For many people like me, music and a good meal among favorite people are sources of happiness.  Put them together for a special recipe of happiness.  Enjoy the third installment of a five course happy meal, with music.

Appetizer:  “Feel Alright” by Steve Earle.  Good Americana style song about a guy who has been good and bad, but chooses to “feel alright.”  Good music and interesting lyrics.  An appetizer to get things off to a good start.

Pasta Course:  “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills & Nash.  Sometimes you figure out that what you’ve left behind was much better than you had thought.  You can keep searching for something better like an “acre of diamonds” and suddenly you realize that the gems are what you’ve had all along.  It’s the pasta course because it seems so good, it seems like never enough, and leaves you wanting something even more.

Salad:  “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve.  I love this song but the message is analogous to salad.  Often bitter, the part that most people really don’t want, but you know it’s good for you.  The song speaks to the difficulties of life and overcoming them so you can get to a place you really long to be.  At the table, it’s the entree, in life it’s simple happy pursuits.

Entree:  “Feelin’ Good Again” by Robert Earl Keen.  This is another great America story.  The lyrics tell the tale of a guy whose happiness is truly connected to life’s moments.  He enters the bar and sees the folks he wants to be around, finds seventy bucks in his pocket to share a round of cocktails, then his wish is granted when he sees the face of his greatest love.  He’s feelin’ good in the moment.  Many such moments added together make a happy life. 

Dessert: “Sinnerman” by Hot Since ’82/Ed Graves.  Maybe it’s too obvious, but over-indulgence is associated with dessert so I took the bait here.  Happiness often is sought by choosing perceived “happiness substitutes” like sugar, alcohol, drugs, lavish vacations and certain rushes or vices.  Like dessert, they are pleasures that last only for the moment.  Happiness comes from the total of all things sweet in life and not a quick fix or sugar high.

KPF