Music That's Making Me Happy Today, vol. 3

It's another gorgeous day here in San Francisco. After I do laundry and take my run, I'm going to meet Gretchen and see what kind of trouble we can stir up. We may grab lunch; we may shop; we may check out the patio at Zeitgeist. I also need to make a trip to Amoeba at some point to pick up Ben Lee and Belle and Sebastian cds. To that end... let's talk about music that has popped into my mind this morning.

"Can't Help Falling in Love," written by George Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore
I almost got permanently sick of Elvis Presley's recording of this song ten years ago when I used to hear it almost daily because of work. But this morning I caught Andrea Bocelli performing it on the Today Show, and it was positively gorgeous. I'd say the Lick the Tins version from the film Some Kind of Wonderful is my favorite, though. Not necessarily a song I would listen to all the time, and there are a lot of recordings of it that truly stink... but schmaltzy romance does not get better than this.

"The Very Last Time" by the Maydays
I'm not 100% sure this San Francisco band still exists. Pat Johnson, who wrote the song and sings lead, plays in about 600 other bands, plus his solo work. And I imagine the other guys involved all have dance cards filled with other projects. But they did press a single, and Pat says he's re-recording the song with some other musicians. Propelled by a thoroughly contagious 60's pop hook, this song is basically two minutes and twenty-three seconds of joy. Experience it for yourself, courtesy of the Wally Sound website, by clicking here.

Twenty five years of U2
Between Coldplay, Green Day, the forced Kelly Clarkson-horrible Gwen Stefani record education afforded me by one of my part time jobs last year and U2, I knew much more of the music in last night's Grammy ceremony than I thought I would. And as I watched I found myself thinking that, by all rights, U2 should be nothing more these days than four washed up musicians reliving their former glory and practicing for their Behind the Music interviews over Guinness pints. But nothing could be further from the truth. This band continues to produce music that, in my opinion, continues to be top notch. Something to be truly thankful for.