire's "September" from the 70s. This song really makes sliding into September a whole lot easier.
It's fascinating the myriad ways people find your blog. Kudos for making so many people feel so good with music.
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