Comments on: What songs uplift and inspire you?

Question: What songs uplift and inspire you?

Mossy — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 20:37:59 -0800

Most hopeful songs out there? What uplifts and inspires?

By: kenko

kenko — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 20:47:31 -0800

Nils Økland's Hertervig Skisse.

By: kamylyon

kamylyon — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 20:54:04 -0800

The Rainbow Connection
What a Wonderful World
May Mornings (written by my 3rd grade class for the May Festival)

By: melissa may

melissa may — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 20:57:14 -0800

I don't know how to explain it better than this, but the entirety of Neutral Milk Hotel's record "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" gives me hope and comfort while being some of the saddest music I've ever heard.

And of course, there is always Redemption Song.

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 21:09:21 -0800

The song 'Moulty' by The Barbarians is one of the most hopeful and inspiring songs I've ever heard.

Also, if 'Ain't Go/I Got Life' by Nina Simone won't lift your spirits, nothing will.

By: kamylyon

kamylyon — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 21:09:30 -0800

excellent melissa may, yes Redemption Song!

:: hasn't been terribly hopefilled lately::

By: hughbot

hughbot — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 21:09:59 -0800

"Empty Cans" by The Streets is pretty uplifting. Doubly so following immediately after "Dry Your Eyes". Triply so in the context of A Grand Don't Come for Free

OFF TOPIC:
I have an uplifting storyto share: A young girl that a friend of mine babysits had to make a drawing for her class on the subject "I can ______." I can draw, I can be a policeman, etc.

The young girl wrote "I can Love" and drew two people hugging. Aww...

By: brad!

brad! — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 21:17:57 -0800

A smile always seems to appear when listening to Pas/Cal. They always motivate and inspire and bring hope -- but maybe that's only for me.

This song was in a Saturn commercial.
This one wasn't.

By: keswick

keswick — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 22:11:07 -0800

Freebird.

By: kamylyon

kamylyon — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 22:13:23 -0800

My Best Friend
sorry about the reg...

:)

By: asterisk

asterisk — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 23:11:49 -0800

The Polyphonic Spree.

By: mattr

mattr — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:20:35 -0800

Sigur Ros often claim to sing in a language called Hopelandic and I can totally get what they mean by that, I often find their music very inspiring.

As an aside:

D:ream - Things can only get better - always used to do it for me, nice uplifting tune to dance around to...and then it was used in a political campaign, and it was forever tainted.

By: misteraitch

misteraitch — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:31:10 -0800

There's a song by Mary Margaret O'Hara called Anew Day which does it for me.

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 02:07:06 -0800

At the risk of being incredibly unhip and probably overly maudlin as well: Bruce Springsteen's The Rising.

By: cheaily

cheaily — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 02:09:26 -0800

Damn you, Asterisk! ;)

I'd be wary of Sigur Ros -- they're one of those polymorphous bands that really amplifies how you're feeling at any given time. So, if you're feeling sad and need uplifting, they might end up making you feel low.

But I'm definitely with Asterisk on the Polyphonic Spree. Get hold of "Hanging Around the Day" (both parts, part 1 leads well into part 2), and "Hold Me Now" and try not to feel uplifted.

By: handee

handee — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 02:12:23 -0800

In a really strange way, Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads.

By: Firas

Firas — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 02:13:31 -0800

I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack.

By: derbs

derbs — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 02:26:48 -0800

Cece Rogers "Someday"

By: black8

black8 — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 03:22:57 -0800

The Amorous Humphrey Plug by Scott Walker.

The lines: I've become a giant/I fill every street/I dwarf all the rooftops/I hunchback the moon/stars dance at my feet freakin' send me, man.

By: rustcellar

rustcellar — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 03:57:55 -0800

Electric Light Orchestra, "Mr. Blue Sky"

By: mattr

mattr — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 04:26:30 -0800

Great song rustcellar....mr blue sky (/me slopes off to find it on his ipod)

And derbs....another classic!

By: atchafalaya

atchafalaya — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 04:40:47 -0800

Don't forget this one.

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 05:18:08 -0800

Can't find a link to the actual song, but the lyrics to Keep Right On are pretty uplifting.

By: MrMustard

MrMustard — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 05:20:50 -0800

Erm, the song is actually called 'End of the Road'. There's a perfectly good explanation as to why I dubbed it 'Keep Right On', but I won't bore you with that here.

By: banjo_and_the_pork

banjo_and_the_pork — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 05:42:05 -0800

This is a bit cliche, but Frou Frou's Let Go (the song that everyone remembers from Garden State).

By: pomegranate

pomegranate — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 05:47:11 -0800

8fatfat8 from Chicago occasionally scats/scratches through "This Little Light of Mine" in their live shows - totally inspiring and wonderful.

By: katie

katie — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 06:00:33 -0800

I don't know if "hopeful" is exactly the word I'd use to describe these songs, but they definitely make me feel good inside:
The Decemberists "July, July!"
The Flaming Lips -- all of it
Wilco's "I Got You"
The Cars "Just What I Needed"

By: jaded

jaded — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 06:06:27 -0800

Angel Trail by The Legendary Pink Dots.

One of the most beautiful and uplifting songs I've ever heard.

By: Vervain

Vervain — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 07:07:40 -0800

Al Green, "Stand Up"
Curtis Mayfield, "Move On Up"
Sam Cooke (or Otis Redding), "A Change is Going to Come"
The Kinks, "Better Things"

aaaaaaand Sammy Davis Jr., "If They Could See Me Now" (or "I Gotta Be Me". Of course that'd be cheese-o-riffic hope, but it's still hope, right?

By: crush-onastick

crush-onastick — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 07:34:52 -0800

lisa gerard's song of infinite longing: sanvean. unbearably sad but unbelievably hopeful.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 07:38:10 -0800

I'm sure it's not high enough on the coolness quotient, but to me "Where the Streets Have No Name" is a reliably hopeful, uplifting, and inspiring song. Even after hearing it 1,000 times. I recommend a live version (any live version).

By: oh posey

oh posey — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 07:38:57 -0800

"Angel's Wings" - Social Distortion

By: SashaPT

SashaPT — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 08:16:51 -0800

It's dorky, it's Disney, but "Go the Distance," from Hercules -- the version in the movie, NOT the Michael Bolton version, always makes me want to climb a mountain and sing.

By: whatnot

whatnot — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 08:34:52 -0800

"... I can see clearly now the rain has gone"
--Johnny Nash

it helps that my Dad and I used to always follow with "I can see all popsicles in my way" when I was little.

By: scody

scody — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 11:01:15 -0800

Bauhaus, "Hope" (yes! A cheerful Bauhaus song!
The Jam, "Absolute Beginners"
Number One Cup ,"Astronaut" -- this song (heck, most of the album Wrecked By Lions) literally helped me get through cancer treatments about seven years ago. A year or two later, by sheer and happy coincidence, I wound up working at the same job with the song's singer/writer, Seth Cohen. It was really great to be able to tell him how much of a difference that tune made in my life. (As I recall, he actually did a spit-take of Coke at me and looked like he was possibly going to cry when I told him. Ah, there's nothing quite like starting out a friendship with one of your indie rock heroes by having him nearly drench you in soda.)

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 11:16:53 -0800

The Only Way is Up--Yazz
She Brakes for Rainbows--B-52s
I'm Beautiful, Dammit--M People
Dreams--Gabrielle
Mint Car--Cure
Love Plus 1--Haircut 100
There Must Be an Angel--Eurythmics

By: weston

weston — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 12:14:15 -0800

The stuff that does it most for me tends to be 20th century choral music. I was at a concert a couple of weeks ago where I couldn't keep from weeping at the sheer beauty of it, and I tear up a bit just thinking about it.

Healy Willan, Eric Whitacre, and Herbert Howells are some good names. Maybe I'll think of some others.

If you get a chance, go see a good, solid, serious choir who performs works like these live. There's nothing like it.

By: squealy

squealy — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 12:40:50 -0800

Just seconding Mr Blue Sky and Keep Right On. They've been keeping Birmingham City FC fans' heads out of the gas oven for years, so they must have something going for them.

By: Tholian

Tholian — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 14:58:07 -0800

Oooh, yes! Another vote for There Must Be an Angel!

And another vote for I Hope You Dance, sentimental as it is.

But the thing that really inspires and uplifts me is, of all pieces of music, the last movement of Brahms Symphony #2, cranked up as loud as I can stand. I happen to like the LA Philharmonic/Giulini recording from the 80s, but any decent recording will do.

Arvo Pärt's De Profundis has helped me through some of my darkest hours, but you weren't asking about "surviving depression" music.