While chatting with Holler around the release of his 2023 opus, the mockingbird & THE CROW, HARDY revealed that ‘happy’ started off as an idea for a children's book.

The track appears on the ‘country’ half of that album, and finds HARDY cleverly singing about the personification of happiness, called ‘Happy’. It's a bittersweet ode that serves as part-blueprint for the various keys to happiness, and part-cautionary tale about how we can forget to make room for our friend ‘Happy’ in our day-to-day lives.

Across a bright, stripped-back instrumental, HARDY muses, “Well, Happy sits there patiently / In line behind jealousy / Waiting on a humble epiphany / That your grass might be greener / And Happy's never liked the view / Of "I ain't good enough" Avenue / 'Cause you can bet if you don't like you, you don't like Happy neither”.

During his conversation with Holler ahead of the arrival of the mockingbird & THE CROW, HARDY explained the unique origins of ‘happy’, “I don’t think I’ve ever said this in an interview before, but I was thinking of writing a children’s book. Someone told me a long time ago to stay away from drugs, because ‘you’re borrowing five days worth of happiness just to have it in one night’. That always stuck with me”.

He goes on, “So for a brief second, I thought I’d love to write a children’s book called Happy, detailing elementary ways of how to be happy. But that went by the wayside”.

After forgetting about it, he was struck by another means of conveying his thoughts on happiness, and the mistakes we make when pursuing it, “Then one day, I was driving to the golf course, and I had this idea pop into my head about personifying ‘Happy’. I was so excited to write it that I sat down at my house that night and just wrote the whole thing. It’s the first song I’ve written by myself in a long time”.

He concludes, “I love that song, man, and it is personal - everybody is seeking happiness. We’re all looking for ways to either stay happy or be happy, and this song is a nice little guide. I tried to write it in a way that isn’t judgmental or anything like that”.

In this writer's humble opinion, ‘happy’ is one of the most under-rated gems in HARDY's extensive catalogue. The fact that it was a solo write highlights the ‘wait in the truck’ hitmaker's ability to delve into powerful concepts through inventive storytelling.

And - crucially - rather than obscuring or overcomplicating the story through intricate wordplay and song structures, HARDY's songwriting always enhances the message.

After dividing his country and rock impulses on the mockingbird & THE CROW, HARDY has more recently been combining these two aesthetics, something he showcases across his latest album, COUNTRY! COUNTRY! COUNTRY! With the fourth instalment in the Mississippi native's fantastic HIXTAPE series due this year and a new ‘concept’ album on the horizon, we can't wait to see what other playful concepts, lyrical tricks and innovative storylines HARDY has tucked up his sleeve.

And who knows, maybe one day down the line we'll get that Happy children's book after all. The concept is beautiful and, as far as we can tell, has never been done before.

For the full lyrics to HARDY's ‘happy’, see below:

“Happy lives all around the world
Inside of every boy and girl, yeah
Dollar bills and gold and pearls
Ain't never been his style
-
And Happy's always by your side
Never not willing to provide
But if you abuse him for the night
He don't show for a while
-
Well, Happy don't have lies to tell
He doesn't want nothing from no one else and he
Never does concern himself with who's right or wrong
Happy don't like alcohol
Bitterness or cruel at all
But when he hears love sing through the wall
Well, Happy sings along
-
My old friend
Where has the time gone?
We were thick as thieves
Until hate came along
What a mess
We've gotten into
Hey Happy, why can't everybody just be
You?
-
Well, Happy sits there patiently
In line behind jealousy
Waiting on a humble epiphany
That your grass might be greener
And Happy's never liked the view
Of "I ain't good enough" Avenue
'Cause you can bet if you don't like you, you don't like Happy neither
-
Oh, my old friend
Where has the time gone?
We were thick as thieves
Until hate came along
What a mess
We've gotten into
Hey Happy, why can't everybody just be you?
-
These days, Happy spends his time
Beating on the door of most folks' minds
Knowing he's about to hit his finish line
If we don't let him in
But that ain't up to him, nah
-
My old friend
Where has the time gone?
We were thick as thieves
Until hate came along
What a mess
We've gotten into
Hey Happy, why can't everybody just be you?
Why can't everybody just be you?
Why can't everybody just be
You?”