20. Maxine Nightingale \u2013 Right Back Where We Started From (1975)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to imagine anyone\u2019s heart not being lifted a little by Right Back Where We Started From: the euphoric rush of new love rendered into three minutes of cod-northern soul (performed, unexpectedly, by various ex members of ELO, the Animals and 60s soft-poppers Honeybus). Avoid the 80s cover by Sinitta at all costs.<\/p>\n
19. CMAT \u2013 Nashville (2022)<\/p>\n
A song about fresh starts for anyone who\u2019s made a new year resolution with no intention of sticking to it. CMAT<\/a> announces her departure for Tennessee, organises a farewell party (\u201cWe\u2019ll cry to K-pop and tequila shots\u201d) and gives her friends presents to remember her by. One problem: she\u2019s made the whole story of her emigration up.<\/p>\n 18. The Carpenters \u2013 We\u2019ve Only Just Begun (1970)<\/p>\n We\u2019ve Only Just Begun had unpromising beginnings \u2013 a jingle on a US TV advert for a bank, opportunistically picked up on by a hit-hungry Richard Carpenter. Enter his sister, Karen, whose incredible vocal \u2013 alternately joyous and tender \u2013 transformed a song intended to flog mortgages into an authentically moving hymn to new love.<\/p>\n Richard and Karen Carpenter on the BBC\u2019s In Concert series. Photograph: Tony Russell\/Redferns17. Astrud Gilberto \u2013 Beginnings (1969)<\/p>\n Originally a hit for Chicago, Astrud Gilberto\u2019s cover of Beginnings turns a fabulous song into a masterpiece: lush, funky, epic. \u201cIt\u2019s only the beginning of what I want to feel for ever,\u201d she coos from its tumbling drums to its exhilarating brass to her breathy, wide-eyed vocal, the whole thing sounds the way that falling in love feels.<\/p>\n 16. Joe Smooth \u2013 Promised Land (1987)<\/p>\n Written for a primarily Black, gay audience in the teeth of the Aids epidemic, a lot of early house tracks were effectively songs of resistance and optimism. Promised Land might be the greatest of them all: the cosseting warmth of its sound underscoring its assurance that everything can and will change.<\/p>\n 15. Florence + the Machine \u2013 Dog Days Are Over (2008)<\/p>\n A song that acknowledges new beginnings and fresh starts can be intimidating, involving dragging yourself out of your comfort zone. \u201cYou can\u2019t carry it with you if you want to survive,\u201d admonishes Florence Welch in what sounds like a note to self: the stridency of her tone and the thunderous power of the music seems to be pushing her on.<\/p>\n Jarvis Cocker of Pulp performing at Glastonbury, June 1995. Photograph: Mick Hutson\/Redferns14. Pulp \u2013 Something Changed (1995)<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we woke up that morning we had no way of knowing \/ That in a matter of hours we\u2019d change the way we were going\u201d: the soundtrack for the kind of new beginning that\u2019s not planned or resolved, the sweet, soft-hued Something Changed marvels at the wonder of life-altering coincidence.<\/p>\n 13. The The \u2013 This Is the Day (1983)<\/p>\n The The\u2019s Soul<\/a> Mining was an album recorded under the influence of the then-largely unknown drug MDMA, which possibly accounts for This Is the Day\u2019s cocktail of fragile introspection (the verses) and fuzzy, hopeful elation (the chorus): life\u2019s a mess, it compellingly argues, but from this point on it\u2019s going to get better.<\/p>\n 12. Otis Clay \u2013 The Only Way Is Up (1980)<\/p>\n Yazz\u2019s chart-topping 1988 cover is better known, but for sheer grin-inducing punch-the-air jubilation, Mississippi vocalist Otis Clay\u2019s original can\u2019t be beaten. The strings are pure disco exhilaration, but the vocals are steeped in gospel: he sings like a man who\u2019s genuinely known tough times, and can barely contain his delight that they\u2019re over.<\/p>\n Gloria Gaynor in 1979. Photograph: Richard E Aaron\/Redferns11. Gloria Gaynor \u2013 I Will Survive (1978)<\/p>\n It\u2019s been overplayed to within an inch of its life, but I Will Survive became ubiquitous as a queer anthem and the divorcee\u2019s karaoke belter of choice for a reason. Its lyrics perfectly fix the emotional effort involved in picking oneself up and starting again; Gloria Gaynor sings the hell out of it.<\/p>\n 10. McAlmont and Butler \u2013 Yes (1995)<\/p>\n A new start is made with a triumphant up-yours \u2013 lent an extra gossipy frisson by Bernard Butler\u2019s acrimonious split from Suede \u2013 set to what may be the most glorious, dizzyingly uplifting melody of the Britpop era, delivered with the perfect blend of pathos and panache by David McAlmont. Magic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n McAlmont and Butler \u2013 Yes9. Diana Ross \u2013 I\u2019m Coming Out (1980)<\/p>\n Disco-era Diana Ross<\/a> was big on anthems of rebirth \u2013 see also 1979\u2019s fantastic I Ain\u2019t Been Licked \u2013 but I\u2019m Coming Out is the classic: written by the Chic Organisation with her gay following in mind, the bounce in Nile Rodgers\u2019 guitar and Bernard Edwards\u2019 amazing bassline could make a devoted pessimist feel positive about the future.<\/p>\n 8. Bronski Beat \u2013 Smalltown Boy (1984)<\/p>\n Like a queer analogue to the Beatles\u2019 She\u2019s Leaving Home, a song about new beginnings that concentrates on the reasons why one might be driven to make a fresh start. Its mood is sombre and haunted, but there\u2019s a promise of something better beginning in its urgent dancefloor beat and instrumental middle eight.<\/p>\n From left \u2026 Larry Steinbachek, Jimmy Somerville and Steve Bronski of Bronski Beat. Photograph: David Corio\/Getty Images7. Peter Gabriel \u2013 Solsbury Hill (1977)<\/p>\n In which the recently ex-frontman of Genesis reflects on his decision to quit \u2013 \u201cmy friends would think I was a nut\u201d \u2013 and comes to the conclusion that he was absolutely right: he will, he vows \u201cshow another me\u201d. He\u2019s left wreathed in smiles, with a racing heart, a mood that seeps into song\u2019s subtly, but nevertheless effortlessly uplifting music.<\/p>\n 6. David Bowie \u2013 A New Career in a New Town (1977)<\/p>\n An instrumental that nevertheless perfectly fits its title: a tentative intro explodes into music that sounds fresh and optimistic, topped off with breezy harmonica heavily influenced by Mr Bloe\u2019s 1970 hit Groovin\u2019 With Mr Bloe. David Bowie<\/a> referenced it on I Can\u2019t Give Everything Away, the leave-taking closing track on his final album, Blackstar.<\/p>\n 5. Public Image Limited \u2013 Public Image (1978)<\/p>\n