Recommendations, Week 8: "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserables - Schonberg and Boublil

This week's recommendation comes from the musical Les Miserables.  This musical is full of powerful, beautiful music, but most of it isn't cheerful.  This sweet song, however, is sung by the young Cosette as she daydreams about a happy place.

Recommendations, Week 7: "Concerning Hobbits" from The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore

We just finished reading the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (after reading The Hobbit), so it seemed especially appropriate to post this song on the blog this week.  I guess it is a "solicited" recommendation, since I asked which piece to include.  This is the cheerful theme from the Shire, "Concerning Hobbits."  Enjoy!

Recommendations, Week 6: "Look Around" - Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66

Keep the recommendations coming!  Thanks for your readership (or, listenership, I suppose :)!

"Look Around" - Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66

Recommendations, Week 5: "I Look to You" - Whitney Houston

A very appropriate video recommendation for the blog this week.  A beautiful song and singer, with an uplifting message.

Week 4 Recommendations: Carly Simon, "Ratatouille," and a Pandora suggestion

This week's recommendations span the genres!  We have sacred, 80s pop, and a French soundtrack song...  Enjoy!

The first recommendation is not so much a song as a suggestion for a good way to get lots of good, uplifting music.  My friend said that if you go to Pandora and type "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" into the "New Station" box, you can get lots of good, uplifting music! My guess is that other names, such as "Choir of King's College" or "John Rutter," you would also bring up lots of "GUM."

The next recommendation is for a song from one of my favorite singers when I was growing up, Carly Simon!

"The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of" - Carly Simon

The next is the last song in the Pixar film, Ratatouille...

"Le Festin" - Camille

Recommendations, Week 3! ("Cantate Domino" and "Every Season")

Keep the recommendations coming!  It is great to be introduced to more GUM :)

This recording is of a group called "Salt Lake Vocal Artists."  I love the energy of this setting by Josu Elberdin of the text "Cantate Domino," which I hadn't heard before.

A grateful, faithful song for any time of year....

"Every Season" by Nichole Nordeman

Recommendations: Week 2 ("Song for a Winter's Night" and "Reach")

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone!  (sorry for not posting yesterday!)
This week we have a sweet romantic song and another "I can do it" song.  Enjoy!

"Song for a Winter's Night" - Gordon Lightfoot

"Reach" - Gloria Estefan (from the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games)

Recommendations! Week 1 ("Aguas de Marco", "Where the Green Grass Grows")

After the "Good, Uplifting Music" blog's premier week, there have already been some recommendations for songs that should be shared!  Each week, a few of the recommendations will be selected to be posted in the weekly "Recommendations!" post.  Enjoy, and keep sharing!

"Where the Green Grass Grows" - Tim McGraw

(Bonus: see the entire line of John Deere tractors in this video!)

 "Aguas de Marco" - Elis Regina

A Brazilian song recommended by a friend who wrote, "One of my favorite happy songs is this one. I hope you enjoy it!"

English translation:
Waters of March

A stick, a stone,
It's the end of the road,
It's the rest of a stump,
It's a little alone

It's a sliver of glass,
It is life, it's the sun,
It is night, it is death,
It's a trap, it's a gun

The oak when it blooms,
A fox in the brush,
A knot in the wood,
The song of a thrush

The wood of the wind,
A cliff, a fall,
A scratch, a lump,
It is nothing at all

It's the wind blowing free,
It's the end of the slope,
It's a beam, it's a void,
It's a hunch, it's a hope

And the river bank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the end of the strain,
The joy in your heart

The foot, the ground,
The flesh and the bone,
The beat of the road,
A slingshot's stone

A fish, a flash,
A silvery glow,
A fight, a bet,
The range of a bow

The bed of the well,
The end of the line,
The dismay in the face,
It's a loss, it's a find

A spear, a spike,
A point, a nail,
A drip, a drop,
The end of the tale

A truckload of bricks
in the soft morning light,
The shot of a gun
in the dead of the night

A mile, a must,
A thrust, a bump,
It's a girl, it's a rhyme,
It's a cold, it's the mumps

The plan of the house,
The body in bed,
And the car that got stuck,
It's the mud, it's the mud

Afloat, adrift,
A flight, a wing,
A hawk, a quail,
The promise of spring

And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the promise of life
It's the joy in your heart

A stick, a stone,
It's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump,
It's a little alone

A snake, a stick,
It is John, it is Joe,
It's a thorn in your hand
and a cut in your toe

A point, a grain,
A bee, a bite,
A blink, a buzzard,
A sudden stroke of night

A pin, a needle,
A sting, a pain,
A snail, a riddle,
A wasp, a stain

A pass in the mountains,
A horse and a mule,
In the distance the shelves
rode three shadows of blue

And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the promise of life
in your heart, in your heart

A stick, a stone,
The end of the road,
The rest of a stump,
A lonesome road

A sliver of glass,
A life, the sun,
A knife, a death,
The end of the run

And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the end of all strain,
It's the joy in your heart.