Pretty much for as long as pop music has existed, the main topic has been love. In the 1960s, when the Beatles released the song ‘Nowhere Man’ on an album, it was seen as a majorly important event, ditto when The Who released singles that were barely about love at all like ‘I Can’t Explain.’
It occurred to me that even then, these were songs about being miserable for the most part – it’s quite hard to write a decent song that’s upbeat or happy that isn’t about just being in love or something.
So here are my ten favourite happy (or just upbeat) songs about something other than love.
1. John Martyn – May You Never (Solid Air, 1973) – John Martyn was well known as a guy who loved a fight, but his music was often tender and delicate – this song is an example, a beautiful song aimed at his children hoping that they never have to want for anything.
2. The Who – Blue, Red And Grey (The Who By Numbers, 1975) – I still occasionally wonder to myself whether this song is entirely ironic, but I prefer to assume it isn’t – Pete Townsend on a ukelele, accompanied only by John Entwistle’s horn overdubs, singing sweetly about how no matter how mental he may be, he likes “every minute of the day.”
3. Dexys Midnight Runners – Geno (Searching For The Young Soul Rebels, 1980) – This song isn’t really, happy per se – but it is impossibly comforting in the way that almost all of Dexys’ best stuff is. Kevin Rowland simply notes how much he felt like he had in common with soul singer Geno Washington, even chuckling to himself “academic inspiration/you gave me none.”
4. Van Halen – Panama (1984, 1984) – David Lee Roth knows how to write an ambiguous lyric, but he still maintains that this song is about a car that he saw in a drag race or somesuch, and promptly named his own car Panama after it. It’s one of Van Halen’s more famous songs, and it’s a great one.
5. Weezer – Jamie (Weezer Deluxe Edition, 2004) – One of the most bizarre songs I’ve ever heard, in the way only Weezer could manage, and in 1994 literally every song they recorded was amazing. This one is great, no matter how bizarre, Rivers Cuomo noting how great their lawyer, Jamie, is.
6. U2 – Beautiful Day (All That You Can’t Leave Behind, 2000) – The song that makes me hate U2 even more because it’s one of the most dazzlingly perfect songs ever written, Bono says it’s about losing everything but still finding joy in what you have.
7. Phil Collins – On My Way (Brother Bear Official Soundtrack, 2003) – This one’s just about having been on a long journey and how you can’t wait to be home. Never fails to cheer me up, this one.
8. Tenacious D – History (The Pick Of Destiny, 2006) – Tenacious D are ridiculous and none of their songs are about love, so much as they are about sex, but this one is pretty much a mythological account of how awesome it is to be in a band. The fantastic guitar work helps too!
9. Barenaked Ladies – Peterborough And The Kawarthas (Barenaked Ladies Are Me, 2006) – Another song about the vocalist’s child, the line on it that always gets me is “when he climbs the stairs, stay by his side.” The wonderful melody on it is a big help in that regard.
10. Fountains Of Wayne – New Routine (Traffic And Weather, 2007) – Fountains Of Wayne are great at writing songs about nothing at all; this one relates to a girl who’s sick of having an ordinary life so she just moves to Germany on a whim despite not speaking a word of the language.
Do they have to use drums? 