You never know which song will hold your consciousness hostage—or when it will occur. I’m continually surprised by my susceptibility to become entranced with songs that I once thought were nothing that special. Case in point: the Moody Blues’ “To Share Our Love” (off 1969’s On the Threshold of a Dream).

This John Lodge composition is, according to my extensive research, one of the most uplifting tunes ever [stay tuned for a future Line Out post on this topic]. Clocking in at 2:54, “To Share Our Love” will subvert your biases against this often pompously mellifluous prog-pop band. It rocks hard and expansively, with an ascending, coruscating guitar part that makes you want to break the land speed record—on foot. The bass line is a huge rubber band flinging you skyward. Cultured white English voices, against the odds, dredge up some semblance of soul. There’s even a deceptive undercarriage of funkiness that many rock bands of the late ’60s/early ’70s possessed, an almost accidental funkiness. The rhythm falls somewhere between Sly & the Family Stone’s hysteria-inducing “Dance to the Music” and Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s flooring-it-down-the-highway anthemic “Takin’ Care of Business.” “To Share Our Love” keeps looping through my brain, pumping totally unjustified optimism through my system despite all the spirit-crushing evidence reality provides.

Why this song? Why now? Maybe it’s my subconscious telling me that bleak times call for morale boosting wherever you can find it—even in a song buried on a largely ignored prog-rock LP from 37 years ago.