***Scroll down for music-related book recommendations***
12:14 p.m. PT: Southern California has been unusually overcast the past few days, and it’s got me feeling a bit glum. I needed some cheering up, so I pulled this out of the closet:
It’s “Come On Get Happy,” the theme song from “The Partridge Family.” I know you old heads remember that show: a band of five kids and a mom touring in a psychedelic school bus playing gigs. The song cheers me up every time I hear it. Yeah, it’s kind of corny, but it works. 
Which song(s) cheers you up when you’re feeling blue? Goodness knows we could all use a lift sometimes.
Later…FL Mom says Hanson’s “MMMBop,” anything from the Mary Poppins movie soundrack, and Veggie Tales songs cheer her up. 
Music, music, music, any kind of music…
Book Recommendations
I’m three-quarters of the way through a book called This Is Your Brain on Music. Good overview of how the brain processes what we call “music,” why we like certain chords and rhythm, how musicians lure us in with “deceptive cadence” and pleasure our senses with syncopation, and much more.
The author, a former music producer, believes in Darwinian evolution, but don’t hold that against him. It doesn’t detract from the book’s core theme. I recommend it.
Next on the reading list: Net, Blogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll: How Digital Discovery Works and What it Means for Consumers.
{ 12 comments }
“Mmm Bop” and anything from the ‘Mary Poppins’ soundtrack.
Oh, Veggie Tales silly songs are peppy too.
“MMMBop”? Really? Solid.
Just surfing blogs. Thought you may like these songs and poems.
What seems to really cheer me up these days is the youtube video on the evolution of dance. The songs are great and the dances bring back high school memories (the ones that are worth remembering!!)
Totally agree with the Veggie Tales songs…I have my kids sing them to me, especially ‘Lance the Turtle’.
Thanks for the fun topic!!
p.s. Lashawn, did you make it to the Hanson concert in Las Vegas?
Nope! Had dinner with the Christian bloggers. – Admin
from the same era, Bobby Sherman “Easy Come Easy Go”. and seeing clips from the show he was on called “Seattle” Bobby Sherman was so cute.
“When I see You Smile” Bad English.
More to this day and time a song by Marillion called “Beautiful” helps me perk up.
Keep Your Hands to Yourself – Georgia Sattelites because my friends Jennifer & Lynn and I used to lip sync it at the local pool hall back in high school. Ah, those carefree days. Also, Love Shack – B-52’s. That one always reminds me of a warm sunny day in my hometown cruising with my best friend Brenda. Oh, and Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston because every time I hear it, I remember 11th grade FBLA award ceremony. Brenda and I had provided the entertainment playing guitar, and Mrs Lynch wanted an encore. I suggested Greatest Love of All because I knew we both knew how to play and then added that Deadria should sing it. LOL! If looks could kill, Deadria would have struck me down right then and there.
Almost anything by the Newsboys, but the Breakfast Song in particular. For extra energy there is always Skillet and Thousand Foot Krutch. And of course Superchick is always fun along with Reliant K.
>>”“MMMBop”? Really? Solid.
” Comment by La Shawn
Really and truly. If anyone can listen to it and NOT feel more upbeat, he/she must be mostly dead all day.
Tracey – “Lance the Turtle” -That’s where it’s from! My kids were singing it recently, and I couldn’t remember where I’d heard it. No wonder, it was a newer Veggie Tales that we hadn’t seen a hundred times yet. Thanks for the reminder!
I think DragonLady hit the nail on the head. Music usually reminds us of something, and that’s one of the reasons we love it.
Rock and Roll from the Seventies and Eighties. Anything the kindles the recollections of younger times.
“Rock Lobster” by the B52’s is good, and their tune “Private Idaho” (although the lyrics are not all that perky)
Also “The Power is On” by the Go Team, a kind of Brit rap/rythmic thing.
I also like “Speedway of Nazareth” by Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame). This song chugs along at mellow pace, the singer describing his race career, crashing or messing up or losing at each race course along the way. And finally, at the Speedway of Nazareth, he pulls ahead and wins. The singing stops and Knopfler begins to play guitar in his unique way, and the song surges forward and lifts, and makes you think of the Christian or individual who struggles but then, there, victory.
“Mmmm Bop” is one of my favorites and goes well followed by some vintage Jackson Five (”ABC”)
Americanneocon, ditto!
How about HERMINS HERMITS and IM HENERY THE 8TH I AM and THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY and I THINK I LOVE YOU
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