Speaking of songs that are really comforting, these are two.

1. Bob Marley- No woman no cry
My best friend from the age of 6 to about 12 had a crazy hippie mom. She played congas (or bongos, I realized I don't really know the difference) in a Reggae band. They smoked pot all the time and played parties. I think they were called the Tropical Birds or something dumb like that. Once we went with her to play a show in Oxford I think. It was at a country club and we got to swim in the pool all night long while the did about 70 bob marley covers. We thought that was great, but for some reason we didn't bring any dry clothes. Her mom had a Geo Tracker with a convertible roof that wouldn't go back up, and we had to ride all the way back to memphis shivering to death like wet puppies. I remember they played this song like.......4 times. I don't think that's why it is comforting, because I never liked her mom too much. This song just makes me feel like I'm drunk and warm and happy.

2. Ray Charles - Georgia on my Mind
First of all, I loved this song when it was the theme to Designing Women. However, although I may be wrong I think the theme didn't include the absolutely heartbreaking bridge "Other arms reach out to me, other eyes smile tenderly, still in peaceful dreams I see, the road leads back to you..." A few weeks ago I was watching Quantum Leap, and it was the messed up episode where at the end Sam leaps into some situation where he is talking to Al's wife, who gets married to someone else because she thinks Al (who is a POW in vietnam) is dead. He realizes immediately that he's been sent there to put it right. They are sitting together on a couch in the dark living room with the doors open, breeze blowing through the curtains, mid-day. There's a picture of young Al on the coffee table. His wife is a pretty young southern girl, and as he's looking at her Georgia on my mind starts playing. The old version, not the re-did designing women one. Sam just says "I have wonderful news. Al's alive." It shows her face for a really long time, being all calm. And whoa buddy, when it got to that bridge I started crying like hell. I'm not kidding. I'm really not the tearful type at all, but that song just busts me up like nothing else. The only thing about this song that is not heavenly is the occasional white-people-chorus back up vocals.

I've always been sad that Mississippi has no great classic song about it. hmph.