From her 1996 self-titled album Sheryl Crow, The song reached number 10 on Billboards Hot 100 chart. The guitar riff in this song is unmistakable. When you hear the first note you know what it is.
From songfacts.
This song describes a person who seems depressed or upset no matter what happens. According to Crow, the inspiration for the song was her feelings after the massive success of her first album, as her record label and the media put pressure on her to follow it up.
This won the Grammy award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. >>
On her VH1 Storytellers appearance in 1998, Sheryl Crow said this was initially a country song, but she turned it into a rock song so she could get more exposure. >>
The Australian lensman Keir McFarlane directed the video, which portrays Crow as an angry museum exhibit (10 years before the movie Night at the Museum). McFarlane also did the video for Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.”
Crow was a huge fan of Tom Petty, and said that this song was in some ways inspired by the way he played.
If It Makes You Happy
I put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes
And drank ’till I was thirsty again
We went searching, through thrift store jungles
And Benny Goodman’s cursive pen
Well, okay, I made this up
I promise you I’d never give up
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train
Well, who hasn’t been there before?
Bring you comics in bed
Scrape the mold off the bread
And serve you french toast again
Okay, I still get stoned
I’m not the kind of girl you’d take home
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
I put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes
And everywhere in between
Well, okay, we get along
So what if right now, everything’s wrong?
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
Free Fallin' 
Sheryl Crow was one of the best things to happen to rock in a while when she released her first album. I’m glad I got to see her once…open up for the Stones.
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