(for Shelley Burns, who brings happiness
to so many, especially when she sings)

“Forget your troubles
and just get happy,” she sings.
“You better chase all your cares away.”

We walked carrying our cares, toting
heavy concerns and fears, but when
Shelley sings at the close of the show,

“The sun is shinin’, c’mon get happy”
her voice hallelujahs us into sunshine,
the blues chased away to a place

where there is no judgment—
the promised land as promised.
Some of us oldsters might remember

Garland’s version of Harold Arlen’s
first hit, but tonight we who sit
in the dark listening to this good band

find ourselves grateful for
a here-and-now rendition that
reminds us that our times,

fear-filled as they are, are not
the first we or the worst that this
country has seen.

We are not alone in wishing for
fewer troubles, for more happy.
Our hearts sing along, too—

please let us get to happy,
to that place where it’s all so
peaceful on the other side.

•••

Thanks to Shelley Burns and Avalon Swing for their great show at The Side Door Oct. 3, 2025, featuring the music of Harold Arlen, including “Get Happy,” which he wrote in 1929 with lyricist Ted Koehler and became the songwriting duo’s first big hit.

•••

You can watch Shelley Burns and Avalon Swing perform part of “Get Happy” here.