“The simplicity of the songs and Mark Hollis’s voice make this album just incredible. The first tune, Happiness Is Easy, says it all – nothing but a bass, a snare and a weird chord. That’s Talk Talk all over, great songs and simplicity with a twist.” – Richard Wright (Pink Floyd) – Spirit of Talk Talk (book)
If Spirit of Eden created the illusion of a bunch of musicians casually jamming together in a room, then perhaps the illusion created by The Colour of Spring – and Happiness is Easy in particular – is of seeming simplicity, born of great complexity.
Listen closely to Happiness is Easy. There’s a lot of space in it, but then again there’s such a lot going on, so many moving parts, so many scraps of sound – random piano notes, the expected churchy organ, a glorious trumpet, a faraway Hollis hollering in witness, sprinkles of percussion; a bass, a snare and a weird chord. The space is the trick, it’s the thing that gives that illusion of simplicity.
And the children’s choir. What could be more simple and beautiful? They don’t sound pious or pompous or ironic, just young school kids singing, mostly in tune and very very English. It’s not a gimmick. It’s not cheesy, although in the wrong hands it could easily be so. It’s perfect for the song.
Which is also not ironic or cheesy. Given the writer’s propensity for sarcasm in his daily life, you could read the song title as sarcastic, but I don’t hear any sarcasm at all in the vocal. Happiness IS easy. It’s as easy as breathing in, breathing out. Just ask Thich Nhat Hanh.
I have said before that Mark Hollis meets my definition of a Buddha (note: not a saint), mostly due to his penchant for pushing musician’s buttons to find their true sound. TCOS is full of Buddhist concepts, as written by a silence-loving vegetarian minimalist. Happiness is Easy in particular. It’s not the only reason I love this song, but it’s one of many.
“I can’t think of any other way of being able to sing a lyric and actually sing it and feel it unless I believe in what I’m singing about […] I’m not saying all lyrics have to be about religion but, in a way, there must be that kind of thing in it.“ – Mark Hollis, Melody Maker, September 1991
Happiness Is Easyhttps://youtu.be/tpGkiZ7FGmg?si=hJc1HcRpp8nBlcOh
Thich Nhat Hanh on happiness https://youtu.be/jAhtNotxqTk?si=ve2J5AEQ8uxQnD8x