what music takes you to a happy place?

[saxman]

Some of us get depressed and feel down sometimes . for me music always lifts me out of Any depression. If i remember to listen to or Play music .i always feel better after. sometimes its Janis sometimes its John coltrane sometimes its just hard to lift my arm and head out from under the covers and hit the play button on my cd player . its always loaded with Janis . i have my horn near me at all times and when the mood is right i play. i know lots of others play along with Janis .it is a expierence that i have all the time .it is a real expierence playing along with Janis , ive got some good to real great solos i play , when i play along.,,,,,,, What takes others out of a depression? What songs lift your spirits? i being a musician know in my heart that Music heals . What helps everyone besides Music? Saxman wants to know. im in the best mood ever these days . meds are working , my kids just left after a great visit , things are Great in my life . Just wondering .

[Eva]

Beautiful female singingvoices always make me happy. And folk makes me happy. Janis of course.

Kate Bush. Barbra Streisand makes me very happy. Even if I don't like all her songs.

Hungarian and Romanian Gipsymusic makes me happy. Some songs make me want to dance. And the music feels so... real.

Songs don't neccesarily have to be 'happy songs' to make me happy. They can be really sad too. Or angry. More ways lead to Rome, as they say. Sometimes the sheer beauty of a singingvoice or an instrument like for instance a violin, makes me happy.

Eva

[Darlene]

I love music but I tend to listen to depressive music if I am depressed. Instead I take a mind trip. A little self-hypnosis works great for me. First I clear my mind as much as possible. Then I take a mind trip, I stand at the top of a long, wide opening in the earth. I am kind of weightless and I take a step into the opening. I fall slightly, gently as if I am floating down into a gentle place. As I float downward I pass by things from my past, Poo, Mickey Mouse, Elliot, the music is from my childhood. I hear Thumbelina, How Much is That Doggie in The Window, Would You Like To Swing On a Star. It is so beautiful and so comforting just floating downward. I then begin to pass things in my tweens, The Monkeys, The Beatles, They say hello and I am breathless. Then comes my teenage years, James Taylor, Carley Simon, Peter, Paul and Mary. They smile and I think I am in Heaven. Then the colors, purple, pink. blue whirling mixing it is so beautiful. I notice a clear box below that I have been to many times before. I go into the entrance of the box and the glass is so thick. I am not sure what it is made of but it is so strong, nothing can penetrate it. It is a safe place. It about two feet longer than I am and three feet higher than I am tall. Soft pillows surround the compartment. The temperature is perfect, a little cold but perfect for me. The blankets are so soft. Music is playing wonderful calming music, like the angles are singing. No one can hurt me. I am safe. I can rest. Everything is beautiful. I lay down. I cover with the blankets. I snuggle in, I am Happy and I am safe.

[GodSistah]

Music in general makes me happy.

As a musician, being happy makes me want to make music and music makes me happy. So it is a happy cycle for me.

For a while after my Mother passed away, I couldn't play...when I finally found my Muse again, I understood what was wrong with me, what was missing! It was one of the worst periods in my life.

Through music I work out every thing in my life...sadness, misunderstandings in relationships, pain, stress...and happiness too! It all goes into the music.

In terms of listening to music...many different artists and styles make me happy. But mainly funk music, P-Funk especially...and Bootsy Collins never fails to put a smile on my face.

This is a great thread, Saxman Mike!

:)

~Andrea~

[lucille]

Brass band music can bring me to happy tears, and I often play the soundtrack from 'Brassed Off'. :) and other brass band cds

PS You have mail Saxman

[saxman]

The best orgasm ive ever had was sitting in the Sax section of a 23 piece big Jazz Band The brass hitting me in the back of my head. its the best expierence i ever had . i played with several big bands in the late 60s took a vacation to Nam then played again in the early 70s . The best years of my life . until now of course , now i have 3 grown children that take the place of my music., there is nothing like playing in a big band for me . hope everyone can expierence it. but there are not to many bands left . priced out of most clubs. i miss it lots! P.S. that was a musical orgasm not to be confussed with any other.

[Mimi]

let me think about it when I go for a short bike ride along the rhine now because it has just stopped raining.

Mimi

[aabram]

I thought I loved music..... I DO love music. Music brightens the spirit and enriches the soul. It calms me when I'm troubled and rejoices with me when I'm happy.


"Angel voices ever singing".

St Mary's Cathedral Choir for classical music, mostly during August during the Edinburgh Festival, on Sundays and at Christmas. They are amongst the Choral Greats of England, being the only Cathedral Choir in Scotland with a purpose-built music school attached to it - something of a "breeding-ground" for music teachers. www.cathedral.net


The Scottish Folk Revival of the 1970's

At all other times, there is a wealth of Scotland's Folk Revival singers and other musicians, some of whom are no longer with us but whose music lives on on CD and old vinyl, and other new ones who I still have to catch up wih. There's alot of music out there and alot of it speaks to me in ways I have yet to fathom. You only have to look in the record shops along Princes' Street for the Scottish Folk Revival "Greats" - Eric Bogle, Dick Gaughan, Aly Bain, Phil Cunningham, and numerous Ceilidh Bands, some well known, others not. There is music there to suit most moods www.greentraxrecords.com


Other stuff

I know less about American Stuff though. But I'm surprised at what I DO know. For a long time I followed some of the "British" Rock Greats and found some of the Groups I liked weren't British!!!! It didn't matter. I still like them anyway.

I just listen to whatever music suits my mood..... and Janis ALWAYS stays on top :)

[Randy & Betty in Pa]

Well I wish I could say a pristine classic 39 Ford Sedan. powder blue with a big block Chevy engine....but alas I can't so I will settle by saying People.... Well Betty whom is the best person I have EVER met or for that matter would want to meet.... and people like Janis, who has dedicated her life to writting the music which wakes my inner most emotions and makes me pay attention to life....And people like you Mike...One year a total stranger the next year a friend... as is the case with so many rudies....And people like REDJACK allowing me someone to always blame... Oh and my cat, who tolerates me when I'm grumpy and forgives me when I screw up....

As far as the Music goes it's more a matter of mood then selection...One minute I'm listening to Uriah Heep or the Moody Blues, The next Janis Ian and you know whichever I generally have a smile plastered over my face hiding beneath my beard...

Best to all and Happy New Year

R. from Pa

[gisli]

Great question saxman. If I am feeling down and want something to lift me up, I first need to go all the way down......so I listen to.....I would not call it depressing music......but it has to be beautyful. Beside Janis, I would have to say Emeliana Torrini and mostly her song: "Today has been ok". It is from a cd called Fishermans woman and on that cd she deals with a part of her life that was not so kind with her...it took her some years but she is writing herself into...or away from the experiense of loosing a soulmate, a friend and her boyfriend, from a car accident. "Today has been ok" moves me.

Then of course that Hawaian artist Israel Kakwiowo´ole and his version of Somewhere over the rainbow and Louis Armstrong song What a wonderful world. And let me not forget Jack Johnson song Stable it together.

[Mimi]

I thought about your question, Mike, and the first thing I felt is that music has always connected me to people, to feelings, to memories, happy ones as well as sad ones. Music lifts me up, it helps me to relax.

Baroque music for example brings up happy memories of childhood and youth, sunday morning breakfast with the family, my sister playing flute in her room, my first girlfriend playing the violin in a concert.

Some music is connected to special events and periods of my life. While I spent a year in Italy to learn the language I discovered lots of wonderful music and learned a lot of vocabulary while studying the lyrics of Lucio Dalla and Gianna Nannini. Dalla who is from Bologna connects me to this town that I love so much. Rock singer Gianna is good for me when I'm angry... I can give room to this feeling without hurting people and then relax...

From the beginning of the nineties I've listened a lot to the bands of the American Klezmer Revival like Brave Old World, The Klezmatics (David Licht is such a fantastic drummer!!!), KCB (wonderful brass!!!) and others what finally led me to meet my Partner Rachel at a Klezmer workshop. During our first years when we were not yet living together it was very important to us to share the music we were listening to.

Music, melodies, lyrics and voices are so universal and so special, so unique at the same time. I don't know how to put it into words, music touches my heart more directly than anything else and I don't know how it works. A wonderful voice, the sound of a clarinet, a special harmony...

There is music I've always liked and other more connected to special periods of my life. Most of all I've always liked folk music female singer songwriters, it all began with Joan Baez when I was 13 I think, others followed and this path finally led me to Janis.

And that is my question of the year: Why didn't I discover her music earlier and even more important: What's the special kick it gave me from the very first moment? What's different? It must be IN THE MUSIC. It has nothing to do with the close feeling Janis gives us all in her shows and with her special way of being with her fans or with the community here on the board. This very special feeling was there before I saw Janis live for the first time and before I knew about the website.
WHAT IS IT FOR YOU, RUDIES, THAT MAKES JANIS SO SPECIAL?

Well, I stop here, curious to read your replies!

Mimi

[Randy & Betty in Pa]

WHAT IS IT FOR YOU, RUDIES, THAT MAKES JANIS SO SPECIAL?


Wie ghet es einen Mimi....

Thats the easiest question I've been asked in a very long time... I could do a long drawn out detailed answer, but honestly it would be the same and include all the things yet to be written by others so the short answer to What makes Janis so special to me would be that SHE IS JANIS!!!

Happy New year...

R. from Pa

[Mimi]

for the best answer! I think you're right!

Mimi :) :) :)

A lucky and healthy new year to you!

[amelio747]

Many times I've been walking to the local shops or to the train station to see a friend, and I've played Mazzy Star on my walkman. Often I've had a troubled mind, but many of their songs have put me in a real euphoric state. Especially 'Fade Into' and 'Bells Ring'. Hope's vocals are strikingly hypnotic. A lot of people have said you need to take drugs to listen to Mazzy Star, but for me they are not needed. Their songs are so beautiful. Likewise The Innocence Mission. I recall many lonely lunchbreaks working on a industrial estate listening to 'Bright As Yellow' and it filling me with so much hope and peace of mind. I got fired from that job, and what I treasure from that time is The Innocence Mission.

[MadMusician]

Want to see a smile on my face? Just play Shanty by Jonathon Edwards or Mountain of Love by Johnny Rivers.

[saxman]

Great answers. i have to say when i hear people say it took them a long time to find Janis . i dont think she was ever Lost, and Anytime is a good time to find Janis ,just make sure you pass her on to others . Happy new year !

[Seth]

Van Morrison always lifts me up!

[Colefan]

Gnawa Musician Hassan Hakmoun

His CD's I listen to...

Life Around The World
The Gift

Don't have a clue on most of songs what he is singing about, which sometimes is a good thing with his blend of feverish intoxicating rhythms along with blending the instruments of the Western World. His music heals my soul with an invitation to trance, shake, awaken, and lift the spirit. Simply, it makes me happy!

Also, I have been listening to the latest Gomez CD "How We Operate." Highly recommend.

[Mimi]

you're so right, it can never be too late for discovering Janis and becoming a Rudie but I can't imagine that I didn't know Janis, all this wonderful music and the JIMB only a year ago... :confused:

Mimi

[aabram]

Great answers. i have to say when i hear people say it took them a long time to find Janis . i dont think she was ever Lost, and Anytime is a good time to find Janis ,just make sure you pass her on to others . Happy new year !

Already doing that, Mike. My next victim is Libby at AfA :D

[ponytail]

My favorite music, the music that I go back to over and over, tends to really move me. Often that's not to a "happy" place, though it's a therapeutic one.

If I want purely happy, dance music pumps me up and gives me energy. I hate to admit it, but disco music in particular lifts my spirits. It reminds me of the long-ago carefree days of being a huge slut (just being honest, folks).

Other music that makes me happy: Bing Crosby/Louis Armstrong collaborations, especially the more Dixieland-oriented ones. Bing's duets with Rosemary Clooney are usually fun, too.

And male groups singing a capella, anything from sea shanties to doo wop. How can you hear The Persuasions and not end up smiling?

[Eva]

I hate to admit it, but disco music in particular lifts my spirits.
What are you? Gay?? :rolleyes: :D

Eva

PS: Anything by John Denver makes me happy. His voice and music make the sun come out for me.

[Randy & Betty in Pa]

What are you? Gay??


No but like PT, I find Disco has had and continues to have a valuable place in my life... Often a place of conflict over the years with my rocker friends as I was seen mostly as a hippy, and how the hell can a hippy like disco???? You'd think I had long hair and a beard or something from the way they reacted...

There is crossover music that I consider to be disco from some of the greatest rock and folk artists of our times to include Janis, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, The Bee Gees, Earth Wind & Fire, Cher and so many more then of course there are the purist disco acts like The Village People, Donna Summers, The Pointer Sisters and Boz Scaggs.... I love all these acts and to say the least they make me smile.... And Eva.... Wouldn't you know it... I don't even speak with a lisp....;)

Oh and John Denver is alright for a POP artist.... :o

Best to you

R. from Pa

[hoops]

i have found more and more over the years that most music makes me happy. i used to be a hater, i admit it, i hated some music, country, pop, disco mostly, hip hop, mostly, but i can look back and find many many songs in these genres that i really enjoy. I have revisited this truth recently while not having a working cd player in my posession...i finally got one two days ago (thatn goodness) now, what i will pay for is another story completely :)
peace
hoops

[DaveM]

Strangely, I find that almost any music distracts and often lifts my mood. I tend to drag out the depressing stuff when I'm down (Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony are favorites) but once the music is over, the black mood generally passes with it.

Janis' music, conversely, seems to suit any mood, and despite her ongoing insistences to the contrary, she's never managed to depress me. I trust the same is true for the rest of you?

[aabram]

Janis' music, conversely, seems to suit any mood, and despite her ongoing insistences to the contrary, she's never managed to depress me. I trust the same is true for the rest of you?

DaveM. Janis's music cannot depress anyone. Isn't that why I'm still here????? :) (Janis thinks it can though, but haven't we got news for YOU, Janis :D:D )

[ponytail]

And even Janis has some music that can be described as disco (I just got "Uncle Wonderful," and I LOVE it!):D

I've also been grooving away to Taylor Dayne lately, a blonde, black leather-wearing dance diva...I wonder if a certain pirate queen would like her...:p

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=83175998872097682&hl=en

(check out the video for "Don't Rush Me," an old favorite).

[Eva]

Everyone looks better
In leather!

That rhymes... somehow...

Pirate Queen

[david uk]

Janis' music, conversely, seems to suit any mood, and despite her ongoing insistences to the contrary, she's never managed to depress me. I trust the same is true for the rest of you?

However sad the song, even "Matthew", I always find Janis's music life-affirming.

[Dar]

What a great question Mike!
you mean besides Janis music?

I love listening to soundtracks of shows I've really loved, like Wicked or Hairspray, shows that made me smile and laugh when I saw them.

I've lately become a Pod person, Ipod that is. I was reluctant to join the herds, but have to admit to becoming hooked. I'm putting together music compilations now because I'm going to start teaching Cycling/Spinning classes and I needed to find a bunch of uptempo music. I'm finding that songs by groups like The Pretenders, Bangles, Robert Palmer and Foreigner really have my head bopping. One day I may add a Janis song to a class too!

[lucille]

I have just been watching an hour and a half of a Kiri te Kanawa interview, and she sang Pokarekare ana and Po Ata Ran (Now is the Hour), and tears came to my eyes. She sang the latter at the closing of the Manchester Games (I think), and I bet there wasn't a dry eye in the house. But Pokarekare ana is a firm favourite and always brings me undone - in a nice way.

Now I know where Charlie gets it from; he is a real sook too.:D

[sky]

Dance music cheers me up and makes me want to clean my house :D But lately since I have discovered janis Ian music--I have been listening to it a lot! I LIKE IT. And I find that it moves me in a way! I do find a few songs sort of painful to listen to in a way (like his hands)--but still that feels good in a way, because it is good to be alive and to be able to feel. Many of her songs make me happy though:)