Top 5 Happy Songs

Since my last song post pleased my little sister, I am following up with another. I owe it to her - she and my little brother have been taking care of our parents so well the past couple weeks. They live close by so they are the "first responders" - I live 50 miles away from Mom and Dad. Sandy and Sonny, here's to you...my top 5 happy songs:

"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" by Simon and Garfunkel

I read that Paul Simon regretted using the term "groovy" in the song, but I am glad he did. Is there a happier song ever written? "Got no deeds to do....No promises to keep...I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep...Let the morning time drop all its petals on me....Life, I love you,All is groovy." Maybe it's because I am a morning person...but I have never felt this way in the middle of the night. Anyway, the live version we always hear isn't as good as the original.

I recently heard a cover of this song by a group called "Harper's Bizarre" and it was vintage 1960s kitsch. I think it featured both a harpsichord and a flute solo, plus what sounded like 8 part harmony in the vocals. Without satellite radio, because I would never have heard this version, which is probably a good thing. One shouldn't hear that version too frequently.

"Ol' 55" by the Eagles

To quote the Dude in the movie "The Big Lebowski", "I hate the f*ing Eagles, man." While I admit to being able to stomach some Eagles stuff when Joe Walsh was still in the band, I have to say I harbor a long term hate of most everything by the Eagles. But their cover of Tom Waits' song is really well done. I've heard many versions of this song, but the Eagles version is the best. Tom Waits, like Leonard Cohen, is a great songwriter but their own versions of their own songs always aren't so hot. Why is that?

Ol'55 is another song for morning people....when Glenn Frey sings "And now the sun's coming up, I'm riding with Lady Luck, freeway cars and trucks,stars beginning to fade, and I lead the parade. Just a-wishing I'd stayed a little longer,Oh, Lord, let me tell you that the feeling's getting stronger"....don't you wish you were him at that very moment? Maybe it's not the Eagles that I hate, but it's just Don Henley that I despise. Come to think of it, I always liked "Take It Easy"...hmmmm

"Heaven" Los Lonely Boys

It sounds so happy...probably because we don't hear to many rock songs in a major key. But the Boys remind us that "...there's a better place than this place I'm livin', how far is heaven? So I just got to show some faith. And just keep on giving, how far is heaven?" Should be a song sung in church.

"Shiny Happy People" by REM

Okay, so I know Michael Stipe hates this song and REM never performed it live. And the video is really lame. But Mike Mills sings on it, and he's my favorite REM guy. (Near Wild Heaven is another Mike Mills song I love) "Shiny Happy People" came out in 1991, a great year for me. The whole CD it came out on "Out of Time" reminds me of a visit my boyfriend and I made to California and drove up the coast on Highway 1, and he became my husband.

Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and Waves

How can you not hear this song and have it provide you with a must needed boost? I don't know who Katrina and the Waves were, but there one hit wonder has provided me lots of energy over the years since 1985.