Once again, a prompt that I find almost impossible: a song that makes you happy.
It’s not that that I can’t find one. It’s that, in the course of a year, I’m likely to rediscover a song that had slipped my mind. I hear it again and fall in love with it all over.
Many of the songs I have already used in this quiz, or will use in the future, fall into this category. So tell me in the comments, or on Facebook: what songs make you happy? And if you know, why.
That’s The Way of the World – Earth, Wind, and Fire. There are are certain elements of a song that bring me joy. For this one, it the “YOW” in the vocal.
Other examples: Paul Carrack’s growl near the end of Tempted by Squeeze. The overly-long introduction of Papa Was a Rolling Stone by the Temptations, that ticked Dennis Edwards so much that he practically snarled, “It was the third of September.” The vocal harmonies in the Beatles’ version of Twist and Shout.
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen – Santana. I love the Abraxas album, which came out in 1970 and was one of the relatively few albums I took to college the next year. It’s the last minute of the medley, though where my air guitar really starts flying.
Do What You Want to – Billy Preston. The first song from his first Apple recording, it starts off slowly and is at a different rhythm by the end. Neil Young’s When You Dance I Can Really Love does much the same thing.
And I remember when (May 1971), where (Poughkeepsie, NY), and with whom (my high school friend Steve) I heard it. It helped me get over a breakup.
I’m Shakin’ – the Blasters. This was a FantaCo era song. I seem to have head this Dave Alvin song a lot on WQBK/Q104, in the store a lot in the early 1980s.
Would I Lie To You – Eurythmics. One of my favorites from when people used to watch MTV for music videos, back in 1985.
