Laid off 101

Erin, here, bringing you your second dose of “Happy Songs” to add to Kim’s suggestions last week. These are my top five Feel Good, Feel Better, and Feel Like Waking Up Tomorrow songs. Starting with some classics.

Bill Withers—Lovely Day
This has got to be my number one “happiest song” ever, and it has a lot to do with knowing where the song came from. Bill Withers had a notoriously rough life. After a long, continuous line of family deaths, including his father when Withers was just thirteen, his music is still strong, positive, and infectiously so. In young adulthood, he spent nine years in the navy, and then worked an assembly line job making airline toilets. Yet, while he was plugging that pristine porcelain for the affluent’s derrieres, he didn’t let the poo get him down. At night, he recorded demo tapes and performed at open mic nights (and anywhere or with anyone who would let him). After one of those demo tapes landed into the right guy’s hands and Withers was able to record and release his debut album, Just As I Am, wouldn’t you know those airline folks laid him off. Seven years and five studio albums later, Withers gives us a taste of the attitude that kept him going—”Lovely Day.”

Paul Simon – Have a Good Time
Paul Simon has better balance than Evil Knievel at 1300 feet. Well, his music does. He’s sweet, but not too sweet—cool, but not egotistical—subtle, but memorable. And when that periodical doling of the lemons comes around, I’ll bet that Paul’s lemonade tastes the best.
“Yesterday it was my birthday
I hung one more year on the line
I should be depressed
My life’s a mess
But I’m having a good time”

Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington—It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
With a voice like hers (the greatest there ever was, and far as I’m concerned), and horn playing and a smile like his, I don’t think there’s any advice this duo could give me that I wouldn’t take. This song is all about going with your gut and doing what feels right first. If you can’t find a rhythm in it, let it be and look for another drum. If it ain’t got that swing, as the good folks tell us, it don’t mean a thing.

Al Green – Just For Me
There’s a reason Al Green is called a soul singer. Does my soul good every time. This track showed up on my friend Dave’s semi-annual “Dave’s Faves” mix of recently released tunes for 2008. Al Green is 62 and his voice is just as suave and powerful as it ever was—and that makes me feel pretty good, too. So from Dave to me, from me to you, and from Al to us all, enjoy.

George Harrison—My Sweet Lord
This is one of my favorite songs from my favorite Beatle. Religious or not, this song touches something spiritual, something personal. Best way to listen to this? On a record. Like the difference between a kiss and a phone conversation, there are some songs that require the intimacy of a needle on vinyl to really resonate like they should—and this is one of them.

Happy listening and happy hunting.

Image by: Ranieri Ribeiro