Sad Songs for Happy People

I was sharing a lot of my old songs with my girlfriend a little while ago and she eventually asked me, "Where are all the happy songs?" She was surprised that every single one of the songs I had shown her was sad, angry, existential... none of them happy songs, love songs, or anything of the like. The thing is, I was surprised too. I figured I had to have written some happy songs at some point. But I didn't - or at least, I didn't finish any. The one song I pointed to as a happy song was indeed a song about being happy, but it was still disguised as a song about being sad.

I consider myself a happy person. And I'm often an optimist to a fault, much to the dismay of my bitchier friends. So this lack of happy songs really struck me as odd. Then, looking back at the various unfinished projects in my song journals, I saw that there were indeed happy songs. They just never got finished, for the most part. Because they sucked.

And I find that my own songwriting isn't the minority. When I think of my favorite songs, I don't think a single one of them is inherently happy. More often they discuss severe depression or the inherent pains of life. But these songs make me happy. I can't explain why, but the songs about hate are the songs that make me love.

Above: This is a love song. It's also extremely sad. It's also beautiful.

On the other hand, when I think about the bands I listen to that mostly write happy songs (Reliant K, Jacob Tyler Lucas, early Beatles), I find that those are also the bands where I love the music, but find the lyrics extremely corny and stupid. I feel as though they convey none of the emotion that I find powerful in my favorite songs. These are the bands that, as a lyricist, hurt to listen to. The one man I listen to that seems to write consistently great happy songs is Jason Mraz. And even with him, who I consider the master, bridges on corniness sometimes, especially with his earlier work. And my favorite Mraz song is "A Beautiful Mess" - once again, a really sad love song.

I guess I eventually realized that I focus musically, in what I listen to and what I write, on the most emotionally critical moments in my life, and those are rarely happy moments. Because I'm usually happy. Plus, songwriting largely acts as a coping mechanism for me. Instead of punching a pillow or shouting at someone over the phone, I write a song.

Above: The absolute happiest I can stand for a song to be and still be able to love it. Maybe because it's painted with a thin layer of depression and existentialism.

So... that's about it. Please freaking comment, because it took a lot of motivating to get me to write something today, mostly because I don't feel like anyone ever reads this. So if you're reading, comment, whether or not you have something to say.