I just got done listening to the Rolling Stones’ “Mixed Emotions,” and for the first time realized that this song has never failed to sheer me up, no matter what mood I was in. Sample lyric:
*This coming and going
Is driving me nuts
This to-ing and fro-ing
Is hurting my guts
So get off the fence
It’s creasing your butt
Life is a party
Let’s get out and strut
You’re not the only one
With mixed emotions
You’re not the only ship
Adrift on this ocean
You’re not the only one
That’s feeling lonesome
You’re not the only one
With mixed emotions
*
I think this song might actually be about a guy trying to get a gil to come back to him, but I somehow always find it reassuring. I’m not alone, nobody is. We’re all in this together.
Certain songs from Tool actually. If you don’t by chance know who they are there (I would say) Rock band. Their songs get really twisted at times though.
I think it’s called “You Gotta Be”. Anyway it’s by Desiree, and it says you gotta be tougher, stronger, wiser, etc. Not the type of music I usually listen to, but I always stop for this one when I run across it on the radio.
Depends what exactly has gotten you down in the first place. For relationship issues:
Okay Swirl 360
I Feel Fine Riddlin’ Kids
Dammit Blink 182
Gone Ben Folds
Jack & Diane John Mellencamp
Just the blues:
Elias Dispatch
Semi-Charmed Life Third Eye Blind
Einsten on the Beach Counting Crows
Under the Table and Dreaming DMB
Bittersweet Symphony The Verve
Nina Simone’s “Feelin Good” and Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude” always get me to refocus and think about happy things. I normally dislike Patti LaBelle’s songs, but that song just does it for me!
Yep, Bittersweet Symphony is one of my favorite songs oddly enough. The melody is very positive and uplifthing IMHO, and I see the lyrics, although they can be interpreted many ways, as being about staying true to yourself:
“I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah”
(take you to my heart, it’s the only real place)
“I am here in my mold
But I’m a million different people
from one day to the next
I can’t change my mold
No, no, no, no, no”
(everyone wears many hats, but you should resist changing your one real mold; who you really are)
“I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there’s nobody singing to me now”
(sometimes life’s pressures are overwhelming, all the hats get too heavy, and you need to block it all out and remember your heart.)
Sniff. I think I’ll go cuddle with some puppies now…
Any song by 311. They are absolutely the most relentlessly positive band that the music world has ever been gifted with.
Here’s a sample lyric from Jupiter:
*sometimes the only thing that saves you
think of bad things luck never gave you
and although true love has just left you
well at least you mother kept you
…
and so many things that have gone wrong
at least you have ears to hear this song
and if you reading in close caption
there’s still bad things that could have happened
long time since we’ve first came here
and sometimes we fall on deaf ears
one thing i’ve got to say before sales die
stay positive and love your life*
“Linus and Lucy,” aka the Charlie Brown song that they play at the Christmas pageant and all start dancing when they’re supposed to be rehearsing. That song is undeniable.
I Will Survive!