Happy Songs!

by Anna Campbell

This morning, I was wandering around the house trying to get enthused about doing some work. I had the TV on to one of those video channels on cable TV.

I heard this short electronic fanfare and suddenly Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode was playing. My morning suddenly started to sparkle. It's such a happy song and it never fails to make me smile.

So I started to think of other songs that always make me smile. I thought, for the sake of brevity, I'd stick to the 80s. Partly because that's when I was as up with current popular music as I'm ever likely to be. Partly because I was of an age (early 20s) when the music around at the time really sticks with you!

Maybe also because a lot of '80s music is just happy anyway.

One of the songs that always makes me smile from that decade is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. Maybe because I was a girl and I wanted to have fun! I loved Cyndi Lauper - never really took to Madonna who was the other really big female star of the time. That song is such a buzz!

Actually girl singers back then had some great feel-good songs out then. Who can forget Katrina and the Waves' Walking on Sunshine? Or what about the Go-Gos and Our Lips Are Sealed? Walk Like an Egyptian will probably make a lot of lists but I got SOOOO sick of that one so I groan instead of smile these days when I hear it.

Other songs from the '80s that invariably lift my spirits include Ant Music by Adam and the Ants, Echo Beach by Martha and the Muffins ("My job is very boring, I'm an office clerk!") and probably my favorite of all, Tainted Love by Soft Cell. I'm not at all surprised that wonderful song was sampled recently for a number one single. But nothing beats this version. Marc Almond's aching falsetto is full of pain and anger but somehow that driving rhythm puts this song into feel-good territory.

And speaking of falsetto so high only dogs can hear it, what about Take on Me by A-Ha? Yet again, you hear that keyboard intro and your life starts playing in a major key! Because I was living in London and didn't have a TV when this was a hit, I didn't see the video until a couple of years ago. I still think it's really clever with the mixture of animation and real action.

Oh, and another song that inevitably makes me smile is Feargal Sharkey's A Good Heart. Not sure why, perhaps because I was traveling at the time and it brings back great memories, but it definitely falls into the making Anna feel good category.

So what are your feel-good songs? They don't have to be from the 80s! Let's dance our way through the day! Oh, and if you click on any of the songs, you get to see the groovy videos!