Music To Be Cheerful By: A List of 15 with Video Links

When someone asks me a simple question like "What music do you like?" I find myself stumped. The best answer to that question is something like "I have eclectic tastes." I can't say, as I've heard others say, that "I like everything," because I don't like everything indiscriminately. I would probably need to talk to you for hours before you'd really know the answer to that question. I do like music from multiple genres including a lot of older music from decades that predate me.

I also like different styles of music for different moods and activities, one sort of playlist for exercise, another sort of playlist for relaxing, etc. For this post, I've compiled a list of fifteen songs to be cheerful by.

One category of music I have been exploring a lot lately is acapella music, including Youtubers who do multitracking videos, overdubbing their own voices, singing the full range of parts. Acapella music may sometimes be classified as a genre, but really that category can cover a wide range of styles, sometimes by the same group or artist. Styles can range from Renaissance madrigals, turn of the century barbershop music, doo wop, Broadway, movie soundtracks, today's pop, almost any style.

I was really impressed with Youtuber Sam Robson's mult-track version of Disney's "Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" with 120 overdubbed voices and percussion and instrument voices all made with the human voice or claps.

1) "Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" from The Aristocats -- Sam Robson

I couldn't include the first song in the list without "I Want To Be Like You," because I like them equally well. Jungle Book soundtrack is special to me. It was one of the first albums I had as a child, and I still think the music is great. 

2) "I Want To Be Like You" from Jungle Book -- Sam Robson

3) "Lemonade" -- Alex Boye

I first discovered Alex Boye through a viral video of him performing an African tribalized version of Disney's "Let It Go" from Frozen. Boye is an American musician born in England of Nigerian parents. I've explored many of his other songs, and I'm really enjoying his Africanized covers of popular songs, giving known songs a very different interpretation with his own unique flavor. The uplifitng "Lemonade" song, however, is his original.

I also love his rendition of Pharrell Williams' "Happy," collaborating with the One World Children's Choir. The fun colorful video with child mermaids and Boye as Gru from Despicable Me was filmed at Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Utah. He worked with the same choir on "Let It Go." I noticed a commenter on that video asking why there was a choir of white children involved in the Africanized rendition of the song, and seeming to suggest some sort of prejudice was at work. A second commenter pointed out that Boye had creative control over his project and must have chosen the artists with whom he'd work. If he doesn't mind, why should we? With all the recent race conflicts, it's nice to keep in mind that not everyone is racist and that there are artistic partnerships like this and melding of different cultural sounds.

4) "Happy" (Pharrell Williams) -- Alex Boye

I love Boye's version of "Royals" as well, and I was not particularly enthused about the original. This one seems to have even more of a traditional African sound than in these other samples, so you may want to check that out also.

On the African theme, after having a Kenyan Maasai man visit with me in May, I very much liked seeing this video of violinist Lindsey Sterling filmed in Kenya. I think I recognize Maasai people in this video too, the people in red doing a jumping dance. 

5) "We Found Love" (Rihanna) -- Lindsey Sterling

I find the "Brave" song by Sara Bareilles very moving. It has an uplifting message, and it brings  to my mind young people standing up to bullying. This rendition is sung by a very pregnant Evynne Hollens, wife of Peter Hollens, a multitracking Youtube star.

6) "Brave" (Sara Bareilles) -- Evynne Hollens

7) "I See the Light" from Tangled -- Claire Ryan

You will fall in love with little three-year-old Claire Ryan singing with her father in this beautiful reenactment from Disney's Tangled. 

8) "Ou est ma Tete?" -- Pink Martini

Although this song by Pink Martini may seem to be a song about loss, the lyrics are clever and fun, the music is playful and the accompanying video makes it a love song between a man and his dog (with a happy ending.) The French lyrics are fun. Here's a translation, "I lost my head in St. Honore Road. I searched for it here and there. I did not find it. Tell me. Where is my head? I lost my arms in the Place de l'Opera. I did not find them. I searched here and there. Tell me. Where are my arms? Since I lost you, I am in pieces on the avenue, and I can not pick up the pieces of myself. Repair me, my very dear, because I am not whole. I need you, only you, and what's more, I love you. I lost my nose in front of the Bon Marche. I searched here and there. I did not find it. Tell me. Where is my nose? Return to me, darling. My nose doesn't matter. It's you who can complete me.  ,,, I lost my feet at the Saint-Germain-de-Pre. I searched here and there. I could not find them. Tell me. Where are my feet? ... "

9) "Istanbul Not Constantinople" (They Might Be Giants) -- Julien Neel

This song's playful rhythm and fun lyrics always helps put me in a good mood. One of the better known recordings is the 1990 by They Might be Giants, but the original version came out in 1953 by the Four Lads. Julien Neel of France has a variety of multi-track videos and collaborations with other singers and musicians.

10) "Mister Ed theme song" -- Julien Neel

When I'm in a truly happy mood, extremely goofy songs come to mind, like camp songs from childhood. I was delighted that Julien recorded this silly song, and I appreciate all the personality that comes out in his expressions in this video. 

I remember a time in my college years when I was visiting my brother and his wife. My sister-in-law and I would sit up watching Nick at Nite until midnight and it was time to pack a lunch for my brother who worked a night shift. "Mister Ed" came on at that time of night, and there was something about the late hour that made the show seem exaggeratedly funnier than it would at some other time. Each night, I got the giggles every time the horse (supposedly) sang, "I am Mr. Ed."  

Not only do I enjoy many different varieties of music, I sometimes like unusual meldings of styles or reinterpretations of well-known songs in new styles. Some of these may qualify as parodies. I've loved Brahms' "Hungarian Dance Number Five" ever since a duo from my high school played it for competition. This duo below play this Brahms piece in its original version and in a Latin jazz arrangement. 

11) Brahms' Hungarian Dance Salsa Style, Piano Duo -- Tal Zilber and Eyran Katsenelenbogen

12) "I Want You Bach" -- The Piano Guys

Then there is this interesting mash up of the 1770s and the 1970s in a fun new version of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" ... with a harpsichord?

Very often, I prefer Postmodern Jukebox's reinventions of current or moden pop hits, reworking them as 1920s jazz or 1960s surf rock or 1950s doo wop, or, in this case, Motown.

13) "Shake It Off" (Taylor Swift) '60s Motown style -- Postmodern Jukebox

14) "Good Old Days/New Songs Medley" -- Main Street barbershop quartet

In this medley, you hear a variety of 2015 hits as you've never heard them before, with a lot of humor worked into the act. 

15) "In Christ Alone" -- Caleb Hyles 

This may be a bit of a mood change from the earlier goofiness, but this is still a song to be cheerful by, for me, in a much more meaningful way. Caleb Hyles sings a variety of styles, Broadway, Disney, songs from movies and TV, but I was very happy to hear him sing this spiritual song.  It is partly a tribute to Christina Grimmie, the "Voice" contestant, who was killed in Orlando. If this seems sobering in a list of cheerful songs, I'm reminded that, if this message is true, and I believe it is, her pain is gone and replaced by great joy. Hyles links to a site where you can donate to help Pulse Club victims and Grimmie's family.

Quotes on Love from Thoughtful People

This weekend, I will be traveling from New Jersey to Maine for my niece Amanda's wedding. She will be marrying her childhood friend, Ben, and I believe that their long friendship will give them a great foundation for a long "til death do us part" and happy marriage.

I bought her a Bundt cake pan as a wedding gift (more on that later,) but wanted to do something more creative in lieu of a traditional card. What I decided to do was type up some quotes on love that I have collected and put them in a letter to her and her groom. So, now I share these with you.

I almost titled this post, "Quotes on Love from Great Thinkers," and that fits a few of them. One is from Paul Newman. Was he a great thinker? Well, he seems to have some wisdom on relationships, and his marriage to Joanne Woodward shines out among Hollywood marriages as being particularly long, faithful and happy. On the lighter side, I've added some cute quotes from children. Some of these will seem cute and funny in a "Kids Say the Darndest Things" sort of way, but there are bits of wisdom in these too.

C.S. Lewis with his wife, Joy Davidman

"Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last, but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called 'being in love' usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending 'They lived happily ever after" is taken to mean "They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,' then it says what probably never was nor ever could be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be 'in love' need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense -- love as distinct from 'being in love' -- is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other, as you can love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be 'in love' with someone else. 'Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run; being in love was the explosion that started it."

-- C.S. Lewis in "Mere Christianity"

 "If we love someone but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it, we become cruel and vindictive, yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart and that is the Lord Jesus Christ."

-- Oswald Chambers

Amanda and Ben

"The truth is that the more intimately you know someone, the more clearly you'll see their flaws. That's just the way it is. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don't last. You might think you love someone until you see the way they act when they're out of money or under pressure or hungry, for goodness' sake. Love is something different. Love is choosing to serve someone  and be with someone in spite of their filthy heart. Love is patient and kind; love is deliberate. Love is hard. Love is pain and sacrifice; it's seeing the darkness in someone and defying the impulse to jump ship."

-- Internet personality known as the Great Kamryn

"Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created. In the Art of Marriage, the little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say 'I love you' at least once a day. It is never going to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the marriage. It should continue through all the years. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of sacrifice or duty, but in the spirit of joy. It is expressing words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife the wings of an angel. It is not looking for perfection in each other. It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It is finding rooms for things of the spirit. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner. It is being the right partner."

 -- Paul Newman to his wife on their wedding day

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

 And on the lighter side ...

Actual Children's Answers to the Question "What is Love?"

 "Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give any of theirs." -- Chrissy, age 6.

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." -- Terri, age 4.

 "Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." -- Danny, age 7.

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My mommy and daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss." -- Emily, age 8.

"Love is what is in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." -- Bobby, age 8.

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend you hate." -- Nikka, age 6.

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day." -- Noelle, age 7.

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." -- Tommy, age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy was waving and smiling. Nobody else was doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." -- Cindy, age 8.

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." -- Clare, age 6.

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." -- Elaine, age 5.

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he's handsomer than Brad Pitt." -- Chris, age 7.

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you've left him alone all day." -- Mary Ann, age 4.

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." -- Lauren, age 4.

 "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even though his hands got arthritis too. That's love." -- Rebecca, age 8.

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." -- Karen, age 7.

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." -- Jessica, age 8.