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For this two hundred fiffifty anniverse three year of the united states pianist laorrer downs is sending audio postcards from the road
As she explores our nation's history through song on her latest stop downs was in new york to have a conversation with jonnic c the lingguist and columnist for the new york times
They talked about the role of american music as a joyyful noise even in the toughetimes times
Her old island wrote the song get happy sometime in the fall of nineteen
Twenty twenty nine
The next next
The the ctober er stock market crash
That launched the great depression by the next year
The song within the top ten on the pop jethe
It's such hummaable optimistic tune in such a disastrous time
And i'm imagining the comfort and energy
That came with that song playing over the radio into america's kitchen and living rooms
The song became a hit
When the whole country had just falen went to pieces making mouse is dancing around
And there these sonongo go 不
But
But it really was kind of a therapy
The phrase get happy comes from the black gospel is the tradition
It's a reference to receiving the holy spirit with that you know exatics singing that happens in a gospel church service
我那疲累就靠近我的黑
When i think about herald reland choosing that title for the song
It really makes me think about the origins of so much of our american music
Which comes from those negrospirituals and work songs that we're an outlet for expression and to imagine a better life
Yeah
It's interesting with irland
He was somebody who ethowaters called the blackest white man
I ever knew
And he
He had this feel
And it was a colcoler
His lyosis to actually came up with this get happy
I'm sure with the encouragement of ireland
Because he would probababknown wn phrase get happy
And i mean the whole lyric of that song
It's really specifically about you know get ready for the judgment day
It's kind of impersonating
It's kind spspirituuh
Hello
路亚路亚
They were really channeling something real so that up get get happy
Feels like such a black song
That i don't think any black person would feel in authenmake singing it
That's one one 're just joins america together the hate to bring island into this
But they had this huge popoket
And probably they have bblt houses on the basis of it
Where's they were all of these black composers we've could have written the same worort of thing they just have to be said speaking of time outh that have think think that choices that you have to make about the role that you take as you know a dancy mouth
The role that you take it
Our society do you want to chronicical society that do you interpret this moment
And you do or do you accept the job of being an entertainer
And do you can try to move past your own feeling
And try to make that thing that makes other people feel better
What do you think i'm asking you as a professional musicioah well i mean
I think i wiagaround around with thing ii mean
Honesay think it depends on the day
I'm thinking about one artist who's absolutely chosen to be a spokesperson for joy
And i think that his whole hard and solid in it
And that's john batist
And you know
Since he was a kid basking on the sideways
His
His message is really come together experience
Jojoy collectively
And the music is part of that
If he had a song in twenty
Twenty one called we are we are we are we are we are the token ones
We the the most and what he's doing with that song is he's evoking the ancestors
And they're persistent faith in the power joy
But it's also a song to ralius in our own times on trouble the kind of joy
That he prevys es a little parof me that always thinks ks it is a bit of oppose
And i'm wrong cargeris futhe mstar somei'm
I'm a little bit afraid of those calls for joy
Maybe because i am a slightly depressive person
Maybe because i think too much
I think that when things are really dark
Joy is an easy part of being
Americans is that focus on the great day coming
The idea that we are an experiment
That always going on
Gets human to try to make the best of the worst
That's how our
Our hormones work in our worins
We is americans
We centre joy
It's in our founding promise
The pursuit of happiness
Our dowis a pianist collecting conversations across the country in this america's two hundred fifty
Fifty the anniverss three year
