Closing out my week of favorite upbeat songs is ‘Brown Sugar’ by The Rolling Stones. I wouldn’t call this song “happy,” exactly, but it’s a far cry from the somber notes hit by most of my desert island choices.
‘Brown Sugar’ is raunchy and lusty like many of the best Rolling Stones songs. Mick Jagger’s twisted ode to interracial relations controversially centers on slavers and house boys but he manages to get away with it.
Ben Folds is one of my very favorite artists in part because he’s a master of both the melancholy and the manic. For every subtle, soft-hearted piano ballad you have an off-the-tracks ivory crasher.
‘Sports & Wine,’ from Ben Folds Five’s self-titled debut, is as light on its feet as anything the band produced. The studio version (my Song of the Day #873) gives each of the band members a chance to shine, especially Darren Jesse on drums.
The first Beach Boys song I considered for this list of favorite “happy” songs was ‘God Only Knows.’ It’s probably my favorite of theirs. But I quickly realized that it’s pretty melancholy as love songs go.
So I went with my backup, another favorite of mine, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice?’ You could argue that this song is bittersweet as well — after all, it’s about a couple that can’t be together the way they want to be — but it’s musically exuberant.
If anything reveals my bias for sad songs it’s my failure to consider A-ha’s ‘Take On Me’ when compiling my list of favorites. Without question, this song belonged on that list.
But it was too peppy, too synth-y, too 80s to even get into the conversation. Major oversight. I apologize to all Norwegians.
I spent the past three weeks listing 15 songs I consider favorites. I tried to skip around between genres and artists for the sake of variety, but all of those songs shared one thing in common.
They were thoroughly depressing.
I know I’ve explored my penchant for the melancholy before, but this exercise really highlighted exactly how morose I really am.
