Makes me happy

Continuing the music conversation, and something I've mentioned a few times over the past couple of weeks--with the current political climate, I need to find different outlets where I can decompress and stay away from the news of the day.  Music is the outlet I turn to most often.  I created a playlist on my iPod simply called, "Makes Me Happy."

For the most part, I only add to this list.  Very rarely to I delete songs from it.  Kerri had mentioned in response to my last post songs that you never tire of...this list is full of those songs.  One that I did delete, ironically, was Pharrell's Happy.  That one was just overplayed and I got sick of it. 

Without further ado, here's my current "Makes Me Happy" playlist:

Love on Top - Beyonce
Just Fine - Mary J. Blige
Outstanding - The Gap Band
Rock with You - Michael Jackson
Lovely Day - Bill Withers
Mercy - Darcy
I Try - Macy Gray
You Rock My World - Michael Jackson
Upton Funk - Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars
Before I Let Go - Maze feat. Frankie Beverly
Voices Inside (Everything is Everything) - Donny Hathaway
Love Never Felt So Good - Michael Jackson & Justin Timberlake
Remember the Time - Michael Jackson
Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd
Can't Stop the Feeling - Justin Timberlake
24 K Magic - Bruno Mars
Perm - Bruno Mars
Finesse - Bruno Mars
Isn't She Lovely - Stevie Wonder
1+1+1 is 3 - Prince

Forever's a long time--plan accordingly

While out to dinner tonight with my family, my sister posed a question:  if you were going to be stranded alone on an island for the rest of your life and could take the music of 10 artists with you, who would you take?  (I might be paraphrasing some of that, but that was the gist.)  Instead of coming up with my list at dinner, I said I'd save it to write about on my blog.  I heard some good ideas from my parents and sister, and my list overlaps a lot with all of theirs.  Here we go, in no particular order:

• Stevie Wonder
• Prince
• Michael Jackson
• Earth, Wind & Fire
• Adele
• Justin Timberlake
• Otis Redding
• Bruno Mars
• Aretha Franklin
• Al Green

If I were allowed to negotiate and add 5 more, I'd also include:

• Amy Winehouse
• Marvin Gaye
• Teena Marie
• Donny Hathaway
• New Edition (I've been listening to them non-stop since the movie aired...this would be good, and would have to include the members' solo projects (Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown, and Johnny Gill), and Bel Biv DeVoe.

Oohh....one more, if I could for an even 16:

• Red Hot Chili Peppers (Hmmm....one of these is not like the others.  However, sometimes I might just need to rock out on my island)

To Sir, with Love

Last night on Saturday Night Live, Cecily Strong and Sasheer Zamata paid tribute to Barack Obama with a rendition of "To Sir, with Love" from the movie of the same title.  It was very sweet and a touching tribute.  Seeing it reminded me that I love that movie and haven't seen it in years.  It's one of those movies that I'd stop and watch any time I came across it.  It stars Sidney Poitier as a teacher who winds up teaching a class full of "hooligans."  He not only teaches them their school work, but he also teaches them manners, self worth, and respect--for themselves and for each other.  Sidney Poitier's so great, and this movie just brings me joy.

I just had a thought about it--so often these days, there's talk of all the movies with the "white savior" who goes in to a situation and saves all people of color.  To Sir, with Love is the opposite--it's a distinguished black man who saves the white children.  And this movie is from 1967!  Imagine that!

So, To Sir, with Love is on my to-do list for this weekend.  In the meantime, here's Lulu singing the title song.

Throw some perm on your attitude!

When I get a new album that I love, I listen to it over and over and over again, and generally, don't tire of it.  When I like every song, I try to pick out which one is my absolute favorite.  Then I listen to that over and over before moving on to other songs.  The latest album I'm doing all this with is Bruno Mars' 24K Magic.  I LOVE the whole damn album.  (I still call these things albums...even though I haven't touched an album in years.)

I loved the song "24K Magic" when it first came out.  Then when I downloaded the whole album, I decided that "Finesse" was my favorite song.  Now that it's been several weeks, I've decided that for the dance songs, my favorite is "Perm."  You can't go wrong with a lyric like:

Throw some perm on that attitude....

Girl, you gotta relax!  

There are certain parts of this song where I can picture the choreography and type of moves that would go with it.  I found this video that nails it.  Especially at 1:40 when they start pop locking like ReRun from What's Happening.  I just love it.


There's a part around 1:53 where I picture James Brown moving across the floor on one foot.  The video above doesn't capture that, but I see it so clearly in my head.  It looks like this:  https://youtu.be/ZF_rZrH4yBY?t=148.  (I couldn't embed the video and get it to start playing at the right point.)

Of the slower variety, "Too Good To Say Goodbye" tops my list.  This song is fun to lip sync to and I sometimes want to break out into a full lip sync performance as I'm walking to work from the Metro.  

Instead, I sing quietly inside my head.