Don’t Worry, Be Happy: 15 Sunshine-filled, Feel-good Songs to Boost Your Pre-Finals Spirits

I know, I know; you’re stressed. You had four papers due this week and eleven midterms and sixty-two chemistry problem sets and then your car caught on fire and you broke your leg after you tripped over your shoelaces (even though you were wearing flip-flops), and life just sucks.

But given the option, which would you prefer: to wallow in pre-finals self pity, or to feel as happy, relaxed, and without-worry as a cat anesthetized with ketamine? I think the answer is pretty obvious.

With finals just around the corner, it can be extremely easy to get yourself caught up in the hype and forget that no matter what, you’re still going to be well and breathing in about two  weeks from now. Get those teeth away from the bloody little nubs that used to be your fingernails and just try to remember that everything will be alright!

In order to try to calm some of those poor suffering nerves of yours, here is a playlist of 15 songs meant to soothe the soul with sunshine. These tunes always boost my mood, and hopefully they can give you some relief, as well!

Spread happiness,

Allison

Don’t Worry, Be Happy: 15 Sunshine-filled, Feel-good Songs to Boost Your Pre-Finals Spirits (Opens in Spotify)

1. Givers // Noche Nada

2. Buck O Nine // My Town

3. The Beatles // Twist and Shout

4. The Clash // Revolution Rock

5. Corinne Bailey Rae // Put Your Records On

6. Givers // Up Up Up

7. Jackson 5 // I Want You Back

8. Noah And The Whale // 5 Years Time

9. Mungo Jerry // In The Summertime

10. Matt and Kim // Daylight

11. The Avett Brothers // Kick Drum Heart

12. Sugar Ray // Every Morning

13. Vampire Weekend // A-Punk

14. Talking Heads // This Must Be the Place

15. Zac Brown Band // Toes

It’s Stuck-In-Your-Head Week!

Hello, blog-readers!

So lately, I’ve been especially into folksy-ish music (‘folksy-ish’ is now a genre) so I suppose I’ll let you all know what’s been stuck in my head for the past few weeks.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, in my opinon, are pretty much as folksy-ish as you can get, and they are glorious.  ”Home” is probably one of their better-known songs; my favorite version is this totally off-the-cuff live performance they did outside the Fillmore in San Francisco.  A warning before you proceed: This will get stuck in your head.  You will be singing it all day. And you will love every minute of it.  Anyways, the link is to the full 10-minute version, and the video embedded here is the short version I found on youtube (the long one is crazyamazing):

Original version from La Blogotheque: http://www.blogotheque.net/Edward-Sharpe-and-the-Magnetic

Quickie version:

A little less folksy-ish (man, that is hard to type) but still quite awesome is Noah and the Whale.  ”5 Years Time” is upbeat and a very good folding-laundry song.  The whistly part at the beginning is really fun, so if you can whistle, I highly suggest making this a whistle-/sing-along.

And they aren’t folksy (so much as ridiculous), but I do love me some Flight of the Conchords.  To all you readers taking a French class: you’re welcome.

That’s it for this week…have a great weekend!

-Reese