Pick-Me-Up Songs (Part 1)

Let's be clear about the qualifications for this list. These are not just upbeat songs, or songs that accentuate a happy mood. This is a more delicate endeavor. Pick-me-up songs must have an element of darkness already in them. For instance, you would not want to hear "Good Day Sunshine" right after you lost your job. It would seem cruel and antithetical. The song must acknowledge the pain, yet not dwell on it. Then, and only then, comes the upbeat or happy conclusion, and often it's only a shade of grey. These are not songs you listen to right before you go out, these are songs that lift you up just enough to face the day. When I started, I thought I'd only find about 20 songs for this list, but now I have over 40, so we'll split this up into two parts. Without further ado...

1. Bob Dylan-Like a Rolling Stone: Too much has likely already been written about this song, and with good reason (Greil Marcus wrote a whole book about it). In 1966, Dylan told Marvin Bronstein of CCBC in Montreal that:

I wrote that after I had quit. I'd literally quit, singing and playing--I found myself writing this song, this story, this long piece of vomit, twenty pages long, and out of it I took "Like a Rolling Stone and made it a single. And I'd never written anything like that before and it suddenly came to me that this is what I should do.

You can hear the "quit" and desperation in Dylan's voice, which is why the song is the perfect one to start off with. It's a song for someone at the bottom of things,[1. You used to / laugh about / everybody that was / hangin' out / now you don't / talk so loud / now you don't / seem so proud / about havin' to be scrounging / for your next meal / how does it feel? / how does it feel? / to be on your own? / to be without a home? / like a complete unknown / like a rolling stone.] a reflection on how they got there,[1. Once upon a time / you dressed so fine / threw the bums a dime / in your prime / didn't you? / People call / say "beware doll you're bound to fall" / you thought they were all / a-kiddin' you.] but also a reminder that things will get better. It's also one of (if not the) greatest recordings ever made.



2. Deer Tick-Dirty Dishes: I guess we're starting a little melancholy here, but worry not, things will get better. Which is, more or less, the message here on "Dirty Dishes." At the end of the song, John McCauley tells us "And that cold wind will blow / tear the skin off your nose / and you got nothing to be grateful for / except your list of wishin' / and some dirty dishes / and you wanted more / and you got left, and it hurts / oh, but it could be worse / yeah / things could be / so much worse."



3. Ryan Adams-To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High): Of course, one way to pick yourself up, in theory, is to self-medicate. Ryan Adams pays tribute to that folly(?) of youth here: "Oh one day when you're looking back / you were young / and man you were sad / when you're young / you get sad / when you're young / you get sad / then you get high / aw man!"



4. The Rolling Stones-Let it Bleed: Ian Stewart's piano on "Let It Bleed" makes the song. The playing ensures an upbeat, honky-tonk vibe that the Stones were known so well for, making it more barroom singalong than ballad, and ensures that we all are aware that we need someone to lean on.



5. Monsters of Folk-Whole Lotta' Losin': The gem off of an up and down collaboration between Jim James, M. Ward, and Colin Oberst, the track is emotionally complex in a surprising way. The "whole lotta' losin'" is the loss of all the good things in life, and acknowledgement of how lucky they've been thus far, and a recognition that it is to be appreciated as it will one day be gone ("one of these days / I'll be left with nothing / but memories and old times").



6. The Shins-Gone for Good (Alternate Version)[1. Yes, this is important. The alternate version is better.]: I don't know, maybe this song is too bitter for this list, but I think the bitterness in "Gone for Good" is found strength. When Mercer sings "You want to jump and dance / but you sat on your hands / and lost your only chance / go back to your hometown / get your feet on the ground / and stop fucking around / I found a fatal flaw / in the logic of love / and went out of my head / you love a sinking stone / that'll never elope / so get used to the lonesome / girl you must atone some / don't leave me your phone number there / it's not as if you care," it's an empowered bitterness.



7. My Morning Jacket-Old September Blues: Pick-me-up, Victorian style: "Put away your corset / put away your shoes / put away the old September blues."

8. Wilco-Hummingbird: Though we're overrun with metaphors for the struggle that can be life, the rapid wing-flap of the hummingbird is an apt one, as Tweedy sings: "remember to remember me / standing still in your past / floating fast like a hummingbird." It's not the lyrics here that act as a pick-me-up, but rather the steady, wing-beat piano and violin combination.



9. Peter Bjorn and John-Objects of By Affection: The opening melody is one of the most uplifting ones you'll hear, but my favorite part is the condemnation of self-loathing nostalgic melancholy: "And the question is / was I more alive then than I am now? / I happily have to disagree / I laugh more often now / I cry more often now / I am more me."



10. Arcade Fire-Wake Up: We have now come to the sing-along portion of the playlist (and my god, that guitar). Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh oh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (etc.).



11. LCD Soundsystem-Dance Yrself Clean: Watch the video (James Murphy really does sound like Kermit):



12. Harlem Shakes-Strictly Game: “Make a little money / take a lot of shit / feel real bad / and get over it / oh, this will be a better year.”



13. Modest Mouse-The Good Times Are Killing Me: The last track off of the brilliant Good News for People who Love Bad News has the ramshackle feel of many of the songs here, a late-night hopped-up tripped-out bleary-eyed chorus.



14. The White Stripes-Hotel Yorba: Sorry that this appears on every mixed cd I've ever made, but it's such versatile, happy song, a sort of modern "Wouldn't it be Nice": "I've been thinking / of a little place down by the lake / they got a dirty old road leading up to the house / I wonder how long it will take / till we're alone / sitting on the front porch of that home / stomping our feet on the wooden board / never gotta worry about lockin' the door."



15. The National-Geese of Beverly Road: Maybe the best song on Alligator, which is saying a lot. The drums here foreshadow the outstanding work on The Boxer, as Matt Berninger sings: "hey love / we'll get away with it / we'll run like we're awesome / and totally genius / we're the heirs to the glimmering world." I'm not sure if we're supposed to laugh or cry when he tells us "our hands are covered in cake / but I swear we didn't have any / I swear we didn't have any." It's a great description of the foreboding transition between childhood and adulthood, and the clumsiness of it all.



16. Wilco-Theologians: It's no wonder that a person who is idolized by many yet longs for a more private life would write such a song. The "theolgians" here may not be actual theologians, but people like myself who think they have some sort of insight into the life of Jeff Tweedy. The song is a reaction to being typecast or defined by others, and a vow to live life without that pressure. Tweedy threatens a retreat at the end, a self-salvation: "I'm going away / where you won't look for me / where I'm going / you cannot come / no one is ever gonna take my life from me / I say it down / a ghost is born."



17. Spoon-I Summon You: The chugging acoustic guitar is great, and remember the formula: 1) acknowledgment of difficulty ("yeah you've got the weight of the world coming down like a mother's eye") and 2) retribution ("how'd we get here / it's too late to break it off / I need a release / the signal's a cough / but that don't get me off / I summon you here, my love").



18. Neil Young-Mellow My Mind: From the bluesy harmonica in the beginning to Young's trademark croon and the appropriately sloppy guitar, this song is (not literally) note perfect. It's a well-executed plea for simpler times, "baby mellow my mind / make me feel / like a schoolboy on good time," as Young mourned the deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and friend/roadie Bruce Berry.



19. The Boy Least Likely to-I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star: This song tells the tale of developing a mature appreciation for a failed venture, whether it be musical, love-related, or otherwise. Singer Jof Owen knowingly starts the tale "I was young and I was stupid / I had just turned seventeen," and laments "however hard we tried / it never seemed to be enough," but realizes "we never did get famous but / it made us kind of happy / and it kept me off of drugs." As such, he's glad he hitched his apple wagon to your star, whatever that means.



20. Florence and the Machine-Dog Days Are Over: All Songs Considered did a little show kind of like this blog post, and this was the one song that I felt really deserved to be included. That said, I'm going on record as saying that white-face is nearly as disturbing as black-face. Most bad-ass song with a harp? The drums are really great on this song. And the dog days are over.



21. David Bowie-Five Years: Five years! That's all we've got! We've got five years! Plays better when loud.



22. Kelley Stoltz-Wave Goodbye:

A nice way to close the first disc, with the piano that invades many of these tracks, and the lovely farewell "find a thing / that makes you happy / find a thing that / gets you high / pack your worries / in a suitcase / send them off and / wave goodbye!"



Photo by Looking Glass