Have A Nice Day! Here are four classic hits whose lyrics describe a different positive outlook on the day.

Which day are you having?

Beautiful Day By U2

The song begins with a reverberating electric piano that evokes a heavenly vibe. It’s about a person who feels like he has nothing, but gradually becomes aware that he has everything in the world needed to move forward with his life. The lyrics have a blatant allegory to Noah’s ark: Just like the dove and the rainbow emerging in the aftermath of the flood, we must look at the beauty than can follow destruction. We need to appreciate what we already have, because the sources of awe already exist.

 Appropriate Day For this Song:

This day is one where you are really down on your luck and you need to relive a memory or motivated by an aspiration to get you recharged for the future. I consider this as a pump-up song, but unlike the more amplified, vicious pump-up songs whose mission is to get you prepared to grasp the world’s beauty.

Lovely Day By Bill Withers

 This is the least complex, most straightforward song on this list. Bill Withers’ criterion for lovely day is waking up next to his woman. Period. Before he leaves his bed, the sunlight hurts his eyes and the day’s problems pop up in his head. But he knows that all is well because he’s got a beautiful woman, a woman who gives him endurance and confidence to face his challenges. The song has a beat that makes you want to bounce and strut down the street. Which is appropriate considering these are similar motions that you go through when you feel in love. Withers makes the case that you can be in that inception stage everyday, just by waking up to your beloved’s presence.  Bill Withers stretches his note “DAAAAAAAAAAY” to an incomparable 18 seconds. When you hear that, feel your capacity to be joyful expanding. Waking up to your woman will remind you that today is guaranteed to be lovely.

Appropriate Day For this Song:

You are mindful of your past goal of meeting the special one. You had hardships, missed opportunities, and plenty of second-guesses. Remember all the beautiful people that you were too shy or embarrassed to ask out. Well you know that game that you played, played by everyone and leading to the demise of countless peers – you won. Take time to remember that you found your woman and you get to wake up next to her every day.

Perfect Day By Lou Reed

Don’t judge a song by its title.  Not all is hunky dory for Lou Reed whose slow tempo piano piece is about pleasure integrated with forlornness and poor choices. The melody doesn’t want to you jump and shout to the heavens. It expresses a mood of apathy and remorseful contemplation.  Reed alludes to an idea of perfection where he shows glimpses of being a better person - You made me forget myself. I thought I was someone else – someone good. So if you want to read in between the most opaque of lines, a perfect day is the effect from spending it with someone who is perfect for you.  The most recognized lyric is the repetitious “You’re going to reap just what you sew." The optimist will view this as analogous to “The love you take is equal to the love you make”. However, Lou Reed appears to be describing karma and the notion of what goes around comes around in a regretful tone.

Appropriate Day For this Song:

This song is about hedonistic activities and the benefits and repercussions associated with those fleeting moments. It’s also apropos for drinking sangrias in the park and feeding animals in the zoo.

(It Was A) Good Day By Ice Cube

A chill vibe for a chill day.  Ice Cube’s magnum opus consists of specific isolated events all of which comprise of this masterpiece of a day. His day involves (among other things) basketball, dice games, getting paid, friends, favorite sports team winning, hamburgers. He receives praise, he achieves some goals albeit bizarre, and he reaches standards of greatness.  There are a lot of things that can go wrong, especially in Compton, and Ice Cube alludes to them in his gratitude that for one day all was peaceful. There’s a “happiness exercise” where if you write down 5 things that made you happy that day, your levels of happiness and well-being increase over time. Essentially, Ice Cube does the same exercise. One moral from this song is to be thankful for the days where there are no worries or angst and everything rolls in his favor. We have federal and religious holidays to give thanks, but shouldn’t we be thankful everyday, especially on the rare days where we reach new pinnacles of joy.

Appropriate Day For this Song:

Play this song when you’re feeling an overall appreciation of life and being alive. Being alive and healthy means you have outlets to be creative, responsible for decisions, and to explore.  When everything goes your way, I mean everything. You spent the day doing fun, engaging, and exciting activities and in the evening, you can relax on the couch, beer in hand, and without any external distractions think about all that you accomplished in one day’s time.