Ten Songs That Make Me Happy

Chris over at Some Guy's Blog wrote yesterday about how Louis Armstrong's music makes him happy and invited his readers to comment on the music that makes them happy. I like talking about music almost as much as I like talking about books, so I tried to think of a particular artist that consistently makes me happy. I couldn't come up with a thing.

Music is an integral part of my life, but the type of music likely to make me happy at any given moment very much depends on the mood I'm in at said moment. At one point I swore by Motown music as the cure for what ails ya, only to decide a year or two later that there's nothing quite as day-brightening as a bit of loud, angry punk rawk. These days I prefer a mixture of the two genres, with lots of stuff in between. So here, in keeping with my summer "ten songs" posts, are ten random songs that always make me happy no matter what my mood.

1. "Angel" by Bob Dylan
2. "Dyslexic Heart" by Paul Westerberg
3. "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick
4. "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson
5. "Me and Julio Down by the School Yard" by Paul Simon
6. "Night Flight" (a Zeppelin tune) by Jeff Buckley
7. "Redwood Tree" by Van Morrison
8. "Rocket Man" by Elton John
9. "Sit Down" by James
10. "Uncle John's Band" by the Dead

If there's a common theme, I damn sure can't figure it out.