Top 7 Songs that Alter your Mood (PVT)

PA Tribune | 8/1/06 | Rev. Al Pissant

[pissant]

For whatever the reasons, some songs have an innate ability to alter ones mood from the moment the first chords are strummed (or blasted as the case may be).

Likely, they are tied to distant memories or romances, but it is the song istelf that holds sway. No matter how many times I've heard and enjoyed the Beatles' I Wanna Hold your Hand or the Stones' Honky Tonk Women, they do not set off a chemical reaction in my head to alter the landscape in front of me.

But other songs, especially if driving by yourself, with no distractions, can take you to another time and place and completely subdue all current thoughts and temperments and change your mood for the rest of the day.

So here are the top 7, as detemined by meticulous scientific research:

7. Time - Pink Floyd: Yes, all Floyd music has an ethereal quality to it, but Time is downright depressing. Brings back memories of listening to it when you were stoned or depressed. Can literally ruin your day.

6. Maggie May - Rod Stewart: Brings back those memories of being in love with a girl who decided to treat you like poop, but you just could not get over her.

5. La Grange - ZZ Top. No matter what the stress of the day, hearing this classic Top blare out from the radio makes you need to find the nearest biker or cowboy bar and tip back a few cold Buds....even if it's 9:00 AM.

4. Dust and Diesel - Bruce Cockburn. If this does not make you feel like you should be driving on a dirt road in the Australian outback or in rural Texas, nothing will.

3. The End - Doors. Along with Pink Floyd, no one can cause you to listen to depressing suicidal music like Jim Morrison. As much as you try, you cannot turn the station and subject yourself and your day to this psychosis.

2. Tuesday Afternoon - Moody Blues. Not sure how they came up with their name, but boy did these guys live up to it. Lilting melodies with haunting lyrics. Another downer of course. Turns a sunny summer day into a hazy mess.

1. Tnagled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan. has the same effect as Maggie May, just multiplied by a factor of 10. Lost love and the yearning to get it back. The good news is that it is a great song as well.

[pissant]

Excellent Johnny. Keeping it on the rowdy side, none of this moody fog for you!

[wideawake]

It's actually a rollicking power pop tune. Very upbeat and weird - the song is (apparently) sung from the perspective of people who are happy that a dictator is coming to put an end to the chaos they're dealing with.

The band's name has absolutely zero to do with their lyrical or musical content. They came up with a wacky name for a one-off album, and then the gig snowballed.

[pissant]

Can't do the GUns & Roses thing, but darn if don't agree with your first two.

[colorcountry]

Those first few guitar cords (or whatever they're called) of Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd always gets me playing air guitar like a dork.

Isn't it funny how everytime the lyrics say "turn it up," you actually reach over and turn it up!

[Xenalyte]

Xena's Guy and I were talking about MTV songs last night - songs that released videos with or shortly after the music version.

The one I remember the clearest is Def Leppard's "Photograph," which was the first "story" video I ever saw. The ones before it were all concert videos.

That video led me to buy Pyromania, which I still have, because you can't get rid of the first album you ever bought. (I did put a note inside the case explaining why I still have it, in case I die and Xena's Guy has to get rid of all my stuff, and I don't want him to consider me lame when I'm not around to argue the point.)

[Wyatt's Torch]

Can't say I've heard that one but Blasphemous Rumours by Depeche Mode is most depressing song on my list....

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

Louie Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" &
ZZ Top's "Looking for some Tush"

[Xenalyte]

That's right up there with "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire . . . "

[Rummyfan]

Hit me with our rhythm stick
Hit me slowly
Hit me quick
HIT.....ME!

[MotleyGirl70]

Isn't it funny how everytime the lyrics say "turn it up," you actually reach over and turn it up!

Exactly and that's what I do too.

I have that song in my head :)

[BreitbartSentMe]

I know what this thread needs:

[filbert]

"It's nice to be a lunatic . . . "

Actually, pretty much anything by Ian Dury and the Blockheads is a guaranteed mood changer . . .

There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards
Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3
Common as Muck
and, of course
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll ("it's all my brain and body needs")

[Wyatt's Torch]

Wow. Where to even start. Just a few off the top of my head:

I Alone - Live

Tear Stained Eye - Son Volt

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

Bad - U2

Bobcaygeon - The Tragically Hip

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths

Mayonaise - Smashing Pumpkins

Summer Wind - Sinatra

Pictures of You - The Cure

[A Cyrenian]

At Last by Etta James.

Cadillac used this song in one of their commercials.

[MotleyGirl70]

Come on guys join in.

[tje]

Is that like Itchycoo Park?

No... though they might do a version. It was a song by Richard Harris.. It had a verse like this:

MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark

All the sweet, green icing flowing down

Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it

'Cause it took so long to bake it

And I'll never have that recipe again

Oh, no!

I dunno about the green icing, I always thought it was cream icing.. like a carrot cake... doesn't sound all that appetizing now.

[geezerwheezer]

Some of my favorites are:
I got you babe/Sonny & Cher
BadMoon Rising/ Credence Clearwater
Song of the Patriot/Johnny Cash & Marty Robbins
The Great Pretender/The Platters
Crazy/Patsy Cline
What's New Pusseycat/Tom Jones
I'm a Girl Watcher/The O'Kaysions
Candyman/Sammy Davis Jr.
I love lots of songs and these are only a few of my very best!

[Rummyfan]

I Alone - Live
Summer Wind - Sinatra
Pictures of You - The Cure

Eclectic! I like it!

Lightning Crashes is my fav by LIVE.

[Rummyfan]

And for personal reasons Pretty in Pink.....

[Tijeras_Slim]

Because I have no idea.