Hardy’s unique country and rock album is a primary contender for my favorite of the year so far.
The Mockingbird & THE CROW is original from the title down to its final track, and it embodies artists getting to do what they’re passionate about instead of producing cookie-cutter tracks at every turn.
But I’ll be the first to admit that “happy,” the seventh track off the album, faded into the background for me as one of my lesser liked. I understood the sentiment, but it wasn’t the first one I wanted to hear when I hit play either, if you know what I mean.
But today, Hardy released an acoustic of the track sharing on social media that the song was his way of defining and reminding himself what happy looked like.
The lyrics of the song capture happiness as the main character and show off some of Happiness’ best qualities – living all over, always being present, and singing along to love songs. It also defines some of the things that Happiness shies away from like bitterness, cruelty, and money lust.
The acoustic of the track really grounds the track and gives it a more serious tone, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much more I liked this rendition.
And Hardy had quite a lot to say about the acoustic version of “Happy” and the accompanying video:
“I wrote this song as a reminder to myself, and anyone else who needs to hear it, what happiness really is. It’s not material things. It’s not drugs or alcohol.
It’s about being a good person. I am a believer that what you put into the world is what you get back. I’m proud of this song and what it stands for.”
Knowing the song means so much to Hardy as a writer helped me see a little differently myself, and I must admit, the song has grown on me knowing what I now know.
