My Top 40 Happy Rhodes Tunes: #’s 31 – 35

As we close out the bottom ten of the Top 40 songs by Happy Rhodes, her penultimate album to date, Many Worlds are Born Tonight starts flexing its muscles with three more songs appearing. In addition, we say goodbye, for the most part, to her four earliest albums, with Rhodes II and Ecto each making an appearance. (There will be surprising return way up in the Top 10!) It’s actually very hard to compare the rich, layered instrumentation of Happy’s later work to the stripped-down acoustic guitar accompaniment of her early work. Both are beautiful but sonically so different. I think in the end I have a preference for the lush, keyboard-influenced works.

#35.) Looking Over Cliffs – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998) – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight is certainly one of Happy’s best albums, and Looking Over Cliffs is the second song from that album to appear in the Top 40. A lot of Happy’s songs are inspired by media and literature, and this song was inspired by the film The Last of the Mohicans, which is a film I really didn’t like at all. However, Happy takes that overblown moment when Daniel Day Lewis screams, “Stay alive at all costs! I will find you!” into Madeline Madeline Stowe’s face, and turns it into something raw and powerful. Actually the lyrics of Looking Over Cliffs are a little overblown as well, but what saves it is the emotion that Happy imbues into the song. The incredible bridge when Happy pushes her voice to give it a ragged edge, while the piano chimes away in the background is pretty chilling. That fretless bass work is pretty awesome too.

#34.) When the Rain Came Down – Ecto (1987) – It strikes me that my favorite song from Happy’s fourth album, Ecto is a bonus track that was not even included on the original cassette release. When the Rain Came Down sounds like it was dropped in from another album altogether, and even beyond the watery title, it is reminiscent of something Peter Gabriel might have sung in his early solo days. A nice tribal drum pattern starts things off before Happy’s voice gently begins the repeating melody in her deeper register. Then as is often the case, the chorus launches Happy into her upper register floating over some lovely synth-washes and gentle acoustic guitar arpeggios. The lyrics are vague, bringing to mind creation myths and how rain renews and refreshes. Last year, a compilation of Happy’s early work was collected on an album called Ectrophia, and When the Rain Came Down was released as the first single. Also included below is a cool live version from a living room concert.

#33.) Roy (Back from the Offworld) – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998) – Another movie-inspired track from Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, this song is all about the Rutger Hauer character form Blade Runner. Roy has the distinction of being the only Happy song to hit the charts, a remixed dance version of the song peaking at #42 on Billboard’s Dance charts. It’s catch chorus, and danceable beat make it one of Happy’s livelier songs, and it features some nifty guitar work as well. I always thought it was one of Happy’s more accessible songs as well. I’ve included the studio track, but also a jaunty live version as well.

#32.) The Revelation – Rhodes II (1986) – One of Happy’s earlier songs, from the Rhodes II album, follows the style of her work at the time: a gently finger-picked acoustic guitar, and Happy’s glorious soprano atop it. The gently falling melody that starts the song captures you immediately, with a plaintive, haunting tone. Lyrically, there are dark undertones, as is also customary for Happy’s early work, as she sings about there being so sun, only moon… nor is there reality. Perhaps there’s only delusion? Or madness? Or retreat for a little girl from something too horrible to comprehend, such as abuse? She seems to be singing to some character named Mikey, and she references “her beast” which call to mind the demonic figures that she painted for her early album cover work. Perhaps this beat, Mikey, is her protector in her world of escape. Either way, it’s a haunting tune that sticks with you long after you’ve listened.

#31.) Winter – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998) – This is a truly gorgeous song that shows off Happy’s deeper register beautifully. Slow, languid, haunting, and dark Winter is lush with keyboard and guitar washes, while Happy draws out individual words until they are nearly meaningless, but suffused with a sadness of loss. Then midway through, some gentle percussion emerges, and Happy starts vocalizing with choppy mouth sounds and high warbling wails before returning to the main thru-line of the song, but something has changed lyrically? Has she moved on? Is winter passing? Or has she descended even deeper into her sorrow? I’ve included the stunning recording from Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, but I’ve also included a live version that also captures her vocal ranges.