{"id":3515,"date":"2014-06-06T08:56:56","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T12:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=3515"},"modified":"2014-07-11T16:25:03","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T20:25:03","slug":"happy-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/miscellaneous\/happy-song\/","title":{"rendered":"That Happy Song"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tulsa

Tulsa Opera Debutante Ball, March 8, 2014<\/p><\/div>\n

You know the one. \u201cClap along if you feel like a room without a roof. Happy-y-y-y!\u201d This is the most absurd, happy lyric I\u2019ve heard in a long time, and whenever I hear it, I have to smile. No choice. I picture a room without a roof and see blue sky above four generic walls and the goofiness of that visual trick delights me, too, like the top of my head has been lifted off. I feel it in my hair follicles. How\u2019s that for silly?<\/p>\n

The song makes me think of my niece\u2019s debutante ball in Tulsa, OK, when twenty debs in white dresses and long white gloves flooded the dance floor and started clapping with their arms up in the air.<\/p>\n

\"Princeton

Princeton University Senior Prom, June 2, 2014<\/p><\/div>\n

Now it also reminds me of another niece\u2019s graduation party at Princeton a couple days ago, when thousands of us proud family members joined the graduates in the gym with lights and a live band. \u00a0I recall harmonizing the song with my brother as we walked into the gym, predicting that it would be played, and it taps to a lifetime of other moments we’ve casually sung together, too.<\/p>\n

One of the best things about “Happy”<\/a> is the randomness of being blindsided unexpectedly with a dose of happy memories whenever the song shows up on the radio. I love how that happens: an infusion of unpredictable joy. Thanks, Pharrell Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n