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Uplifting Thoughts for the Isolated and Depressed in Times of Plague

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I fell down a YouTube rabbit hole last night, as you do, and I found this extremely uplifting video of a 68 year old woman being reduced to tears.

First Aid Kit sing a song that they wrote as a tribute to Emmylou Harris. The grey-haired and balding guy bopping along next to Emmylou is King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.



And if you want more of First Aid Kit (I certainly did), look for the one of them having a profound effect on Paul Simon, too.
One of the things I admire about Emmylou Harris is, she started going grey sometime in her early 30s - if not sooner - and rather than cover it up just said "this is who I am.".
Here's she is from back in the day:
 

Somewhere over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole​

"Iz" or "Bruddah Iz" was a popular Hawaiian singer of contemporary and traditional Hawaiian songs. His best selling album of Hawaiian music was Facing Future and was popular world wide. He was named "Voice of Hawaii" in 2010 by NPR. He was also a Hawaiian rights activist, promoting Hawaiian independence through his music and political activism. He died in 1997 at age 38 due to complications of chronic obesity.

 
Whisper it soft, but I am not a huge fan of Elgar's 'Nimrod' from the Enigma Variations, but this arrangement for cello by Simon Parkin, played by Sheku Kanneh-Mason, is gorgeous!

I think Elgar would have approved - other than J S Bach, and in a very different way, I think Elgar was the composer who made most of the cello - here's Sheku in what is surely the greatest concerto for the instrument:

 
It does depress me that we lost Tom Rapp, singer and songwriter with a slight lisp, gentle voice and apocalyptic vision, who helped make his band "Pearls Before Swine" a cult favorite, three years ago. But he left so many great songs. This one has gotten me through many a bad time.
"These Thing Too..."
 
Has anyone here seen the movie "Cold War?" This clip really makes me want to see it.
A mature Bob Dylan with a gentle love song that comforts me no end.
"If I had the wings of a snow-white dove
I'd preach the gospel, the gospel of love
A love so real, a love so true

I've made up my mind to give myself to you."
 
This is one of the best performances of this immortal song and one of its many shades. I mean the intro in minor key (after Matthew Fischer left the band) and the solemn orchestral accompaniment.

Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale, live in Denmark 2006
 
As uplifting as it gets. Just lay back and listen to some fun music!
Oh, come a little closer to my breast,
I'll tell you that you're the one I really love the best,
And you don't have to worry about any of the rest,

'Cause everything's fine right now.
The Incredible String Band, a Scottish psychedelic folk band formed in Edinburgh in 1966
 
Live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan - February/March 1978
A great love song about a strong woman who may not be all that strong.

My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn't have to say she's faithful
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire

People carry roses
And make promises by the hours
My love she laughs like the flowers
Valentines can't buy her

In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall

Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all

The cloak and dagger dangles
Madams light the candles
In ceremonies of the horsemen
Even a pawn must hold a grudge

Statues made of match sticks
Crumble into one another
My love winks, she does not bother
She knows too much to argue or to judge

The bridge at midnight trembles
The country doctor rambles
Bankers' nieces seek perfection
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring

The wind howls like a hammer
The night blows cold and rainy
My love she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing
 
You all may not have remarked it yet but there is happening something in Sweden which seems to have the quality of travelling in a time machine:

After 40 years, ABBA really started its virtual comeback and for me as an ABBA-fan it is like witnessing a fairy-tale. There are comments from fans below these videos which can make the reader's cry and the reaction even of my mother who soon will be 90 years old is almost like in this comment:

"My grandmother has dementia and can’t remember the past. When that song was on the radio, she immediately knew it was ABBA. This band is unique. My grandma had tears in her eyes and felt like she had been taken back to the 70s. It was nice to see her so happy.
Greetings from Germany"

And this music and these videos are really like watching in joy and happiness an old friend coming back after 40 years. I would never have expected such emotional feelings for myself by listening to this music and seeing such reactions from old fans:





 
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So, Morning doesn't always bring every good gift.
Sometimes you get up only to find shit on the floor
You spend your first minutes and hours
cleaning up the disgusting mess from the night before
and with a horrendous hang-over to add joy to the task.

But you are up.
You have a new day before you
A day you've never lived before
Nor will ever live again.
And, in that day there are people
People who care for you
And will rejoice in your company.
Live the new shitty day to the full!
 
You all may not have remarked it yet but there is happening something in Sweden which seems to have the quality of travelling in a time machine:

After 40 years, ABBA really started its virtual comeback and for me as an ABBA-fan it is like witnessing a fairy-tale. There are comments from fans below these videos which can make the reader's cry and the reaction even of my mother who soon will be 90 years old is almost like in this comment:

"My grandmother has dementia and can’t remember the past. When that song was on the radio, she immediately knew it was ABBA. This band is unique. My grandma had tears in her eyes and felt like she had been taken back to the 70s. It was nice to see her so happy.
Greetings from Germany"

And this music and these videos are really like watching in joy and happiness an old friend coming back after 40 years. I would never have expected such emotional feelings for myself by listening to this music and seeing such reactions from old fans:





Great!
 
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