Groovy dreams, alleluia

I rarely used the word groovy decades ago when the word was trendy, but I did notice that I seemed to enjoy songs with that word in their titles. I was thinking primarily of Feeling Groovy (aka The 59th Street Bridge Song) by Simon and Garfunkel and A Groovy Kind of Love, recorded by Petula Clark and many others.

Much later I realized I loved songs with some variation of the word dream in their titles. Take Roy Orbison’s recording of In Dreams, for example. Or songs called Dreams by Johnny Mercer, Fleetwood Mac and Brandi Carlile. The Cranberrys had two terrific dream songs, one also called Dreams and another called Dreaming My Dreams. Years ago Bobby’s Darin had his Dream Lover. The Eurythmics sang Sweet Dreams. Even The Monkees had Day Dream Believer. Maybe there are some bad dream songs, but I can’t think of any.

The day after Easter I am still hearing alleluias in my head, reminding me of how much I like music containing that word or hallelujah, its Hebrew version. In yesterday's service, the choir sang Alleluia, Give Thanks and Handel's Hallelujah chorus, while the congregation sang Jesus Christ Is Risen Today! with its abundance of alleluias. I didn't hear it on Easter, but on almost any other day of the year you are likely to hear Leonard Cohen's great song Hallelujah, which has been covered by just about every other singer out there, or so it seems.

Hallelujah and alleluia are expressions of joy, while back in the Sixties the word groovy expressed, if not joy, then at least happiness or contentment. The dreams so many songwriters write about are not those weird images that float through our minds as we sleep but rather our fantasies, especially romantic fantasies, more likely to be joyful, or at least groovy..

Negative thoughts can inspire great songs, as any fan of country music can tell you, but obviously positive thoughts can do the same.