Monday, May 2, 2011

Monday Music

As promised last Monday, this week I'm featuring an undeniably American song (which couldn't come at a more apropos moment, seeing as our nation is jubilant today): "Happy Girl" by country singer Martina McBride.  This is one of those songs that is just bursting at the seams with utterly contagious happiness.  In it, McBride sings of overcoming a negative outlook and embracing life in all its complexity ("Laugh when I feel like it, cry when I feel like it, that's just how my life is...").  Simply becoming "a happy girl," however, is admittedly much easier said than done; as anyone who has ever been depressed knows all too well, depression is not something that you can just "snap out of."  McBride does give one piece of advice for overcoming depression when she sings: "Now every time I start to feel like that, I roll my heart out like a welcome mat."  To me, that speaks to inviting new people and experiences into your life instead of retreating and withdrawing into depression.  You have a choice.  What other people do and say is out of your control, but the way you respond and live your life is completely up to you -- and that is a powerful thing to realize.  Here are some other noteworthy lyrics:

I used to live in a darkened room
Had a face of stone
And a heart of gloom
Lost my hope, I was so far gone
Crying all my tears
With the curtains drawn
I didn't know until my soul broke free
I've got these angels watching over me

Oh, watch me go
I'm a happy girl
Everybody knows
That the sweetest thing that you'll ever see
In the whole wide world
Is a happy girl


I used to hide in a party crowd
Bottled up inside
Feeling so left out
Standing in a corner wearing concrete shoes
With my frozen smile
And my lighted fuse
 

And I've come to know
That the world won't change
Just 'cause I complain

Let the axis twirl
I'm a happy girl



(Sorry for the not-so-great video... Sadly there was never a real music video made for this song.)

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