The Healing Power of Music

[autographedcat]

Music is a constant in my life. It's a rare day that I go through without listening to or making music in one form or another.

And it occured to me on the way back from lunch with kitanzi this afternoon, as I cranked up a particular song, that there are some tunes that just never fail to make me happy.

Here are five of those songs, in no particular order:

Love Shack, B-52s
Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
Every Day I Write The Book, Elvis Costello
Got To Get You Into My Life, The Beatles
Linus and Lucy, Vince Guaraldi Trio

What are some songs that always leave you more cheerful than before? That make you dance in your seat? When you're down, what music do you turn to to pick yourself up? What songs make you instinctively reach for the volume control to crank it up?

Share in comments. :)

Comments

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

This has been sitting in my window waiting for me to reply for too many days because - well - darn it - how can I pick just a few??

Music really is what keeps me going at the very worst of times in my life. I've made more than a few "love stinks" mixes for breakups and "this too shall pass" mixes for difficult times, and I've given them to others as well. I sang "Healing in this Night" at my father's funeral (probably the most difficult singing job I've done so far).

I finally decided that I like this topic too much to let it slip though so will answer more or less off the top of my head:

Indigo Girls _ many but especially "Closer to Fine", "Watershed", "Gallileo" "Wood Song" "Power of Two"... oh heck - lots of em.
Oingo Boingo's version of "You really got me"
David Bowie "Changes"
Lots of Beatles but esepcially "Here Comes the Sun" (gee - and other songs I did on "Current Obsessions" I suppose!)
Holly Cole's cover of "I can see Clearly Now"! What an uplifting version!
Peter Gabriel "Solsbury Hill"
Argh... so many songs!!! More later... may have to steal this idea for a future post in my journal. :-) Must sleep - must sleep...
Ferron "Misty Mountain"
Kristin Lems "Women Walk More Determined"
Bonnie Raitt "Love me like a man"
---- must sleep - this is me going to bed now....
Maddy Prior "Deep in the Darkest Night"
Bob Franke "A Healing in this night"
Jethro Tull "Life's a Long Song" - right - definitely bed.

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

How could I forget "Blood and Fire" and "Prince of Darkness" by the Indigo Girls? When life was particularly bad I sang "Prince of Darkness" with a positively Janis Joplinesque fervor. Survival singing.

Peter Himmelman "This too will pass"

No - REALLY - I have to go get some sleep.... arughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh