Somewhere at a roadside service station in Utah, on the way to look for signs of aliens with a group of weirdos in a rented van from Los Angeles, I found this song. i met these fellow weirdos at a talk by a Hopi Indian story teller. After driving 11 hours or more with nothing but new age spiritual music playing on the van's tape deck, i bought this cassette for 99 cents and popped it into the van's tape deck. From my Joshua Tree Desert Stories talk, here is the rest of the story:
As the van rolled down the desert highway, I gently slipped the Enya cassette out of the tape player and replaced it carefully with my new 99 cent Fabian cassette. The van seemed especially still as my Fabian tape echoed throughout it. All was right in my world again. But I was rocketed into a 4th dimension from which I have possibly never returned after I heard this song. Here is my band, The Kittens, singing it for you now.
lyrics
In this friendly, friendly world with each day so full of joy
Why should anyone be lonely?
In this friendly, friendly world with each night so full of dreams
Why should anyone be afraid?
The world is such a wonderful place to wander through
When you've got people you love to wander along with you
With the skies so full of stars and the river so full of song
Everyone should be so thankful
Thankful for this friendly, friendly world
credits
from The Kittens,
released June 10, 2015
Written by Johnny Warrington and Ken Darby
Produced by JP Houston and Shari Elf
Joshua Tree, California
Shari Elf: vocals
Ryan Erskine: guitar and vocals
JP Houston: bass, omnichord and vocals
Mabel Allbright, Shari Elf, Ryan Erskine and JP Houston: Choir
Mastered by Chris Unck at High Lonesome, Joshua Tree Ca.
Eccentric pop that connects the dots between progressive ambient and warped video game soundtracks can only be called truly psychedelic. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 26, 2024
Continuing the momentum of 2023's acclaimed breakout "Erotic Probiotic 2," Marcus Brown brings his R&B sorcery to XL Recordings. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 24, 2024
Fronted by Grammy-nominated studio engineer Antonia Gauci, this upstart Australian trio balances radiant pop with foreboding alt-rock. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 24, 2024
Longrunning Bay Area group Lunchbox draw on the hard-edged and stylish sound of 70s mod for their latest full-length. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 23, 2024
20 years into her career, Kate Nash returns with her debut for Kill Rock Stars, full of the rich songwriting for which she’s known. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 20, 2024
Sophie Negrini's longrunning Janelane project reaches new heights of dreamy power pop perfection on an upcoming full-length. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 19, 2024