Summer Hiatus Word of the Week: Joy

It's everywhere

We try to be politics-free over here. Because, hey, everyone needs a break from that.

Still, there’s something different going on when joy, the fragile, fleeting, perpetually underrated and easily discarded emotion, returns out of nowhere to become a meme in campaign coverage.

Music people know: Joy in audio form never left. It’s everywhere. Beethoven’s got the famous Ode to it — and if you haven’t thought much about that piece, here’s an excellent breakdown from the New York Times’ Joshua Barone. He led me to appreciate the way Beethoven ramps up the tension with thickening orchestration before the choir enters and the skies part.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys contributed mightily to the joy canon. His song “Don’t Worry Baby” echoes Beethoven’s stairstepping ascending theme in the verses, then surges to full on heart-swelling rhapsody on its way to the chorus. That prechorus section stands as one of the greatest and most effortlessly melodic statements in all of music.

Here’s another, from the landmark Clube de Esquina album by Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges. A whirl of exuberance in 3/4 time, its vocal themes have psychoactive mood-enhancing power whether you understand Portuguese or not. (Besides, many of the most addictive vocal hooks are wordless….)

And for good measure, here’s another “Cravo E Canela” from George Duke’s endlessly sunny A Brazilian Love Affair, which is one of those albums that screams “beach day.”

Happy summer. Spread joy. Doesn’t cost a thing.