Que sera, Sarah

By far, the hardest part of responding to this week’s 10 on Tuesday prompt was picking only 10 songs, as I have several playlists comprised solely of songs that always put me in a good mood. As a result, the songs I chose are presented in no particular order, mostly because I have no idea how I would rank them. I think my favorite mood-elevator depends heavily on what kind of mood I’m trying to change.

Oh, and because I just recently covered the fact that “Birdhouse in Your Soul” by They Might Be Giants has spent 20+ years as my go-to happy place song, I exempted it from this list since it’s not, like, new information.

Here’s my list:

1. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” The Beatles – I’ve loved this song as long as I can remember, which dates back when I was about five and we had a routine to it at my baton lessons. So, a long time, in other words, and it still always makes me smile.

2. “One Big Love,” Patty Griffin – Such a happy, summery song.

3. “Copacabana,” Barry Manilow – Cheeziest song in the history of the world, which means it’s totally, 100% fun as far as I am concerned.

4. “Toes,” Zac Brown Band – Thinking about having my “toes in the water/ass in the sand” perks up any gray day.

5. “Boys, Boys, Boys,” Lady Gaga – This song always makes me wish I had a personal choreographer so I could dance awesomely down the street whenever this comes up on my headphones.

6. “American Land,” Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – No lie, I play this when I am vacuuming because it makes it so much cheerier.

7. “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Bon Jovi – This puts me in a great mood because it somehow reminds me of everything that was great about being 16 and nothing about how terrible it could be.

8. “Code Monkey,” Jonathan Coulton – If you’ve ever worked in a tech job, you’ve known a code monkey (or been one), which makes this song hilarious, always.

9. “King,” Belly – Everything by Belly improves my mood (90s power-pop FTW!) but this is my favorite.

10. “Perfect Day,” Lady Antebellum – Another version of the happy, summery song – apparently an easy go-to mood lifter genre for me.

Tell me in the comments… What songs always put you in a great mood?