;’ )

Wait… how the frig does one vote on here?

Ooo !! Is Heather getting at someone??? Who copied and pasted their vocals!?!? Own up!!!

can I vote Chicago style…often ?

BTW, if Neil Innes’ song sounded like John Lennon, that’s because it was supposed to. The persona of Ron Nasty is supposed to be the John analogue in The Rutles.

And I like the solo, too. Quite Santana-like in tone.

Imitation Song
First thing that popped into my mind was “Imagine.” Upbeat lyrics, melancholy tune. In fact, I thought he was parodying “Imagine.” I could be wrong, but I really liked it.

Wide-Eyed Happy
Exact opposite of “Imitation.” Catchy feel good tune and innocent vocals masking some very dark lyrics. Loved it.

Happy
Catchy tune, pleasant vocals, fun lyrics. Well, except for the reason you’re so damn happy. LOL

Happy (H.A.P.P.Y.)
Don’t know how old the kid is, but pretty impressive considering young kids tend to over-act. She pulls it off without being overly sugary.

I pity the fu
Full of jabs at pop culture. I love it — “especially kicking Nancy Grace in the uterus.” And any song that references Mr. T makes me happy.

One Happy Thought
Very catchy tune. My favorite part is the phrasing — “George… Walker… Bush ain’t President no more.” And that sorta call & response thing — “(lead) In a month or two… (background) I’ll be living in my car.”

What Makes You Feel Happy
Catchy tune — reminds me of those “If you’re happy and you know it”-type children’s songs. With sneaky dirty lyrics. Kind of a middle school feel. I enjoyed it a lot. Probably my favorite.

My Personal Eccentric Happiness
Hard to get through the first listen, which probably isn’t good for this challenge format. But if you listen to it a few times, you appreciate the lyrics. The sound starts to grow on you too. Reminds me of when I used to put on my Capt. Beefheart LPs. I loved it, but my friends would start whining about “fingernails on the blackboard” and wanting to hear the Beach Boys.

The folks from the JoCo forum:
Jeff MacDougall – JeffM – a happy song, harmless; not annoyingly catchy, which is a bad thing. Possibly the most professional recording in this round along with convincing vocals, just the chorus part could have used extra power (female harmony vocals?); the dynamics are on a somewhat high level throughout the song; sometimes it pays off to calm down a bit and then build up again, for example to emphasize the Bop-part.
Joe “Covenant” Lamb – Covenant – Sounds like the internet was invented in the early 50s. Surpisingly professional production.
Mick Bordet – Lunacy – Nice Beatles touch, but the vocals aren’t as convincing. The idea of the song comes across, but in the end it’s a bit flat. The chorus leads nowhere instead of concluding the tune. More experienced playing/recording (on the musician’s side) and possibly some weed/pills (on the audience’s side) might enhance this one.
Bryce Jensen – psychoBman – somehow I don’t get most of the piano/vocal music out there (e.g., most of Billy Joel’s work), so this tune floated by without leaving any lasting impression. The lyrics built towards a mean edge (I’m happier than you, hah!), but wouldn’t have been that happy if that idea had been pursued further – dilemma.
Hazen Nester – o8jedi – I like the sound of the voice, but it’s way too timid/inexperienced. The crash cymbals are too loud. The solo guitar has a good sound. The lyrics leave me “oh, he’s happy, whatever, next song.”
Molly Lewis – Molly23 – sufficiently, but not over-the-top happy; the pace/groove is infectious; I’m not familiar with Mr. T so it’s difficult to derive any deeper wisdom from the song. Personally, I prefer the badness/happiness juxtaposition in the next song:
Jarrett Heather – SpaceParanoids – the production doesn’t carry the half-time feel the first time around (more electric guitars might be better to sustain the longer notes). But soon enough the chorus kicks in and makes you forget about it. Lots of JoCo-harmonies. Using the middle name and thereby delaying the harmonic conclusion (which accidently is beautiful) makes the refrain stand out (in a good way). The lyrical idea is great and would deserve a better title than just “one little happy thought” (maybe “seven magic words”). All in all, my favourite entry in this round!
Jutze Schult – Jutze – successfully escapes the happy=boring-trap, but has major short-comings both in the rhythm track (hit the empty mixer box) and the vocal department (should be higher and, well, better); being a zombie is no excuse, is it?

The remaining challengers:
Mike Lombardo – Where is the soaring vocal line that turns this nice song into a gripping number? Nice beat, neat whistling, harmonies are a bit on the edge towards dramatic, but still happy enough, I guess.
Hank Green – upbeat rhythm, excellent vocals, certainly happy; works really well on an emotional level, but my (foreign) mind cannot grasp what’s actually going on. The YouTube video helps a bit; along with Innes the most professional recording I’d say. Good one.
Insane Ian – The lobotomy is one of the funnier approaches. A bit more dynamic movement could have helped. The vocals are good, but don’t dare to go to passionate extremes. PS: Do you mind me eating your brain?
Buckethead Bobby – should work better in a band setting – or maybe just one instrumental track and one vocal track; the octave vocals are a bit too loud for my taste; the song as a whole a bit harmless; afterwards I remember kess what was played and more how it was played.
Edric Haleen – almost early-Genesis-ish, musically not really a happy-joy-fun-number, lyrically possibly the most mature entry; could have backfired if others had pursued a more serious path, too, but as it is, a welcome change at first, a bit monotonous later on.
Masked Stranger – hah, finally, LO-FI! It’s hard to pay attention, harder to make it through the whole tune, although there are certainly folks who love the rough edges of it.
Timothy Rush – starts out nicely, but the vocals fade away as the drum loop becomes slightly annoying. The song is a bit more serious as it’s keyboard pop (?) and not just singer/songwriter-stuff; there are producers out there who could turn it into a hit, but in its current form it’s just a rather rough demo.
Rusty’s Rocking Jamboree – happy’n’harmless, similar in effect to Jeff MacDougall, yet different in style; at times I get the feeling Bob Dylan is having fun undercover.
Heather Henderson – cool outset, but the happy-parts sound too much like copied and pasted diminishing the overall solid song, which has a quite convincing structure but an unnecessary fade-out.
Crabbydad – happy’n’harmless, once again; scores high on the mission accomplished scale.
Hallelujah Ape – solid song; the melody seems to be in a loop, never settling on a final note – that’s a bit irritating.
Jalapeno Jabaneros – very, very loose; I didn’t make it through the 4 minutes.
Jeff Fardink – rather loose; the arrangement imitates a power pop rock song, yet the vocals have a karaoke feel to them. The songwriting has its moments, but the implementation leaves to be desired.
Audiomohel – artificial drums can be somewhat annoying, like here; listening to the song doesn’t fill me with happiness at all. No, wait, I’m through all entries, actually, I am happy… eh, no, wait, there’s still…

The masters:
Neil Innes – solid song, but where’s the happiness?
Garfunkel and Oates – Happy and energetic; self-confident vocal performance; the duo has potential – and my vote in this round.
Paul and Storm – the song doesn’t appeal to me at all; apparently sampled lead percussion; no real happiness-link; no awesome vocal parts; let’s hope the next task will be to write a catchy song about fart jokes.