Sad “Happy”

 

It’s a sad “happy” song which seems exceedingly peculiar.  

The song is “Happy” by Pharrell which was a big hit several years ago and had an infectious beat that made you want to clap and dance or at least tap your toe.  In the video that is exactly what people are doing.  It is a dizzying diversity of human beings in the streets, on sidewalks, and in alley ways dancing and clapping with abandon.

When this song first came out my knee jerk reaction was to dismiss it as trite.  I viewed it as a one-hit-wonder that would quickly leave my awareness never to return unless it made its way into a movie soundtrack or perhaps sung by a contestant on The Voice.  My view softened a bit watching Pharrell as a judge on that show.  Great guy.

But then something miraculous happened.  An artist known as Woodkid made a “Sad Remix” that shook me to my core.  He took out the beat and instead added strings and a piano.  The key sounds minor, but that may just be the impression given by the profound change in mood.  I was completely bowled over by this odd juxtaposition.

The video is identical to the original one, but everything is transformed by the melancholy vibe.  Like a metaphysical magic trick it reveals the underlying pain and sadness that we all struggle with in a perplexing world while showing we are not confounded; raging against the dying of the light as Dylan (Thomas) would have it.

PS:  It’s like Woodkid grabbed Pharrell’s ankles and pulled him back to the ground but in doing so also gave him wings.  A paradox, I know.