# Songs that make you smile **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2000, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336 "2000-06-14T13:18:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/61 "2000-06-16T14:47:22Z")
I thought it was by Benny or Bjorn (one of the ABBA guys). Mabe they did it in conjunction with ALW? Or Tim Rice? This question has to come up on WWTBAM someday. It’s a good one. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/62 "2000-06-16T14:55:24Z")
“Chess” was by both Benny and Bjorn, of ABBA fame. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2000, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/63 "2000-06-16T15:37:09Z")
Alice Cooper : Poison Meat Loaf : Bat out of Hell (I like the storytellers version) Rush : Subdivisions The Nylons : Kiss Him Goodbye Yngwie Malmsteen: Carry On My Wayward Son (his cover of it) ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/64 "2000-06-17T08:53:11Z")
I stand corrected…Chess was the ABBA guys and Tim Rice. Cranky, you still hang with that WWTBAM group? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/65 "2000-06-17T17:07:49Z")
[QUOTE] \*\* **Ellen and ReservoirDog** : > [@](#): > > Ahem, that’s “Shiny Happy People” by REM, from “Out of Time.” > [@](#): > > Minor correction, JoltSucker. This song is actually by a band called Lit. Um… I have no clue which song you’re thinking of, but I can distinctly see the video in my head, with Michael Stipe and Whatshername from the B-52’s singing it cheerfully. It’s REM. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/66 "2000-06-17T17:09:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > “One Night in Bankok” is from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Chess”…and it’s by…um…lemme think for a second… > \*\* Psst… Murray Head. (love the song!) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/67 "2000-06-17T17:11:37Z")
Let me add one more… Oak Ridge Boys : Elvira ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/68 "2000-06-17T22:10:39Z")
My WinAmp just stumbled across one of the Ultimate Summer Songs: **Men At Work - _Down Under_** That song, a convertible and a long stretch of road in a summer sunset. Hell yeah. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/69 "2000-06-17T22:27:17Z")
Ok, it’s not a song but my ultimate feel good piece of music is Pachelbel’s _Canon_ . I cannot hear it without feeling better about things . ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/70 "2000-06-17T23:34:27Z")
Well, it makes me both smile AND cry, but Don Henley’s new song “I’m Taking You Home”. He wrote it for his newborn daughter, I am told, and I think that is so sweet it makes me smile. And since I am a soggy sap, it also makes me tear up. Scotti ---
**Author:** ![Byzantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/71 "2000-06-18T09:32:31Z")
That N’sync song Bye Bye. It makes me smile because I know, very soon, they will. Go bye bye because no one will longer buy buy their albums. Thank Gods! I giggle every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![flikker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8baadc/32.png) [@flikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flikker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/72 "2000-06-18T10:16:24Z")
Angie - Rolling Stones Add It Up - Violent Femmes ---
**Author:** ![GuyShyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/57b2e6/32.png) [@GuyShyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuyShyGirl)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/73 "2000-06-19T05:27:48Z")
New Age Girl - Deadeye Dick Bad Touch - The Bloodhound Gang The World is New - Save Ferris Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks Mouth - Merril Bainbridge Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations One Week - Barenaked Ladies I Do - Jimmie’s Chicken Shack Summer Girls - LFO All Star - Smash Mouth Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger Thong Song - Sisqo Knock Three Times - Tony Orland & the Dawn ---
**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/74 "2000-06-19T06:55:57Z")
I second “Add It Up”. Another one I like, being a youngster and all is “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Offspring (And there is nothing wrong with Weezer!! I love Weezer!) ---
**Author:** ![taddycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@taddycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taddycat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/75 "2000-06-19T14:20:46Z")
The Longest Time by Billy Joel Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes (I liked it in college, but was reminded of how great it is by the show “My so-called life”) Build me up, Buttercup (there’s a great punk cover of this and I can’t remember who does it) Almost any early REM (pre-Document) I Feel Free by Cream (although I am pissed that it is now used in a car commercial) Happy Together by the turtles That “fuck you, I won’t do what you told me” song by Rage Against the Machine. I can never remember the name of the song but I love to scream it when in the car) Pink Cadillac by Bruce Springsteen Gigantic by the Pixies (Just so damn happy) Rudie can’t fail by The Clash (I love a song that uses the word feckless) Little Boxes by Pete Seeger (Brings out the nonconformist in me) China Cat Sunflower by The Greatful Dead (Reminds me of those carefree teenage days) Scarlett Begonias, also by the Dead (I love the line “from the other direction she was calling my eye; might be an illusion, but I might as well try”) Also, some absurd show tunes I am too embarassed to mention I am now feeling the urge to make a mixed tape. Unfortunately, I am at work for the next six hours. I guess I’ll wait until tonight. ---
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/76 "2000-06-19T15:24:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > My WinAmp just stumbled across one of the Ultimate Summer Songs: > > **Men At Work - _Down Under_** > > That song, a convertible and a long stretch of road in a summer sunset. Hell yeah. > \*\* Ok Coldie, why do you really like that song? 😃 My pick would have to be anything by Jimmy Buffet. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/77 "2000-06-19T19:53:54Z")
I thought of another one!! “Word Up” by Cameo. > [@](#): > > Pink Cadillac by Bruce Springsteen Does Bruce have a song called Pink Cadillac? I can only think of “Cadillac Ranch,” which really is a good-time, feel-happy song. Regarding “Shiny Happy People” by REM; the liner notes list vocals by one Kate Pierson; would that be that chick from the B52s? Someone mentioned the Dead Kennedys. Aren’t they the ones who put out that soft crooning love song “Too Drunk to F\*ck” ? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/78 "2000-06-19T21:24:14Z")
**ellen** wrote: > [@](#): > > Does Bruce have a song called Pink Cadillac? Yes. It was the “B” side on one of his singles (“Dancing in the Dark,” I believe). I don’t think it ever appeared on an album. You can find the lyrics here: [http://www.mixed-up.com/lyrics/round/pink-cadillac.html](http://www.mixed-up.com/lyrics/round/pink-cadillac.html) > [@](#): > > Regarding “Shiny Happy People” by REM; the liner notes list vocals by one Kate Pierson; would that be that chick from the B52s? Yes. REM and the B52s both hail from Athens, GA (hence the connection). There is another R.E.M./Kate Pierson collaboration on a song called “Fretless” from the _Until the End of the World_ soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336/79 "2000-06-19T21:36:56Z")
Hmmm… In reading the interpretation of the lyrics to “Pink Cadillac” on that link, I think they screwed up a couple of lines: **1.** I think it’s “Cruisin’ down the street” _not_ “Oozing down the street.” **2.** It’s “Bigger than a Subaru” _not_ “Bigger than a BMW.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-make-you-smile/22336.md?page=3)