Has Any Music Ever *BURSTED WITH JOY* to the Same Extent as Early Beatles Songs Such as "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me?"

ZZ Top, "Legs"

"Wouldn't it Be Nice?" bursts after the initial music box guitar bit......

"Charly" - The Prodigy
"Play In The Sunshine" - Prince
"Love Comes Quickly" - Pet Shop Boys
The final chorale of "The Creation"
"I'm A Believer" - The Monkees
"Give It Up" - The Goodmen
"Music Sounds Better With You" - Stardust
"To Be Real" - um... what's her face
"I Feel Love" - Donna Summer
"Turn The Beat Around" - Vicki Sue Robinson
"Walking On Sunshine" - Katrina & the Waves
"The Lovecats" - The Cure
"Somewhere Out There (pt 2)" - Orbital

This was my first thought.

This should also double as a Music That Should Be Fucking Burned For Eternity thread

Other picks:

Otis Redding, "Love Man"
Al Green, "Tired of Being Alone"
New Order, "Perfect Kiss"

Anyway, here are some thoughts:
Dave Clark Five - Catch us if you Can, Bits & Pieces
some Four Seasons songs
The Turtles - She'd Rather Be With Me, You Baby

x-post

A funny in-joke among my brother and sister and I involves one of us randomly bursting into the "ba-ba-ba--ba-ba" backing vocals as a taunt when one is doing well in Mario Kart. That song counts.

I don't get joy from this song. On the contrary it's quite sad. It's not "Requited Love Comes Quickly", and to me sounds more like the song of someone who has tried to convince themselves love is not possible only to find themselves hopelessly in love again, the music backs this up for me.

Earth, Wind & Fire, Sing A Song

Modern Lovers, Roadrunner

Rogers & Hammerstein, Oklahoma
Rogers & Hammerstein, Shall We Dance

Sex Pistols, Anarchy In The U.K.

Ramones, Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
BR-549, Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)

Puffy, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Show Theme

Doing The Unstuck
Just Like Heaven
Lovesong

ok i'll stop now.

Well, I wasn't, anyway, when I started this thread. And I think a lot of the suggestions people have made are wack.

NOT MELODIC ENOUGH
-- Masked Gazza (m...), July 19th, 2005.

Thanks for oversimplifying my argument.

I think the Jackson 5 songs mentioned come close. A lot of the suggestions here are songs that maybe approximate the energy and joy and release of something like "Please Please Me," but I don't know as that they equal it. The MC5 songs Walter mentioned, the Raspberries. Songs like "I'm a Believer" and "Hanky Panky" aren't close at all.

oops, xxpost

x-post

x-post

How about "Hello There"?

x-posts to Walter's post above

http://cover6.cduniverse.com/msiart/0000340/0000340703_170.jpg

R.E.M. -- "Stand," "Get Up," "Shiny Happy People," "Me In Honey!"

otm
otm
otm

-- walter kranz (kranz_walte...), July 19th, 2005. (walterkranz)

Good call! I love Cheap Trick they make me happy!

Alternate answer: try Haydn's "Fireworks" symphony

I always thought it was "I want some, want some", but this is a lot better!

Is this why so few people recognize that Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal is the best songwriter in rock today? Too "innocent?"

and as I say, that "innocent" quality is a function of history colliding with the art: "Please Please Me" sure as fuck didn't sound innocent to Beatles fans at the time, nor to their parents

x-post

ILM: Well there is [insert blank there.]

Tim: NO YOU ARE WRONG!

I kind of don't see any point to this thread other than getting people to list a whole bunch of songs that you can be a dick about, Tim.

x-post - Your analysis is lacking.

OTM. There's as much joy, and purity, in "Anarchy In The UK" -- there are few more enjoyable things in life than getting to scream "I am the Antichrist!!!" over a good beat!

and Shake Some Action is another selection along with the Left Banke's She May Call You Up Tonight that I like.

thread-related question: why do so many Of Montreal fans get really confrontational about how much they dig Kevin Barnes's songwriting?

Do you not see how loaded this question is, how unfriendly to dialogue? So few people "recognize." No, dude: so few people agree with your position. Also, the scarequotes around "innocent" seem to attribute some fault to the listener who doesn't hear that Kevin Barnes is empirically THE BEST SONGWRITER IN ROCK TODAY.

This doesn't seem confrontational to you?

-- miccio (anthonyisrigh...), July 19th, 2005.

x-post

Oh, and the Lovin' Spoonful's 'Do You Believe In Magic?' is so bursting with joy it hurtz.

If you're going to play McLaughlin Group on a thread, expect to get mocked.

I think you might be in the 'Tom Baker as the Sea Captain in Blackadder' situation re Of Montreal- there are two schools of thought on the matter...
I found that album dry and academic, the musical equivalent of unsellable literary fiction. But whatever floats yer boat. (do you see?)

Other threads: has there ever been anyone as qualitatively excellent as Jesus Christ? Are the Yankees objecvtively the best team ever?

finally in re: Barnes, yeah I know, there's a small but vocal group of people who hear Godhead when they listen to Of Montreal, but I think it's that they punch very specific Beatles-related pleasure centers (though not enough to appeal to mainstream Beatles fans much) - those of us who don't really enjoy listening to the Beatles get turned off of Of Montreal pretty quick

xpost

OTM...Geir's definitely consistent within his own little weird musical worldview.

Also, defining "bursting with joy" and then expecting it to be some kind of easily quantifiable thing is the prob. with this thread....like "Scenario" by Tribe Called Quest is pretty joyful to me, but it might not be to you....

But these songs particularly seem to have a kind of energy and joy that seems to me to be at the heart of Beatlemania. Alba mentioned some other songs that embody it, too, though maybe to a lesser degree.

"Boys" - Mary Jane Girls
"It's Raining Men" - The Weathergirls

Uh, I never outlined a single rule or criterion.

No. First of all it's men, not boys and they are raining down rather than bursting. Are you being purposely difficult?

The Beatles, "Boys"
anything by the Pet Shop Boys
Franz Ferdinand, "Michael"

xpost not for the boys thing, well not specifically.

No no, you misunderstood me. I was talking about the hardcore punk group Negative Approach. I think "Tutti Frutti" kicks ass. I certainly don't think it's "negative!" But I do think there's a sort of joy to those two Beatles songs that DOES have something to do with melody and harmony.

Oh! Right! Then that's settled then!

Also:

> This should also double as a Music That Should Be Fucking Burned For Eternity thread.

What. the. fuck.

http://uplink.space.com/attachments/181971-screw_ball.jpg

Happy Hardcore for gods sakes.

-- Sterling Clover (s.clove...), July 19th, 2005.

What's settled? That some people wanted to paint me as an espouser of Hongroian doctrine because I dared to ask whether the Beatles might have actually written some of the most joyously bursting music?

I never fucking said that the Beatles were more intense than Little Richard EVERY WHICH WAY, for chrissake.

this shall become my universally understood empirically bursting with joy mantra from now on

I'm not referring to Please Please Me's lyrics; I'm talking about the longing in Lennon's voice and the harmonica's slightly mournful timber, neither of which strikes me as exclusively joyful.

I think the harmonica line is actually kind of cloying which reinforces the light "joyful" quality that I think Tim was trying to identify. "I Saw Her Standing There" is by contrast much more bluesy and full of heartache both in terms of the melody and the vocal delivery.

I don't think the details of lyrics are as important as the overall feeling. Basically the early Beatles tunes are all silly love songs with maybe some minor details in the particulars of each romantic situation. Anarchy in the UK on the other hand is explicitly on first listening full of anger and aggression (and yes, joy of a different, less googly-eyed sort).

I'm drawing a blank on "It Won't Be Long." Can you hum a few bars?

Bursted even.

Ha ha, RS, I was thinking of some of the salsa mp3s you posted last week but I figured it wouldn't be worth going there.

From Publishers Weekly
If you spliced Gualtiero Jacopetti's shockumentary Mondo films with the surreal clippings from the "Cruiskeen Lawn" newspaper column of Myles na Gopaleen (aka Flann O'Brien), the comic result might be this "serial novel" of short stories, shaggy dog tales and spoofs from the fictitious pen of McCabe's authorial desperado, Phildy Hackball, set in his crazy village of Barntrosna. Even stranger and campier than McCabe's recent Booker-shortlisted Breakfast on Pluto, these 10 intertwined stories mix loony subject matter culled from trashy paperbacks with Hibernian stereotypes and cliches. Like an Irish bull in a china shop, McCabe hilariously charges through yarns about genetically engineered winged donkeys ("The Valley of the Flying Jennets"), yokel farmers picked up in discotheques ("The Boils of Thomas Gully") and a pious schoolboy blown up not with a bomb but a tire pump ("The Bursted Priest"). The maniac citizens of Barntrosna somehow believe their wives are secret go-go dancers ("Hot Nights at the Go-Go Lounge"); the local Chinese takeaway is Bruce Lee's secret hangout ("My Friend Bruce Lee"); and the bishop's clerical protege was really Lucifer stirring up the swinging '60s ("I Ordained the Devil"). In a satire on McCabe's own career ("The Big Prize"), Barntrosna's unlikeliest novelist takes the mickey out of contemporary Irish writers and the award-lavishing British literary establishment. Only in the last, lengthy story, "The Forbidden Love of Noreen Tiernan," does this pulp fiction gag almost run aground, when Barntrosna's nicest student nurse goes to London, where she discovers lesbian love and drug racketeering before she is safely returned to the picturesque, demented town of McCabe's berserk imagination.

1. "Getting Better"
2. "I Feel Fine"
3. "All My Loving"
4. "Hello Goodbye"
5. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
6. "Please Please Me"
7. "Penny Lane"
8. "Hey Jude"
9. "Revolution" (single version)
10. "A Day in the Life"
11. "Good Morning Good Morning"
12. "Strawberry Fields Forever"
13. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
14. Abbey Road Side Two medley
15. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"
16. "This Boy"
17. "Let It Be"
18. "All You Need Is Love"
19. "Eleanor Rigby"
20. "She Loves You"
21. "Sexy Sadie"
22. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
23. "Martha My Dear"
24. "Lady Madonna"
25. "Ask Me Why"
26. "Norwegian Wood"
27. "Help!"
28. "Yes It Is"
29. "A Hard Day's Night"
30. "Ticket to Ride"
31. "The Ballad of John and Yoko"
32. "No Reply"
33. "There's a Place"
34. "When I'm 64"
35. "She's Leaving Home"
36. "Within You Without You"
37. "I Am the Walrus"
38. "It Won't Be Long"
39. "Nowhere Man"
40. "For no One"

Case closed.

Also see James Reese Europe's "Down Home Rag" and the first movement of Bach's second Brandenburg Concerto. And I say this as ILx's biggest Beatles fan. No, seriously. Bigger than Ellison, bigger than Geir, bigger than N-E-1. Fuck you. FUCK YOU. GET IN THE RING.

Get thee behind me, Satan!

that's about it

I like one of walter kranz's first posts because he's trying to determine the musical qualities generally associated with "bursting with joy," albeit within a very specific musical context (beat combo pop). There should be more of that in this thread.

Er...ugh...xpost.

maybe you should ask the musicology masters dude about that! oh wait, he started this clusterfuck of a craptastic thread.

x-post

(xpost)

In fact, "Dreaming" might just be the answer to every thread.

No. It's a great song, but it just doesn't have the blipvert quality that "Dreaming" has with power punk, girl groups, British invasion, and the best parts of practically the entire Western history of music crammed into 3 minutes & 8 seconds.

Now I can sound like the Beatles but I don't usually care if I sound like the Beatles, although I still care if I sound like the guitars on Humble Pie's "Rockin' the Fillmore."

And I could start talking about the first Cream albums, but not the first Hendrix albums -- which I liked but didn't make me want to sound like that for some reason.

And, the drum sound, man -- we were alway looking for someone who could make the drums sound like Ringo and George Martin did.

Now maybe we should get into a discussion of the chordal and harmonic differences between Beatles rock and roll and Yank rock and roll, which are considerable, but not song structurally so.

They were reissued on CD last year (mono & stereo) or is vinyl the only real thing?

Yes, yes, talk about the chordal and harmonic differences!

Now I'm going to get a little technical but keep bringing it back to the non-technical for the discussion. We didn't know any of this back when the Beatles records were being released, and it might not have made any difference even if we did.

Vox amplifiers, those used by the Beatles, produced distortion based on a Class A power output circuit, rich in EVEN harmonics. Almost all the amplifiers kids like me could get in the US, were based electrically on what was called a Class A/B output circuit, which produced rock and roll distortion rich in ODD harmonics. That's the characteristic of Fender amps, which were the first amps of rock and roll in America, and later, Marshall amps, which sound different than Vox, too, and which invented a completely different form of power rock.

They all sound very good to the ear. But the subtle but powerful Beatle rhythm guitar sound, was very woody and warm, either darkly clean or just on the verge of breaking up, and it was unique to them, in part, because of the hardware at their disposal and the excellence with which they employed it.

Today, it's easy to root down and find the technical specs of this and duplicate it in cheap analog circuitry, and cheap software emulation. But it was by no means easy or clear to people at the time. We knew it sounded great and you tried to do it, and you came up short, but that, in turn, inspired a build on an American style of rock and roll.

So there were a lot of bands that played everywhere that were influenced by the Beatles very powerfully, that tried to emulate them, but which didn't sound like them at all. Talent aside, which is another variable. This is part of the equation.

And even now this discussion probably could stand a few more chapters, merely on the technical side, to do it justice. And I'll try to get to the chordal structures, at some point. It may take a little mnore thought.

Which must've been part Eric Clapton as he wrote it in his garden and the song sounds suspiciously like Badge by Cream (which he played rhythm on too).

Anyone know the deal with who deserves the credit for that song(s)?

And the chorus, as I said earlier, is just this one line PEAK. So, yeah, it has something to do with melody - that note they hit in harmony on "Please PLEASE me, whoa yeah."

Well, only the first four. The mono mixes are the ones to listen to on these but the stereo mixes are by no means bad. "Hold Me Tight," for example, on "Meet the Beatles" -- the drumming pummels in the middle section much more powerfully than in the stereo mix. Probably because of phase cancellation affecting the stereo mix and the way you hear it.

I bought "Beatles VI" and "Yesterday and Today," (known as the butcher album cover, although hardly anyone had it) and you don't get them with the revision. People have basically no idea what they sounded like the kids who bought them. "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" is now restored to part of "Help," but it was originally on "Beatles VI" and was one of my favorite tunes. Check that rhythm guitar and gouging fill work!

You also miss out on the George Martin/Broccoli James Bond-type theme music orchestral instros that filled out the American versions of "Hard Days Night" and "Help." And these were not things that ripped the listener off or diluted the rock. They were entirely consistent with the themes of the movies, what the fans saw and heard. They embellished the rock and roll in a cheesy as well as classy way. I thought the stuff was great. It disappeared in the great revision.

You can still find it. There's a Russian label, I'm not sure if it's legal, that publishes the Beatles titles in both forms, combined. They're real deals.

George, I have to disagree. I think most people who use the term "harmonic" structure are referring to the chord changes or the vocal harmonies of the song rather than harmonic distortion. And I believe that the same performance of Please Please Me using tweed Fender amps or even recorded digitally would still have the same qualities that Tim describes as being joyful.

Yeah, I can't think of anything more joyful than a song dedicating your tears to someone who was gunned down in the street for running with the wrong crowd.

If you have a recording of a band, say mixed to one mono track. Make a copy of that, and pair it with the original. Pan one hard left and one hard right. You still have a mono mix. Now, if you bump one to lag behind the other by a few milliseconds, you get a pseudo-stereo mix and a good illustration of phase cancellation, as well as phase multiplication.

Harmonic peaks that lined up in the original mix, were congruent, will no longer align. Some will be opposed by harmonic valleys or dips in the spectrum, causing phase cancellation. In other instances, you will get reinforcement. It's a very powerful and effective tool in music mixing but it always produces changes on the way you hear and perceive things.

And this obviously and subtly happened with revisions in the Beatles catalog. Most people hear it. They suss that it's different, maybe not as good as they remembered. If you didn't hear the original, it may sound perfectly excellent to you.

I haven't read books on the Beatles but I would suspect that the primary albums were mixed to mono version because of the formats they were going to be played on. Cheap transistor radios with one three-inch speaker with virtually no bass response, the old cardboard box-sized 45 players with a coarse steele needle that was essentially held in a mini screw-loaded vise, and fairly new and shitty stereos.

Of course they're not the only point of significance but the changes are pretty inseparable from the melody and the length of the verse and chorus sections (I think what you're referring to as compositional structure).

The verse in Please Please Me is pretty much nothing. It's a more rhythmically square echo of the lame opening harmonica line. After the first line of the verse there's a little ascending 3 chord rhythm guitar bit that's kind of cool. Then after the second line there's the PAUSE... dum dum, dum dum dum, COME ON... This is where the song kicks into gear with those ascending call and response harmonies that get farther away from the root only to return quickly home with the release of "Please please me oh yeah, like I please you." If the lyrics are important at all here it's the repetition of the word please that is the hook.

You're right in pointing out that the short resolution of the chorus is a significant feature. Compare to I Saw Her Standing There which climbs up with "I'll never dance with another" and then climbs back down equally slowly with the line "I saw her standing there." The exciting part of that song is the ending of the bridge with "and I held her hand in miiieeeeeene."

And now I'm Flying High - Just like those Thunderbird men
Flying High. Now that we're together again

When you are not in my arms, I'm a long, long way from heaven.
But when you say that you love me, very soon I'm doing Mach 7

Flying High Yeah! It's so wonderful to be alive
Flying High Just As high as Thunderbird 5.
Flying High, Flying High

you're like Geir with extra b.s. sometimes, Tim.

i mean, shit, why not just compare him to hitler? around here, a comparison to geir is basically the same thing, the ILM version of Godwin's Law. it's a shitty thing to do, and anyone who does it knows EXACTLY what they're doing.

but then again ever since ILM's been half-taken over by the trife-harvell-etc. axis, half the time it seems like this place is really "I Love Music (But Hip-Hop Better Be Your Favorite Music, Or I'm Going to Call You a Racist)"...

ps. "Walkin' On Sunshine" is as good an answer as any.

Yeah because that's the first thing I got from the song when I heard it.

x-post

Since the Capitol box set was called "Volume 1" I assume there's going to be (at the very least) a "Volume 2."

I think A Hard Day's Night wasn't part of the box because (unlike Help!) the original US configuration was released by United Artists, not Capitol.

You may be right. But I've tightly defined what I mean. And the differences are subtle but powerful and additive. There's as much to be said for attention to the technical details as well as the broad strokes.

And I agree, "Please Please Me," well-played, would still sound joyful on Fender amps. But it wouldn't sound quite the same. The Beatles guitar sound did change and vary. The stuff that came off the roof for "Let it Be" was more obviously from Fenders. You can see them and it sounds like it. And the Vox stuff sounds good, but different, too, for many reasons.

It is true that the guitar sound of the player lies in his hands. Hardware doesn't erase that but it can change it and superimpose a tone that is specific to the hardware. Psychoacoustically, people can't always express what the difference is, but they will know it's there, they know it when they hear it. It's not good or bad, it's just the way of things.

Yeah, that's exactly right. I'm suspecting my Russian edition is somewhat illegal because it delivers both the Parlophone edition and the United Artists version.

Semi-nine and snipered him
On that wall they postered him
They cornered him
And then just murdered him
He siad he didn't know them
He wasn't there
They didn't know hime
They should him a picture then
"Ain't that you with the Muslims?"

BREEZY HAPPY GOOD TIME

I don't know. I'm sure you're right. My standard line is that the first four Capital masters remasters to mono, were all more punchy and in-line with the originals. And that the "Hard Days Night" CD -- the Russian semi-legal weird edition, is also mono and with more impact than the stuff bought at Tower and BestBuy, but in line with my old vinyl.

a lot of cheesy ska punk.

Loads of early rave actually.

Happy Hardcore for gods sakes.

-- Tom (freakytrigge...), July 19th, 2005.

OTM!

I just remembered "Ride!" by Dee Dee Sharp. "Git it git it git it git it git it git it git it git it!"

Unless...

See, anyone who hates on Geir is just being short-sighted. Or Hitler-esque.

"Wonderful World" owneth: But I do know one and one is two, and if this one, could be with you....

Yes. "And Your Bird Can Sing" - The Beatles.

wtf? i can't tell whether you're (a) trying to be funny (b) purposely misrepresenting my point or (c) just didn't read my post properly.

"No Xmas for J.Quays"

Love Shack.

The New Pornographers, Sing Me Spanish Techno.

SECONDED!

"When your dream of perfect beauty comes true" by Bill Nelson.

Can't remember if I ever answered this one, but I'm too lazy to go back and look, so...

"The You & Me Song" by the Wannadies
"Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" by The Wedding Present

and, of course...

"We Have Joy" by Killing Joke

Cheryl Lynn's "To Be Real" mentioned years upthread. A couple of other big hits from that epoch that give me the same giddy, bursting-with-joy helium buzz:

Emotions - Best of My Love
Natalie Cole - This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)

Hey Ya!

Lots of ska/rock steady/early reggae - Desmond Dekker, for example.

'Your Name Is Wild' - Guided By Voices (actually several - 'Echoes Myron' 'Game of Pricks' 'I Am A Scientist' etc)

'Regret' - New Order

"Last night, I had a dream about you..."

http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=vfOJ3HSOsMw&feature=related

Long Dark Road – The Hollies
I Get So Excited – Ian Hunter
I Wish I Was Your Mother – Mott the Hoople / Ian
Roll Away The Stone – Mott the Hoople
James – Laid
Journey – Any Way You Want It
Cracklin' Rosie – Neil Diamond
Bat Macumba – Os Mutantes
Common People – Pulp
It's The End of the World As We Know it – REM
Ballroom Blitz – Sweet (/and lots of others by Sweet, too)

I'm not sure I understood Tim's purpose in starting this thread. Was he sincerely looking for examples or just looking to immediately dismiss people's answers? Disagreements which are inevitable when talking about something completely subjective like one's own personal joy-detector?

Anyways, I've heard a lot of music; but there's such an infinite range of human emotion that it's not inconceivable that NO songs capture that joy-burst in the exact way that Tim detects (as I imagine he does.) Given a couple of hours, I could name dozens. "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Dance To The Music" are the first to come to mind.

Black Sabbath-Falling off the Edge of the World

Common People is too angry to really burst with joy in the way I Wanna Hold Your Hand does.

Daft Punk - One More Time, on the other hand...

Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac
Letter From An Occupant - New Pornographers
Everything You've Done Wrong - Sloan
September Gurls - Big Star
Head Over Heels - Tears For Fears
You're Quiet - Brenden Benson
Senses Working Overtime - XTC
Heartbeat - Tahiti 80
If I Should Fall From Grace From God - Pogues
The Ocean In-Between - Matthew Sweet
Ray of Light - Madonna
Head Over Heels/Our Lips Are Sealed/We Got The Beat - Go Go's
Sun Hits The Sky/Cheapskate - Supergrass
Human Torch - Fastball
Let's Get Ready to Crumble - Russian Futurists
Lover's Rights - Rosebuds
Throwaway Style - Exploding Hearts
Hold Back The Rain - Duran Duran
Where The Streets Have No Name - Pet Shop Boys
Just What I Needed - Cars
Red Dragon Tatoo/Survival Car - Fountains of Wayne

Was he sincerely looking for examples or just looking to immediately dismiss people's answers?

Black Flag-Room 13

I'm a huge fan myself, and could probably have named a half-dozen Beatles tracks more "bursting with joy" (to me) than the ones he mentioned. Would he have argued against those too?

xpost

The more I read these answers, the more I think the answer is "no." Those early Beatles records had some unbridled energy that's hard to deny.

"It Won't Be Long" is pretty beatific, I think what Tim means resides mainly in the vocalizing? I dunno, he's right--but a lot of disco does this in some reversal-world way, and a lot of Al Green does it too. Cory Daye on Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band sounds as plump and beautiful and happy as she seems to have been back then, bursting

stevie wonder

"Fascination" by Alphabeat.

Beethoven's 9th, duh

stevie wonder

Yeah, Sir Duke alone is like some kinda aural SSRI drug.

Stevie Wonder for the win.

yup, i should just remember to play that tune and 'uptight' on a loop for the month of january.

The Cure's "Hey You!!!" comes to mind.

Yeah, Uptight was one of the others that came immediately to mind.

The Who's Pictures of Lily!

"Linus and Lucy" - Vince Gauraldi:
url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=vs-nXoVpNlY

"Blue Rondo a la Turk" - Dave Brubeck:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kc34Uj8wlmE

"New Frontier" - Donald Fagen:
url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=IRrCZCN8Kj0

"Every 1's A Winner" - Hot Chocolate:
url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=J-GkwIRbLw8

I don't believe it's been mentioned yet - but damn - Kinks songs brim with good feeling - who can't settle back in the easy chair and smile to 'Waterloo Sunset' 'Picture Book' 'Susanah's still alive' etc.

The Buzzcocks!

I don't really think of those songs as "bursting with joy" so much as "coming apart at the seems with cheerfulness"

the beatles ones I mean

whatever happened to tim e?

where does the tim e go?

who knows

he bursted

I was gonna post FreshenUpGum.jpg, but all those nostalgia junkie websites got their servers sewn up.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007SMERC.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://www.soulstrut.com/images/reviews/crates/motown/Apollo-100---Joy.gif

I'm kinda shocked James Brown never came up in this thread before this post!

Yeah, I'll be doggone. Oh wait.

The more I read these answers, the more I think the answer is "no."

i used to think the answer was "no" until i heard green's first album.

The Mice - Second Best
The Everly Brothers - Wake up little Suzie
Bonnie Lou - Dancing In My Socks
etc.

Phish - Bouncing around the room etc.
Widespread Panic - The Waker etc.
Grateful Dead - St Stephen etc.

i used to think the answer was "no" until i heard green's first album.

Yeah, those guys don't get enough credit.

bursting with joy is a difficult emotion to approximate... after looking at my choices I'm sure I could find more upbeat - burstingly happy songs

chicago - saturday in the park

Do the hustle!

the free design done bursted all over me!

http://mikedaisey.com/images/free_design.jpg

then they got all sad.

white stripes - fell in love with a girl?

i'm sure it's already been said, but "signed, sealed, delivered" is probably the most joyful song ever recorded, IMHO.

This was one of the funniest threads I've ever read.

ElectroSoul in the same vein as Jamie Liddell, Hot Chip, etc.

Junior Senior - "Move Your Feet"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKcDa0Kp2K8

Swans - "Beautiful Child"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EayNRh_PkBc

"Fascination" by Alphabeat.

-- daavid, Friday, 15 February 2008 22:34

damn right, and the frankmusik remix is that to the power of 10 - fucking *devastating*

http://www.iheartcomix.com/blog/franki/alphabeats-vs-frankmusik-fascination-club-edit

The Heliocentric World of the Nephews.

Might as well throw "Fascination" by the Human League in there, too.

Someone mentioned 'exploding hearts' already - I'll definitely echo that you can't but feel 'bursting with joy' there - also - Jason Falkner's early solo work has quite a few that would qualify.

Loads of early rave actually.

Happy Hardcore for gods sakes.

-- Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 21:43 (2 years ago) Link

How about Andrew W.K.'s entire catalogue?

"it takes two" rob base & dj ez rock

How about almost every song on Albert Ayler's New Grass. Pure ecstatic joy.

(I didn't read any of this thread, by the way.)

Scooter

I'll echo the dudes who mentioned the Everly Brothers. In fact, it seems as if the bursting-with-joy sound of early British Invasion is due in large part to "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye Bye Love."

"Sleigh Ride" by the Ronettes (from A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector)

Inner City - Good Life

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/BU/The_Phi_Mu_Washboard_Band_-_8_Mamma_Dont_Allow.mp3

Andrew WK.

"uptight (everything's alright)"

Mmmbop.

Jackson 5.

Pretty much all 70s Stevie Wonder.

Love Shack.

Groove Is In The Heart.

KEEP THS CUSTOMER SATISFIED!

And, you know, shitloads more.

Early Beatles holds that same factor as Nirvana at their best. Something that transcends the sum of its parts.

bbut factors are by definition the sum of their parts

XTC - "Burning With Optimism's Flame" is like Beatles^2

(literally: XTC strike me as being a buncha squares, at least once they kicked out Barry Whatshisname)

Animal Collective - Who Could Win a Rabbit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeGdJgWXJ6Q

No. People should stop making music now.
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, July 19, 2005 12:52 PM bookmarkflaglink

this song immediately came to mind when i saw the thread title:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GssZV7H5Tw

"Da Doo Ron Ron"!

Beatles - Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Lesley Gore - Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows

The Impressions, "We're A Winner"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLMRzDFMvEo

strat looks good on curtis

kylie minogue

one track i've probably listened to over a hundred times, maybe two hundred, in the past few years is "escapade" by janet jackson. it is all the joy berries, an essential distillation of the joy of life, the blues, transcendence, ecstasy passion and pain and transforms me for at least a few seconds literally every time i listen to it.

oh man that tripping daisy track is great, never heard that before

there's a lot of emotions in this tbh but it's cathartic in like a joyful way i think. ghostface at his best is high joy vibration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYx7uzzlhzY

Uh, there are like 500 Northern Soul songs that do this. It’s why I love the genre so much!

^^otm

ike & tina, "river deep mountain high." absolutely hair-raising. can't even catch my breath for the emotion when i attempt to sing along.

cornier answer: "joy," silverbullit aka citizen bird

"sense," "life of riley," lightning seeds

Lmao at OP's list of the top Beatles songs that contains some of their worst songs.

it's not that bad - I'm a big fan of "All My Loving" and "Please Please Me"

I love both those songs! You have to be Paul McCartney to think that Hey Jude and Hello Goodbye are top 10 Beatles songs.

tbf Hey Jude being top 10 is far from an unpopular opinion!!

fwiw here's the top 20 from the actual ilx Beatles poll:

1 A Day In The Life (Points: 717, Votes: 25, NumberOnes: 6)
2 Strawberry Fields Forever (Points: 703, Votes: 26, NumberOnes: 3)
3 Tomorrow Never Knows (Points: 590, Votes: 24, NumberOnes: 2)
4 Dear Prudence (Points: 543, Votes: 22, NumberOnes: 3)
5 Ticket To Ride (Points: 537, Votes: 21, NumberOnes: 1)
6 Happiness is a Warm Gun (Points: 512, Votes: 20, NumberOnes: 3)
7 For No One (Points: 495, Votes: 20, NumberOnes: 0)
8 I Am The Walrus (Points: 472, Votes: 22, NumberOnes: 0)
9 I'm only sleeping (Points: 445, Votes: 18, NumberOnes: 0)
10 Hey Bulldog (Points: 434, Votes: 19, NumberOnes: 1)
11 We Can Work It Out (Points: 432, Votes: 18, NumberOnes: 0)
12 And Your Bird Can Sing [19= Anthology 2 version] (Points: 415, Votes: 17, NumberOnes: 1)
13 In My Life (Points: 389, Votes: 19, NumberOnes: 0)
14 Penny Lane (Points: 370, Votes: 16, NumberOnes: 2)
15 Paperback Writer (Points: 369, Votes: 16, NumberOnes: 1)
16 You Never Give Me Your Money (Points: 366, Votes: 15, NumberOnes: 2)
17 She Loves You (Points: 360, Votes: 14, NumberOnes: 0)
18 Rain (Points: 355, Votes: 14, NumberOnes: 1)
19 Long Long Long (Points: 347, Votes: 13, NumberOnes: 1)
20 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Points: 329, Votes: 16, NumberOnes: 0)

cmd-f "Tighten Up", nada, wtf

I Just Can’t Stop Dancing

tbf Hey Jude being top 10 is far from an unpopular opinion!!

― c u (crüt), Tuesday, December 2, 2025 4:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

It may be popular with normies, but I would think ilx would be better, which apparently it is based on the ilx top 20 tipsy posted.

I think some of the early Rolling Stones songs have the same youthful joyful giddiness to them - I'm thinking in particular of their cover of "Mercy, Mercy." There's a particular quality that I think the original post is trying to get at, of the musicians seeming like they are joyful just to be performing the song, whatever it is. Like the essence of the line from "Shine a Light," "make every song you sing your favorite tune." I also hear it in "Another Saturday Night" by Sam Cooke.

joyfully in an awful way

Some Motown songs from this period have a similar contagious feeling of excitement , eg the Miracles “Mickey’s Monkey” also 1963.

needle in a haystack, for eg

"Mickey's Monkey" a perfect example.

Also 1963, "The Monkey Time," written by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Major Lance.