Songs that make you happy
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Inspired by a thread over on Steve Hoffman's board. I don't think there's a song in the world that more reliably puts me in a happy mood than the live version of
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Mine would be either "Take It Away" or "That Was Me".
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You will probably be surprised to hear that one of the songs that makes me happy is not a Beatles or Paul song, but Badfinger's "No Matter What." Of course there are a ton of Beatles songs that make me happy and take me back to my youth, like "And Your Bird Can Sing" (even though the lyrics aren't "happy!")
and "Hey Bulldog."Solo Paul songs? Harder for me to pick because a lot of my favorites are sad songs like "Little Willow" and "Calico Skies" is a happy song, but sad in retrospect because of Linda's death. "New" makes me happy. Thinking back to Wings: "Magneto & Titanium Man" "Hi Hi Hi" "Junior's Farm" "Listen To What The Man Said" - there are so many!
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Paul solo (post-Beatles, rather) songs that always put a pep in my step... With A little Luck, London Town, Ballroom Dancing. And lately, Country Dreamer.
Got to Get You Into My Life always gave me a kick. Great song.
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Coming Up... the video alone just brings a smile to my face.
Always a happy song to me.
And John liked it!
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Way too many Paul songs to pick just a few.
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Thinking about Don Everly's passing yesterday...another song that always makes me feel happy is "On the Wings of a Nighingale".  Always made me feel happy whether it is the Everlly Brother's version or Paul's Demo.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Thinking about Don Everly's passing yesterday...another song that always makes me feel happy is "On the Wings of a Nighingale".  Always made me feel happy whether it is the Everlly Brother's version or Paul's Demo.
Very sad to hear he passed away and I agree, "On The Wings Of A Nightengale" is song that makes me smile.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Thinking about Don Everly's passing yesterday...another song that always makes me feel happy is "On the Wings of a Nighingale".  Always made me feel happy whether it is the Everlly Brother's version or Paul's Demo.
Very sad to hear he passed away and I agree, "On The Wings Of A Nightengale" is song that makes me smile.
Yes, it's glorious. And pretty much the perfect Everly Brothers reunion song.
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On the Wings of a Nightingale is definitely is very very beautiful song. Was so sad to hear about Don Everly.  Thankfully there are so many happy songs. I find if I listen to some happy music when I’m down, it turns my mood right around. I was listening to Good Vibrations the other day and the station followed it up with God only Knows. WOW that was a good dose of Happy Music.  I have over 200 songs of Paul’s on my top very very favourites list, it’s so difficult to pick just a few. Maybe I’ll chose one that doesn’t get as much play.  Watercolour Guitars.  Just really love Fireman music soooooo much!!! Paul’s music keeps getting better and better, just the best
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love2travel wrote:
On the Wings of a Nightingale is definitely is very very beautiful song. Was so sad to hear about Don Everly.  Thankfully there are so many happy songs. I find if I listen to some happy music when I’m down, it turns my mood right around. I was listening to Good Vibrations the other day and the station followed it up with God only Knows. WOW that was a good dose of Happy Music.  I have over 200 songs of Paul’s on my top very very favourites list, it’s so difficult to pick just a few. Maybe I’ll chose one that doesn’t get as much play.  Watercolour Guitars.  Just really love Fireman music soooooo much!!! Paul’s music keeps getting better and better, just the best
Somebody asked this question on quora.com and it was answered by a guy named Rick Bonner who says he is a professional musician and performer 1983-present:
Originally Answered:Â If Paul McCartney is a musical genius why doesn't he continue to write hit songs or music that's at the level he used to?
During his career with the Beatles, Paul McCartney was prolific, he composed a plethora of original, unique songs unlike anything that anyone had heard before. ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Penny Lane’, ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Let it Be’ and the outstanding ‘Golden Slumbers’ medley from Abbey Road are all trend-setting ground-breaking nuggets of gold. These, plus many others are ‘stand alone’ original compositions.
In truth, after his Beatles career ended, Paul only composed three songs in fifty years that were anywhere near the standard of his earlier compositions Certainly ‘Maybe I'm Amazed', then ‘Band on the Run' and ‘Live and let Die and really I'm not sure why that was. I can almost hear the voices yelling at me, what about ‘Let em in’, ‘Silly Loves Songs’, ‘Coming Up’, ‘My Love’, or ‘Say Say Say’ with Michael Jackson? And yes, those plus many others are very good songs but truthfully the don't have the distinctiveness and originality of his earlier compositions.
The most impactive post-Beatles Paul song for my money is ‘Let em in’, but the Billy Paul version featuring the ‘I have a dream' speech from Martin Luther King. Its so emotive.
Even his songwriting buddy John Lennon didn't fare any better with just ‘Imagine’ ‘Instant Karma' ‘Happy Xmas War Is Over’ and ‘Woman' being in the same category as his Beatle songs (Give Peace A Chance) could have been except for the goobledy-goop verses). I think, in truth Paul McCartney and John Lennon needed each other far more than they cared to admit.
I remember once John telling a story about writing the song ‘A Hard Days Night’, John wrote the verses, Paul wrote the refrain, George worked out the 8 bar instrumental break and the title came from what John referred to as one of Ringo malapropism when he said it had been a hard day's night. George had accidentally stood next to a speaker and played that loud, open string chord. John insisted that he had written the song totally on his own, but the reality is, they needed each other.
I think the guy missed a ton of wonderful Paul solo songs that rival anything he did in The Beatles: Beautiful Night, No More Lonely Nights, Calico Skies, Little Willow, just to name a few of my favorites off the top of my head!
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Nancy R wrote:
love2travel wrote:
On the Wings of a Nightingale is definitely is very very beautiful song. Was so sad to hear about Don Everly.  Thankfully there are so many happy songs. I find if I listen to some happy music when I’m down, it turns my mood right around. I was listening to Good Vibrations the other day and the station followed it up with God only Knows. WOW that was a good dose of Happy Music.  I have over 200 songs of Paul’s on my top very very favourites list, it’s so difficult to pick just a few. Maybe I’ll chose one that doesn’t get as much play.  Watercolour Guitars.  Just really love Fireman music soooooo much!!! Paul’s music keeps getting better and better, just the best
Somebody asked this question on quora.com and it was answered by a guy named Rick Bonner who says he is a professional musician and performer 1983-present:
Originally Answered:Â If Paul McCartney is a musical genius why doesn't he continue to write hit songs or music that's at the level he used to?
During his career with the Beatles, Paul McCartney was prolific, he composed a plethora of original, unique songs unlike anything that anyone had heard before. ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Penny Lane’, ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Let it Be’ and the outstanding ‘Golden Slumbers’ medley from Abbey Road are all trend-setting ground-breaking nuggets of gold. These, plus many others are ‘stand alone’ original compositions.
In truth, after his Beatles career ended, Paul only composed three songs in fifty years that were anywhere near the standard of his earlier compositions Certainly ‘Maybe I'm Amazed', then ‘Band on the Run' and ‘Live and let Die and really I'm not sure why that was. I can almost hear the voices yelling at me, what about ‘Let em in’, ‘Silly Loves Songs’, ‘Coming Up’, ‘My Love’, or ‘Say Say Say’ with Michael Jackson? And yes, those plus many others are very good songs but truthfully the don't have the distinctiveness and originality of his earlier compositions.
The most impactive post-Beatles Paul song for my money is ‘Let em in’, but the Billy Paul version featuring the ‘I have a dream' speech from Martin Luther King. Its so emotive.
Even his songwriting buddy John Lennon didn't fare any better with just ‘Imagine’ ‘Instant Karma' ‘Happy Xmas War Is Over’ and ‘Woman' being in the same category as his Beatle songs (Give Peace A Chance) could have been except for the goobledy-goop verses). I think, in truth Paul McCartney and John Lennon needed each other far more than they cared to admit.
I remember once John telling a story about writing the song ‘A Hard Days Night’, John wrote the verses, Paul wrote the refrain, George worked out the 8 bar instrumental break and the title came from what John referred to as one of Ringo malapropism when he said it had been a hard day's night. George had accidentally stood next to a speaker and played that loud, open string chord. John insisted that he had written the song totally on his own, but the reality is, they needed each other.
I think the guy missed a ton of wonderful Paul solo songs that rival anything he did in The Beatles: Beautiful Night, No More Lonely Nights, Calico Skies, Little Willow, just to name a few of my favorites off the top of my head!
This guy is clueless and it seems he has no idea about McCartney songs from 1980 until today. Really, he thinks "Live And Let Die" is a great song. It is good song from famous movie and gets big reaction live due to the "fireworks" with the song. There are over 100 McCartney songs that are better than "Live And Let Die".
I agree with the songs you mentioned above, especially "Little Willow" and "Calico Skies". Off the top of my head, I could name songs like "Too Much Rain", "Riding To Vanity Fair", "Tug Of War" and "Wanderlust" that are equal in quality to Beatle songs he wrote.
Finally, McCartney does not write "hit" songs anymore because the music buying public is much younger demographic. News flash to this guy, McCartney has had three albums (Tug Of War,Flaming Pie & CHAOS) that were nominated for best album of the year by Grammy voters.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:Nancy R wrote:
love2travel wrote:
On the Wings of a Nightingale is definitely is very very beautiful song. Was so sad to hear about Don Everly.  Thankfully there are so many happy songs. I find if I listen to some happy music when I’m down, it turns my mood right around. I was listening to Good Vibrations the other day and the station followed it up with God only Knows. WOW that was a good dose of Happy Music.  I have over 200 songs of Paul’s on my top very very favourites list, it’s so difficult to pick just a few. Maybe I’ll chose one that doesn’t get as much play.  Watercolour Guitars.  Just really love Fireman music soooooo much!!! Paul’s music keeps getting better and better, just the best
Somebody asked this question on quora.com and it was answered by a guy named Rick Bonner who says he is a professional musician and performer 1983-present:
Originally Answered:Â If Paul McCartney is a musical genius why doesn't he continue to write hit songs or music that's at the level he used to?
During his career with the Beatles, Paul McCartney was prolific, he composed a plethora of original, unique songs unlike anything that anyone had heard before. ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Penny Lane’, ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Let it Be’ and the outstanding ‘Golden Slumbers’ medley from Abbey Road are all trend-setting ground-breaking nuggets of gold. These, plus many others are ‘stand alone’ original compositions.
In truth, after his Beatles career ended, Paul only composed three songs in fifty years that were anywhere near the standard of his earlier compositions Certainly ‘Maybe I'm Amazed', then ‘Band on the Run' and ‘Live and let Die and really I'm not sure why that was. I can almost hear the voices yelling at me, what about ‘Let em in’, ‘Silly Loves Songs’, ‘Coming Up’, ‘My Love’, or ‘Say Say Say’ with Michael Jackson? And yes, those plus many others are very good songs but truthfully the don't have the distinctiveness and originality of his earlier compositions.
The most impactive post-Beatles Paul song for my money is ‘Let em in’, but the Billy Paul version featuring the ‘I have a dream' speech from Martin Luther King. Its so emotive.
Even his songwriting buddy John Lennon didn't fare any better with just ‘Imagine’ ‘Instant Karma' ‘Happy Xmas War Is Over’ and ‘Woman' being in the same category as his Beatle songs (Give Peace A Chance) could have been except for the goobledy-goop verses). I think, in truth Paul McCartney and John Lennon needed each other far more than they cared to admit.
I remember once John telling a story about writing the song ‘A Hard Days Night’, John wrote the verses, Paul wrote the refrain, George worked out the 8 bar instrumental break and the title came from what John referred to as one of Ringo malapropism when he said it had been a hard day's night. George had accidentally stood next to a speaker and played that loud, open string chord. John insisted that he had written the song totally on his own, but the reality is, they needed each other.
I think the guy missed a ton of wonderful Paul solo songs that rival anything he did in The Beatles: Beautiful Night, No More Lonely Nights, Calico Skies, Little Willow, just to name a few of my favorites off the top of my head!
This guy is clueless and it seems he has no idea about McCartney songs from 1980 until today. Really, he thinks "Live And Let Die" is a great song. It is good song from famous movie and gets big reaction live due to the "fireworks" with the song. There are over 100 McCartney songs that are better than "Live And Let Die".
I agree with the songs you mentioned above, especially "Little Willow" and "Calico Skies". Off the top of my head, I could name songs like "Too Much Rain", "Riding To Vanity Fair", "Tug Of War" and "Wanderlust" that are equal in quality to Beatle songs he wrote.
Finally, McCartney does not write "hit" songs anymore because the music buying public is much younger demographic. News flash to this guy, McCartney has had three albums (Tug Of War,Flaming Pie & CHAOS) that were nominated for best album of the year by Grammy voters.
Agreed. This person clearly doesn't know much about Paul's post-Beatles music (or John's for that matter)
As for songs that make me happy, there are so many! Big Barn Bed always makes me smile. Some more recent ones are Demons Dance, That Was Me, and When Winter Comes.
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Btw...My wife and I arrived in the Atlantic City NJ area yesterday. Â A little tired after the long drive but we're so glad we're here at our Southern NJ Condo.
McCall and Yankeefan...I couldn't agree with you more about this clueless guy and Paul's "only" Post Beatles' Great Songs. Notice he only listed songs from the early 70s that everybody always mentions.  What about Solo songs from the early 80's till today.
On top of the Solo Songs that Yankeefan listed, I would add even more recent songs like "I Don't Know, Dominoes, Confidante, Do It Now, Hand in Hand, Seize the Day, Kiss of Venus, When Winter Comes, Early Days etc etc. Â These songs are all on the same level as his top Beatle songs imo.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Btw...My wife and I arrived in the Atlantic City NJ area yesterday. Â A little tired after the long drive but we're so glad we're here at our Southern NJ Condo.
McCall and Yankeefan...I couldn't agree with you more about this clueless guy and Paul's "only" Post Beatles' Great Songs. Notice he only listed songs from the early 70s that everybody always mentions.  What about Solo songs from the early 80's till today.
On top of the Solo Songs that Yankeefan listed, I would add even more recent songs like "I Don't Know, Dominoes, Confidante, Do It Now, Hand in Hand, Seize the Day, Kiss of Venus, When Winter Comes, Early Days etc etc. Â These songs are all on the same level as his top Beatle songs imo.
Hey, what about me? I posted the original article and called the guy out!
Glad you're safe & sound in NJ. Leslie and I will have to battle the rain on Tues. & Weds. on our way up to Louisville, KY/Jeffersonville, IN for Abbey Road On The River! (remnants of Hurricane Ida) Stopping at another friend's house in Nashville Tues. afternoon/overnight.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Btw...My wife and I arrived in the Atlantic City NJ area yesterday. Â A little tired after the long drive but we're so glad we're here at our Southern NJ Condo.
McCall and Yankeefan...I couldn't agree with you more about this clueless guy and Paul's "only" Post Beatles' Great Songs. Notice he only listed songs from the early 70s that everybody always mentions.  What about Solo songs from the early 80's till today.
On top of the Solo Songs that Yankeefan listed, I would add even more recent songs like "I Don't Know, Dominoes, Confidante, Do It Now, Hand in Hand, Seize the Day, Kiss of Venus, When Winter Comes, Early Days etc etc. Â These songs are all on the same level as his top Beatle songs imo.
Glad you had safe trip up north and now can relax a bit. Like you said, plenty of recent songs that are very high quality also. I just think there are some people and critics who just think once you have written some great songs in a famous group, you can never match them when you are solo act. My wife is a Sting fan and there are plenty of his solo songs she likes better than stuff he wrote when in the Police.
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Nancy R wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Btw...My wife and I arrived in the Atlantic City NJ area yesterday. Â A little tired after the long drive but we're so glad we're here at our Southern NJ Condo.
McCall and Yankeefan...I couldn't agree with you more about this clueless guy and Paul's "only" Post Beatles' Great Songs. Notice he only listed songs from the early 70s that everybody always mentions.  What about Solo songs from the early 80's till today.
On top of the Solo Songs that Yankeefan listed, I would add even more recent songs like "I Don't Know, Dominoes, Confidante, Do It Now, Hand in Hand, Seize the Day, Kiss of Venus, When Winter Comes, Early Days etc etc. Â These songs are all on the same level as his top Beatle songs imo.
Hey, what about me? I posted the original article and called the guy out!
Glad you're safe & sound in NJ. Leslie and I will have to battle the rain on Tues. & Weds. on our way up to Louisville, KY/Jeffersonville, IN for Abbey Road On The River! (remnants of Hurricane Ida) Stopping at another friend's house in Nashville Tues. afternoon/overnight.
Sorry about that Nancy.  I was just catching the tail end of the article but thanks for your rebuttal.  Just because the guy is a musician and/or performer doesn't mean he's anything close to an expert on the Beatles' and their follow-up careers as Solo Artists.
Have a great time at Abbey Road On the River and I hope the weather is good by the start of the festival.  I would like to revisit that Festival sometime in the future.  My wife's daughter lives in Chicago so I could see us fitting it in on the way of visiting her Daughter.  My wife's not a big time Beatles' fan but I told her that this festival has many other original performers from the 60's and 70's on top of Beatle tribute artists and bands so I think she would like it as long as we were on the way to visit her daughter.  From Tampa Florida, Jefferson IN and Louisville KYwould be right on the way.
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Make sure you go to Jeffersonville, IN not Jefferson, though!
The only '60s band this time is Jefferson Starship and they were only added about a month or so. The weather is supposed to be great - sunny/partly cloudy Thurs - Sun with highs 80-88. Better than in May where it is usually in the 90s! Next year the festival will be June 2-5, maybe 6 if they program anything on the Monday. -
Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Btw...My wife and I arrived in the Atlantic City NJ area yesterday. Â A little tired after the long drive but we're so glad we're here at our Southern NJ Condo.
McCall and Yankeefan...I couldn't agree with you more about this clueless guy and Paul's "only" Post Beatles' Great Songs. Notice he only listed songs from the early 70s that everybody always mentions.  What about Solo songs from the early 80's till today.
On top of the Solo Songs that Yankeefan listed, I would add even more recent songs like "I Don't Know, Dominoes, Confidante, Do It Now, Hand in Hand, Seize the Day, Kiss of Venus, When Winter Comes, Early Days etc etc. Â These songs are all on the same level as his top Beatle songs imo.
Glad you had safe trip up north and now can relax a bit. Like you said, plenty of recent songs that are very high quality also. I just think there are some people and critics who just think once you have written some great songs in a famous group, you can never match them when you are solo act. My wife is a Sting fan and there are plenty of his solo songs she likes better than stuff he wrote when in the Police.
The Dream of the Blue Turtles is a wonderful album. Still got the vinyl in my collection. So different to The Police, one my favourite bands. Sting is great.
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Slidin’ is one song and video, I’ve listened to a lot lately.
Come On to Me is always a fun video
Off the Ground
Helen Wheels
Cook of the House
Great Day
Little Wing ~ Hendrix
Adventure of a Lifetime ~ Coldplay
