the happiest song in the universe

I think the happiest song in the universe is personal for everyone. The same way the saddest song in the universe is personal for everyone, and depends on the context in which you heard the song, the memories and people associated with the song, and on and on. For me, the happiest song in the world is "The Bleeding Heart Show" by the New Pornographers. My friend Cory sent it to me, and when it burst into the "hey la"s I literally jumped back from my computer and laughed in joy. And I can't listen to it too often, because then it loses its magic; just like I can't listen to Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," the saddest song in the universe, because it starts to become less special. But that's a matter for a different post.

The fact that the lyrics of "Bleeding Heart Show" make almost no sense has absolutely no effect on its pure, unadulterated jumping-around happiness:

I leapt across three or four beds into your arms
Where I had hidden myself somewhere in your charms
A golden handshake has been smashed into this shape
It's taken magic to a criminal new place, watch them run...

We have arrived too late to play the bleeding heart show.

You really, really should listen to this song as soon as you possibly can and decide whether it appeals to you as much as it does to me. It might not. But I think it will. And then your life will be that much brighter. : )

Hey la, hey la! Hey la, hey la...