By Alec Calvillo

Whenever your spirit is down listen to this list of top five songs that bring your spirit back up. This list includes both contemporary and classic songs that vary in genre. The list gives a little insight on the artist and why the songs are so great.

Electric Light Orchestra – “Mr. Blue Sky”

“Mr. Blue Sky” is a song that can be listened to at the beginning of your day to make sure it will run smoothly.

It’s a perfect song to lighten up one’s mood. The main theme of this song is that one of the most impactful elements that affects a person’s mood is the weather.

The lyrics set the mood immediately saying “sun is shinin’ in the sky, there ain’t a cloud in sight.”

The harmonizing vocals of the chorus are fascinating. They don’t sound like The Beach Boys or 50’s doo-wop style, but more like a choir. 

They talk about this blue sky as if it’s a person and ask him why he had to hide from them for such a long time.

This song seems like a response to an abundance of rainy days, then finally there’s a day in which there is nothing but sun and blue sky.

“Mr. Blue Sky” is kind of long with a playtime of five minutes, but it is not noticeable. The song has so many different parts and layers to it that it sounds like a symphony. It’s mainly the bridge towards the end of the song where violins are present.

The classical symphony sound is ELO’s style, and it separates them from other bands of the 70’s.

Jack Johnson – “Banana Pancakes”

Although the song only consists of acoustic guitar, rain, and vocals, it’s the choppy guitar strums and soft vocals that win you over.

The lyrics are pretty straightforward as well. Johnson talks about having a lazy day in which you can sleep in and cook banana pancakes.

“Banana Pancakes” is a song that makes you forget about all of your problems for three minutes while you listen closely.

It’s also another song that resulted from experiencing a rainy day. It’s ironic that happy songs come from rainy days, which tend to cause sadness.

Johnson is a singer songwriter artist who relies on his unique rhythm playing and soft vocals to get his sound.

His vocals may not be on Michael Jackson’s level, he may not even be the best guitar player, but he can sure write a fun and catchy pop song.

Passion Pit – “Sleepy Head”

This song has a lot going on instrumentally. It can be a little overwhelming at times because of all the instrumentation that is going on but it is also the reason why it’s so unique.

Passion Pit uses two Samples in “Sleepy Head,” but they’re both not enough to say that this song isn’t original.

Michael Angelakos, the creator of Passion Pit, uses a sample of “Óró Mo Bháidín” by Mary O’Hara for the melody of the song.

Angelakos falsetto complements the Mary O’ Hara sample.

The main instruments are synths. When they play this live they have three synth players, a bass guitar and drums.

The most interesting fact is that Angelakos actually made the EP “Chunk of Change” as a gift for his girlfriend but then friends liked it and wanted to play it live.