Choose To Be Happy - Week 4 - Art Of Possibility Ch. 3

How do you follow up a song that is a long, slow descent into depression and madness? Why, with the happiest song alive, of course!

Chapter 3 of "The Art of Possibility" is called "Giving an A." It's much more complicated than this, which is why you need to buy the book; but in a nutshell, it's "looking on the bright side." Zander and Zander get into the effect grades have on us in school. You probably remember how hard a failure hit you as a kid, or even as an adult. A "Needs Improvement" on my End of the Year Evaluation will send me into an emotional death spiral from hell. UNTIL you remember that "It's All Invented." That grade means that when assessed according to THOSE parameters, you haven't met the criteria. But if you were assessed according to a DIFFERENT set of criteria.... things change. As Dr. Wayne Dyer said once, while indicating his small Capt. Picard-esque patch of grey behind his bald head: "In a bowl of soup, this is a lot of hair!"

For this song, I needed to kick start my positivity; because I wanted "Miserable Failure" to be the FINAL bit of negativity in the collection. So I went with a jaunty little riff I came up with in the key of C, which has been scientifically proven to be the happiest of all keys. (Spinal Tap fans will remember that d minor is the saddest. Don't believe me, listen to "Lick My Love Pump.") And lyrically, I went with acknowledging the, shall we say, challenges in life, but "on the other hand" listing the ways that there's always a bright side. The whole point here, is that we either choose to live in sadness and depression by focusing on the negative all the time, or we choose to be happy, and look on the bright side.

The beauty of this song is that within the structure of the song, I can literally put in anything that bothers me, and then "on the other hand" find the bright side. So it's a teaching tool as well as a ditty!

On a side note, this is also the last song for this project that I wrote beforehand. I started trying to do this in 2009, but it didn't pan out. So I've been sitting on them until now. That means that starting next week, it's all new original music and lyrics. I'm excited.

Choose to Be Happy - Words and Music by Carl J Ferrara

I lost my job, but on the other hand, I was thinking 'bout a new career
I lost my car, but on the other hand, I was gonna go Hybrid this year,
I lost my house, but on the other hand, I could really use a change of scene,
I lost my wife, but on the other hand, There's no one there a naggin' at me.

I could be laughin' or I could be cryin',
Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'
Little did I know, the choice was up to me
Can't you see...

I'm gonna Choose To Be Happy
I'm gonna Choose to keep everything light
I'm gonna Choose to Be Happy
and see the world from the brighter side of life.

I've got no power, but on the other hand, Intimate Dinner by candle light.
I've got no food, but on the other hand, my diet's gonna start tonight,
I'm all alone, but on the other hand, I can always give my friends a call,
Could be depressed, but on the other hand, life's not that horrible after all.

Bridge/Chorus
Bridge/Chorus