Odes to joy

These do it for me every time, always & forever

20 songs that eternally bring me joy, no repeated artists? Okay. Remember, these are not necessarily my favorites, even by each individual artist. Just the songs which always, ineffably bring joy, providing (as Natalie Cole would say) a jump start. Unordered:

Stardust, “Music Sounds Better With You”
Stevie Wonder, “Do I Do”
Rythim Is Rythim, “Strings of Life” (1987)
Fischerspooner, “Emerge”
Airplay, “Nothin’ You Can Do About It”
Jadakiss featuring Styles P, “We Gon’ Make It”
Mariya Takeuchi, “Plastic Love” (1984)
Janet Jackson, “The Pleasure Principle”
Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield, “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”
Jane Child, “Don’t Wanna Fall in Love”
Eddie Kendricks, “Girl, You Need A Change of Mind”
Aretha Franklin, “Jump To It”
Farley Jackmaster Funk featuring Darryl Pandy, “Love Can’t Turn Around”
Stephanie Mills, “(You’re Puttin’) A Rush on Me”
Jay-Z, “Show Me What You Got”
Prince and the Revolution, “I Would Die 4 U”
soulDecision, “Ooh It’s Kinda Crazy”
Ta Mara and the Seen, “Affection”
Freelance Hellraiser, “A Stroke of Genius”
Hercules & Love Affair featuring AHNONI, “Blind (Frankie Knuckles Remix)”

A certain bootleg mashup above isn’t on streaming services for rather obvious reasons, so here’s that.

And while those were the first 20 that came to mind, the big & obvious ones, this is fun, so here’s 20 more.

Natural Selection featuring Niki Harris, “Do Anything”
Fenech-Soler, “Lies (Alex Metric Remix)”
Whitney Houston, “So Emotional”
The KLF, “America: What Time Is Love?”
Barry White, “Let the Music Play”
Daft Punk, “One More Time”
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Kiss Them for Me”
Change, “Hold Tight”
Donna Summer, “I’m A Fire”
Journey, “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”
Klymaxx, “The Men All Pause”
New Edition, “If It Isn’t Love”
Michael McDonald, “Sweet Freedom”
Depeche Mode, “Never Let Me Down Again (Split Mix)”
Madonna, “Open Your Heart”
George Michael, “Freedom 90”
The Smiths, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
RuPaul, “Supermodel (You Better Work)”
Dalbello, “Tango”
David Lee Roth, “Yankee Rose”

And of course, here’s an ideal-for-shuffling playlist.