Philosophy of Music, 1st installment

I don't think it's controversial to say that music is something that has a lot of power. It can make us sad, angry, laugh like an idiot and dance like nobody's watching. But most importantly it can make us happy. Listening to it may not give us that satisfaction that lets us sleep at night, but it can help make a bad day good. So if you're having a bad day and can't help but hate the world, here's a playlist of happiness songs. Some are happy, some not so much, but chances are you'll feel good by the end.

I'm not trained enough in musical theory to say why it does what it does note-by-note, but I can talk about feelings all the ding-dong day.

SECTION ONE: HAPPY SONGS

These songs are ones that just radiate happiness, letting you sit there and absorb the radiant happiness from them. In the context of using the playlist for happiness it lets you...well, sit there and absorb happiness. Put yourself in the happy oven oh wait no that sounds really bad.

It's a sun of happy energy, get out and absorb its happy rays.

TRACK 1: ODE TO JOY (LUDVIG VON BEETHOVEN)

I never thought of this song as being happy until I knew the name. But knowing that, this is indeed a very happy song. Naturally, being orchestral music it can't be subdued in the slightest; it has to be the most epic, awe-inspiring, monumental joy ever seen. This isn't just a fleeting joy from eating some good tacos, this is the most epic joy humanity is ever capable of experiencing. You just single-handedly won a war with actual dragons and gained the admiration of millions! You just found the holy grail and it wasn't in your heart all along! You just ate the best tacos in the UNIVERSE! Even if the huge instrumentation and chorus don't make you happy, imagining what the heck they're singing about probably will.

TRACK 2: ODE TO JOY (APOLLO 100)

Meanwhile, here's a song that is less epic, which is not saying anything when compared to orchestral music. While this is a big song, it's less "I just ate the best taco in the universe and god himself has come to celebrate" and more "I just ate the best taco in San Antonio and I'm skipping through town". It's the kind of song that demands you dance, and it's a lot easier to consume that Ode to Joy. It's a lot faster and skippier, so you don't have segments where you're waiting for the instruments to warm up. It warms up and keeps going in various ways until it stops.

TRACK 3: HAPPY (ROLLING STONES)

I'll admit, I did not give this song a fair chance when I presented it to the class. I think it may have been partly that I had absolutely no idea what was being sung and that guitar didn't really grab onto me. But after giving it a fair chance, I admit it's a fun song. I can definitely see how people tune in to this and find some happiness, even if the singer apparently needs a love to keep him happy, if he has that then that's a great thing to base happiness on.

SECTION TWO: HEDONISTIC SONGS

As you may expect, this section has more unhappy songs than happy ones. Hedonism works when it works, but when it doesn't work it really doesn't work. Although there seems to be a theme to my picks for the unhappy hedonistic songs: drawbacks. It makes you happy now but it's making you unhappy later. At some point, it's not even making you happy now.

TRACK 4: HEROIN (VELVET UNDERGROUND)

Y'know, this song actually sounds like the singer is having a decent time until around the 4:50 mark. It's kinda like a series of highs and lows, with the highs being, well, when he's high on heroin. But at that 4:50 mark, the horrendous screeching makes it clear that this hedonistic lifestyle is ending in a train wreck. Given how it's starting to speed up there, I think he may be having and overdose. Definitely not a pleasant experience, but good to think about.

TRACK 5: I'D RATHER HAVE A BOTTLE IN FRONT OF ME (THAN A FRONTAL LOBOTOMY) (RANDY HAZLICK, M.D.)

Yeah, that song was written and sung by an actual doctor. A neurosurgeon, no less. This is another one that's on here as a negative happiness: one is a drunk, the other's brain damaged. But unlike Heroin, this song is actually really fun in and of itself, which I guess you can relate to getting drunk. If my life is going straight to the gutter, I know I'd rather take the bottle.

TRACK 6: DIRT ROAD ANTHEM (JASON ALDEEN)

Speaking of drugs, here's a guy whose chilling our with smokes and alcohol, the honest American drugs. That and a dirt road. This is here as a more positive hedonistic song, finding simple comfort in a dirt road and legal drugs, as well as less simple pleasure in offroad trucking. Although checking the lyrics, it's not all good: he is drinking and driving, after all. Still, the song's about getting in touch with your good ol' ways. For him that's cornbread and offroad trucking, for me it's more hot cocoa and deep snow. In any case, it's a chill song and a good way to relax.

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I suppose I shall end it there for now, but here's a song that 100% will be presented in the final draft:

COMMENT DEPOSITORY

https://philoshap.blogspot.com/2017/12/music-happiness-latham-crihfield.html

https://philoshap.blogspot.com/2017/11/money-and-happiness-final-report-1st.html