Now is not the time for Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave. Bob Dylan is even a little too dark if you’re looking for music to carry you through the din of this coronavirus quarantine.

 

On the other hand, you don’t want “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” either. Cheery pop music right now sounds as vapid as those Florida spring-breakers on TV who didn’t want to leave the beach three weeks ago.

 

Here’s what I came up with as a playlist to keep me upbeat for the long haul. This is actually a whittled-down version of a list I programmed last year after writing about “The Happiness Playlist,” a great memoir by Minneapolis rocker Mark Mallman about how he listened to only hopeful, positive tunes to carry him out of depression.

 

It may seem like a simple concept, but to Mallman and us Generation Xers — whose Walkman-ized youths were ruled by grunge, punk, goth, gangsta rap and metal — happy songs are not really part of our regularly scheduled programming. But we know all about the power of music in general.

 

1. The Kinks: “Better Things”

 

2. Allen Toussaint: “Yes We Can”

 

3. Staple Singers: “Heavy Makes You Happy”

 

4. Black Flag: “Rise Above”

 

5. Toots & the Maytals: “Pressure Drop”

 

6. Willie Nelson: “Pick Up the Tempo”

 

7. Beyoncé: “Formation”

 

8. Sleater-Kinney: “Dig Me Out”

 

9. Dixie Chicks: “Long Time Gone”

 

10. Sir Douglas Quintet: “Be Real”

 

11. Prince: “Mountains”

 

12. Kendrick Lamar & SZA: “All the Stars”

 

13. Lizzo: “Good as Hell”

 

14. Iron & Wine: “Call It Dreaming”

 

15. Lucinda Williams: “Blessed”

 

16. Trampled by Turtles: “Victory”

 

17. Soul Asylum: “Sometime to Return”

 

18. Bob Mould: “See a Little Light”

 

19. The Killers: “All These Things That I’ve Done”

 

20. Superchunk: “What a Time to Be Alive”

 

21. The Hold Steady: “Stay Positive”

 

22. Nina Simone: “Here Comes the Sun”

 

23. Bob Marley: “Coming in From the Cold”

 

24. Dr John, Dirty Dozen Brass & Friends: “Time Marches On”

 

25. Cowboy Junkies: “To Live Is to Fly”