When I need to do a lot of physical work around the house, I put on exuberant, up-tempo music — loud. I’ve got a “Favorite Uptempo” playlist on my phone with songs like Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode. (Ebullient songs like Sara Bareilles’s Brave and The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations make their way onto the list even if they’re not especially fast.) I start playing that list and I’m off to the races.
This playlist is especially helpful if I’m cleaning up after a party, when all I want to do is go to bed. I’m always amazed at the difference it makes. Any tiredness I was feeling disappears and my energy level soars. (Just between you and me, I actually dance around the room as I clean up and put things away.) It’s the kind of effect I would expect to get from some cutting-edge Schedule II stimulant.
I’m sure I’m not the only one for whom this works, though the songs any particular person finds energizing no doubt vary widely. For what it’s worth, here’s my list — no prescription necessary.
- Barry White — You’re the First, The Last, My Everything
- Beach Boys — Barbara Ann; Good Vibrations; Help Me, Rhonda; I Get Around; Surfin’ USA
- Chuck Berry — Johnny B. Goode
- Diana Ross & The Supremes — Stop In the Name of Love
- Four Seasons — Big Girls Don’t Cry
- George Michael — Faith
- Gloria Estefan — Conga; Go Away; One, Two, Three; Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
- Jody Williams — Lucky Lou
- Ke$ha — Take It Off; Your Love is My Drug
- Michael Jackson — Beat It
- Michael Sembello — Maniac
- Nena — Red Balloons
- Olivia Newton-John — Physical
- P!nk — Stupid Girls
- Paula Abdul — The Way That You Love Me
- Phil Collins — Sussudio; You Can’t Hurry Love
- Sara Bareilles — Brave; Love Song
- The Isley Brothers — Shout!
- Whitney Houston — I Wanna Dance With Somebody