What song of your youth filled you with joy and optimism before life ground you down? (From a thread about Itchicoo Park, a song from the '60’s. Thanks to salinqmind.)
For me, I’d have to say Lazy Days by Spanky and Our Gang, Downtown, and Georgy Girl.
I hold impressions quite a while, so although I’m 43 and have been through a few wringers, songs that made me happy when I was young will still do that now, even more so as I hear them through the audio-lens of the 10 year old who first loved them rather than the abused earpanes of experience.
Waitaminute, we are to discuss my youth in the past tense???
When I graduated highschool, “These Are Days” by 10,000 Maniacs was a hit.
Now, that is a song to graduate highschool to.
We were leaving school and entering the world with joy and optimism. I distinctly remember a sense of this being “our time”. At our highshool Mixers (non-formal school dances) during our Freshman and Sophomore years, the DJ was playing New Kids on the Block and Vanilla Ice. Senior year at the Mixers, the DJ played Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails. We had just (in the first ever election we could vote in) put a fat, skirt-chasing saxophone player in the White House.
It defintiely felt like “our time”.
“These Are Days” was about as appropriate a soundtrack song as you could possibly get.
When I was 10, I looooved Afternoon Delight. I thought it was about eating candy for lunch. I’m not kidding. Not sure when I figured out what the song was really about. And still not sure why it gets hated on so much. Wonderful harmonies and a great and inspiring message.
Go out and grab yourself some afternoon delight!
I liked that song when I was a kid too!
The song that really makes me remember my youth is “Band On The Run” by Wings. I recall bowling to it during bowling lessons, just having fun, being carefree, thinking about nothing more than the eternity that was that summer.
Damn.
As Tears Go By from Marianne Faithful. That and “Softly Whispering I Love You” by The Engish Congregation.
Fun Fun Fun by the Big Boys. I hadn’t heard it for 20+ years and got it on line not too long ago. Still a great song, one of the greatest American punk bands, and it took me back
Thanks for starting the thread, needscoffee!
In 1970 I was in business school and a song that raises my spirits even today: “Make Me Smile” by Chicago. Young ‘uns who want to point and laugh at parents (or grandparents!) rockin’ out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzViV6PUOSM
“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” by the Hillside Singers.
After the advertising lines were dropped and more verses added, it made a great campfire song to sing at summer camp.
I was about 4 or 5 when it came out. I didn’t speak English at the time and thought it was about going out for ice cream or something.
The song that I loved when I was little was “Una Paloma Blanca.” I know other Dopers hate this song, but when I was little it made me feel so happy and joyful. Though it sounds rather corny to me now, it still brings a smile to my face.
The first song I remember hearing off the radio, and singing along to with my brothers, was Jim McLean’s ‘American Pie’. We had no idea what a levy was, but we loved the song, and it still makes me think of being wee when I hear it.
And Weird Al’s Star Wars version makes me crank it even louder, despite who around me is going ‘WTF’ at me. 
First song that came to mind when seeing the thread title: 59th Street Bridge Song
Two songs immediately come to mind, from my middle-school years in the early '90s:
Iggy Pop – Candy
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
My best friend and I used to listen to these songs (ooh, and the B-52s album, Cosmic Thing) over and over when we would play at her house, and even now they flood me with happiness.
Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I was in High School.
Eyes of the world…
Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the world
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own
That clip did make me smile. As a matter of fact, the first tune that popped into my head after reading the thread title was another Chicago offering: Feeling Stronger Every Day. Takes me back to one specific summer when my buddies and I went swimming at a quarry/man-made lake at every opportunity. I can still hear that song, feel the sunshine, feel no weight on my shoulders…
Incidentally, early Chicago had some kick ass songs.
Fly by Sugar Ray, I’m not normally a pop/top 40 guy, but it was on a lot, it was catchy, up beat, and an all around happy song. It was in heavy rotation during the summer between my junior and senior year, probably one of my favorite summers ever. To this day, hearing it on the radio puts me right back in the car driving around aimlessly with some of my best friends.
“Speak to the Sky” by Rick Springfield. Go ahead, let the mocking begin…
One of these days, I’m going to cut you into little pieces, by Pink Floyd.