List music that make me happy

With it’s inclusion in Guitar Hero 3, Eric Johnson’s Cliffs of Dover¹ reached me, too. According to Wikipedia, Eric Jonhson claims the song was a inspiration out of nowhere – being written in 5 minutes²

It is an instrumental, upbeat and technically challenging – not that I would know other than by looking at his finger play over the strings. :)

The part covered in GH3 starts at about 2:15 in this live recording.

¹ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AoaS38-vb6s

² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffs_of_Dover_%28song%29

I think I first Ram Jam’s Black Betty¹ in one of the Need for Speed games, not sure which. In their hands it is powerful and rhythmical, contrasting to earlier a cappella or guitar accompanied versions².

This folk song is often accredited to Lead Belly³, although he wasn’t even the first to record it.

¹ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lMLnDuzgkjo

² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Betty

³ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huddie_Ledbetter

When Windows 95 came out, it had some multimedia present on the CD. Among the videos were a performance by Edie Brickell, performing Good Times¹.

I’m still getting a fuzzy feeling inside listening to this. :)

¹ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xSA-CWme3pM

Get out of your lazy bed¹ must be the quintessential happiness boost song there is.

I’ll continue naming songs (and instrumentals) I really enjoy; I’ll try to keep a rate of once a day. Happy listening.

¹ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocsob26cvdA