My long-held wish to post this sort of entry has finally come true.
There used to be all sorts of happy songs on the pop-music charts (before "angry" and "hateful" and "monotone" took over). Of course, most of these happy songs were seemingly cranked out with the same frequency (speed) and quality as Harlequin Romance novels, so they are often more annoying than inspiring. Most of them certainly don't automatically make a person feel happy when listening to them. This may be because they are only happy in theme and not in feel. By feel I mean down-to-the-very-core-of-your-being FEEL, in which a person's body and soul react positively to the music almost involuntarily. In a way, these songs are more like medicine (aka a "drug") than psychological therapy because they tend to induce happiness in the "patient" without any conscious effort on his or her part.
I have an iTunes playlist that contains a very small number of my all-time greatest FEEL-good songs. I now present to you two of my very favorites in this category. In fact, they are possibly my two favorite songs in this category (although that's not fair to the other songs). I first remember hearing them -- and loving them -- in the late 1980s (although I may have heard them earlier in life without realizing it). The first one grew on me over time (it was included in a used Reader's Digest nine-record compilation album I bought in March 1986, in Montana). The second one immediately flew to the top of my list of favorites when I heard it late one night on a very lonely highway between Crawford and Hemingford, Nebraska (also around 1986, give or take a year). Actually, I may have heard the second one previously as an adult, but my mood had been such at that time that it did not register with me the way it should have.
I hope you will listen to them all the way through because they continually build in intensity. In fact, the increasing intensity and the accompanying pauses are a huge part of what makes them FEEL-good songs. In other words, a quick sampling of the beginning of each song is not sufficient. It may also be necessary to listen to them more than once in order to "get the feel" of them (some of the very best foods and drinks require you to acquire a taste for them).
Song Title: Midnight in Moscow (click to play entire song)
Artist: Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen
Date that it entered the Top 100: January 20, 1962
Peaked at No. 2 on: March 17, 1962 (for one week).
Last date it was in the Top 100: May 12, 1962
"Midnight in Moscow" was adapted from an old Russian ballad by a British group, and they performed it in an American Dixieland/Jazz style. Talk about eclectic.
Song Title: Washington Square
Artist: Village Stompers
Date that it entered the Top 100: September 28, 1963
Peaked at No. 2 on: November 16, 1963 (for one week).
Last date it was in the Top 100: January 4, 1964
"Washington Square" is much like "Midnight in Moscow," but it is not a Russian ballad, and the group is American. It is also a lot more minimalist in nature.
