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.

Ten More Songs I Will Play Over And Over And Over Again If Nobody's Around To Stop Me

I have this really annoying (I'm told) habit of putting a song I love on repeat. For hours at a time. I once took a two hour road trip and listened to nothing but "Rocket Man" the whole way. If I can get away with it, I'll also turn the song up really really REALLY loud. Loud enough that I bet I wouldn't hear the smoke detector if it went off.

Here are ten songs I have never managed to listen to just once, each of which could easily see me through a two hour road trip on its own.

1. "American Music" by the Violent Femmes
2. "A Praise Chorus" by Jimmy Eat World
3. "Blue" by the Jayhawks
4. "Breakin' Me" by Jonny Lang
5. "Here Comes Your Man" by the Pixies
6. "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers
7. "Rescue Me" by the Alarm (I know, I know, the Alarm is SO not cool)
8. "Sit Down" by James
9. "The Warmth of the Sand" by Dashboard Confessional
10. "Wait" by Huffamoose

Note that none of them are by women. There's really no accounting for this, except that most of these are songs for the car. Women are heavily represented on my at-home repeat list.

Ten Songs I Will Play Over And Over And Over Again If Nobody's Around To Stop Me

1. "Abandoned Love" by Bob Dylan
2. "Angel" by Bob Dylan
3. "Boots of Spanish Leather" by Nanci Griffith (a Dylan cover)
4. "Brokedown Palace" by the Grateful Dead
5. "If You Knew" by Jeff Buckley (a Nina Simone cover)
6. "Redwood Tree" by Van Morrison
7. "Sweet Lorraine" by Patty Griffin
8. "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show (a Dylan cover)
9. "Warmth of the Sand" by Dashboard Confessional
10. "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam
    

For a girl who professes to be madly in love with Van Morrison, you'd think there'd be a bit more VanMo and a bit less Dylan on the list, wouldn't you?