Powderfinger : My Happiness

From the Across the Great Divide Tour DVD, with silverchair. Recorded live at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia, on September 18th and 19th 2007.

“My Happiness” was released on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band’s fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. The single is Powderfinger’s most successful to date; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and charted in the United States on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so.

Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote “My Happiness” as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. Despite its melancholy mood, “My Happiness” is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.

“My Happiness” was released as a single with “My Kind of Scene” as a B-side. It was instantly successful, charting highly in Australia and New Zealand. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the 2009 Hottest 100 of all Time. “My Happiness” was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger’s United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of “My Happiness” on Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.