Songs to Improve Your Mental Health
Wed 23 July 2025
Background
I'd be fooling myself to think that I could be the first person on the earth to note music's incredible ability to heal and salve the tormented human soul. My own journey with music is, well, unsurprisingly, about as old as I am. Most everyone on one side of my family is pretty musically talented, and many of them play multiple instruments. I'm not what I'd call a musician, but I'd really like to be. The few times that I've been able to spontaneously perform something on the piano that I found personally pleasing were incredibly powerful moments, where the loop between music enjoyer and music creator became closed and began to feedback positively. I definitely want more experiences like that!
I've had a couple music-themed blog post series percolating in my mind for the past couple of years. I've thought of looking at the #1 hit songs from every year of my life and commenting on them (especially the ones I actually remember hearing growing up). I haven't started that yet, because it would be a pretty long blost series (I'm kinda old!!) I've also thought of reviewing the songs that I've found personally transformative in my life, although that's a much more personal and not particularly pluralistic subject, so I have kept that on the shelf for a while as well.
But reflecting on current events and my own recent personal history, I thought maybe putting together a short list of universally-uplifting songs would be fun, and maybe helpful to others. The tricky part, of course, is in finding songs that are universally uplifting. I find Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring to be a very beautiful composition, and one I have a bit of personal history with, but it wouldn't necessarily be universally appealing. So here's what I've been able to assemble on fairly short notice. I hope these songs touch your soul, or at least give you some positive, or at least light-hearted things to think about:
The List
Don't worry, be happy - Bobby McFerrin
I remember listening to this song when I was a teenager. It got a decent bit of circulation among my family members, and it's still one of my favorites.
Ok, the video is kinda campy, but the song—Holy crap, is that Robin Williams!!!?!? Ok, I wasn't expecting that. The feels, man, the feels. I really miss that dude.
So anyway, the meaning of the song isn't exactly hidden. It's a very simple song encouraging you to be happy... just to be happy. No reason.
Not enough? Well, it's a start, anyway. Let's continue. ;)
Lovely Day - Bill Withers
Gotta love those 70s collars. Bro's ready to taxi down to the runway and take off! 😄 This is another song that I just personally find very moving and uplifting. It's also not incredibly deep in terms of message, but I do rather like this one stanza:
When the day that lies ahead of me
Seems impossible to face
When someone else instead of me
Always seems to know the way
The singer (or bard, as it were) is confessing the difficulty of the day, but just "one look" at his beloved is all it takes to have some hope and confidence in the day ahead.
I was reminded of this song recently because of a humorous short video imagining what the recording process would've looked like with Bill Withers' amazing sustained vocals: [Invidious link] [Youtube link]
Isn't she Lovely - Stevie Wonder
One thing I love about this song is the total lack of a long spin-up. The song plays a single bar, and then he just launches into "Isn't she lovely?"
Ok, I'm not ashamed to say this: I get misty-eyed (at the very least) or just completely blubbery (at the worst) EVERY TIME I hear this song. It hits me right where it hurts, because the point of the song is so far removed from all of the vainglorious, selfish pursuits enshrined in song for eons past. It's the song of one man looking upon (metaphorically speaking, as Stevie is blind) his daughter for the very first time.
Ok, I can't get too deep into analysis on this one, because I'll just turn into a puddle.
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
I think I first discovered this song sometime last decade when they were playing it at the local city gym/rec center. It was so incredibly catchy, I just had to listen to it some more, so I found it on my phone when I got home and played it for the whole family while doing the dishes.
When Stevie sings, "Music knows it is and always will / Be one of the things that life just won't quit," he definitely knows what he's talking about!
Happy - Pharrell Williams
I know that a lot of people panned this song when it came out, saying that it's just shallow feel-goodism, and what not.
To such criticism, I have but one humble entreaty:
Shut up. *cough*
Clap along if you feel that happiness is the truth.
Many people are unhappy for many good reasons. Many people are happy for good reasons. Some people are unhappy without a good reason, and some people ostensibly are happy with no good reason. The entire truth table checks out. But in the face of so much unhappy stimuli, why not just choose to be happy? Unreasonably so? Irrationally so? Annoyingly so??
I often think of one of my Undergrad reading assignments, Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which the 1982 film Blade Runner was loosely based on.
There is a part in the book (but not in the film) where Deckard's wife is dialing in her Mood Organ, a device that allows its user to select a mood, and that is exactly how they will feel. The user can dial in anger, or sadness, incredible elation, or dial in a knock-down, drag-out argument with their spouse. In the book, Iran (Deckard's wife) would occasionally dial in intense, crippling depression, because she felt that that was the most honest setting. (To be clear, I'm paraphrasing something I read a little over a decade ago, so please forgive me if there are factual inaccuracies).
The thing is, I really don't think that's true. As someone who has grappled with debilitating depression many times, I find that depression's number one weapon is to convince you that it is not only an accurate view of your world, but is actually THE true view that colors every other viewpoint as foolish, shallow optimism.
But that's not true at all. You can simply choose joy, especially in the midst of crushing circumstances. Do it for yourself or for others (or both!), but that is absolutely a choice you can and should make. It doesn't deny bad things. It only chooses to believe that it can be better, and that your life matters, because it absolutely does.
100 Days to Offload 2025 - Day 44
Category: Life Tagged: 100DaysToOffload Beauty Entertainment Personal favorites Life Music Non-religious post Non-technical post Philosophy Prose Video
