In 2013, while everyone was dancing to Pharrell Williams’s song “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 (2013), another artist quietly released a song with the same name. Singer-songwriter John Fullbright’s “Happy” may not be quite as upbeat and instantly memorable as Williams’s song of the same name, but it is an outstanding song you should check out.
This “Happy” begins with just Fullbright and an acoustic guitar, and while he struggles to find happiness, you sense that happiness is not so easy to find.
Tonight I’d rather think of you, and try to close my eyes, and I’ll just wonder what’s so bad about happy?
“Happy” appeared on the album Songs (2013), an album that got great reviews. The Okahoma=born Fullbright brings an honesty to his songwriting, so it is not surprising that he counts Townes Van Zandt as one of his influences. We have featured a few of Fullbright’s songs in other Chimesfreedom posts, and we expect we will be inspired to do so again. But for now, we are just whistling his song, “Happy.”
What do you think of Fullbright’s “Happy”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Sam Smith’s recent hit “Stay With Me” has such a timeless sound that I am repeatedly forgetting that it is a new song and has not been around for decades. Smith recently used his unique voice to reinterpret Whitney Houston’s 1985 hit song, “How Will I Know.”
“How Will I Know” — written by George Merrill, Shannon Rubicam, Narada Michael Walden — appeared on Houston’s debut album, Whitney Houston (1085) after Janet Jackson had turned down the opportunity to record it. While Houston’s wonderful version is uplifting, Smith takes an aching soulful approach, giving the song a different meaning. Check it out.
What is your favorite Sam Smith song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Some of the highlights of this season’s America’s Got Talent have been several talented magicians, including David and Leeman, Mike Super, Smoothini, and Mat Franco. In this week’s semi-finalist show of the NBC series, the Rhode Island native Mat Franco did a pretty amazing trick with Mel B‘s cell phone.
In the performance, Franco makes the cell phone disappear and reappear in an impossibly unusual place. Franco’s way of proving that it was the same cell phone was pretty cool too.
If you are an inquiring person who does not want to be left with the amazement of magic, Reddit has a discussion speculating about how Franco may have done the trick. In addition to Franco, several other artists had a good week too, including dance duo Blue Journey.
September 4, 2014 Update: The following night after Franco’s cell phone trick, both he and Blue Journey advanced to the next round, putting them among the top twelve acts.
In this new video from the Weekly Feed, country singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam discusses acting, country music, and his next CD. Yoakam explains to interviewer Kyle Meredith how he came to sing a Creedance Clearwater Revival song recently as a character on CBS’s Under The Dome.
In the video, Yoakam also explains why when he does cover songs, he usually tries to avoid iconic recordings. Other topics include Yoakam’s thoughts on David Bowie, Buck Owens, T-Rex, and the state of the music industry.
Yoakam is one of the more intelligent artists around and he has a great understanding of history. So it is always enlightening to hear him talk about various subjects. Check out this interview from the WFPK studios in Louisville, Kentucky.
Below is the clip from Under the Dome that he discusses, where his character sits in jail and sings “Who’ll Stop the Rain.”
If all that leaves you wanting more Yoakam, below is the song he mentions at the end of the interview, “A Heart Like Mine,” from his 3 Pears (2012) CD. The song was co-produced by Beck.
What is your favorite Dwight Yoakam song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On September 1, 1914, the last passenger pigeon on earth passed away. The passenger pigeon once was the most numerous species in North America and perhaps the world.
In the mid and late 1800s, there were millions of passenger pigeons in the United States. But the species dwindled down from hunting and other reasons, until on this date a passenger pigeon named Martha died in the Cincinnati Zoo.
According to a New Yorker book review of Joe Greenberg’s A Feathered River Across the Sky, the last pair of passenger pigeons, George and Martha, lived in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. After George died in 1910, Martha lived on four more years as a sad attraction, reminding visitors of the destruction of a once widespread species.
Although officials offered a $1000 reward for a male passenger pigeon, no more were found. And Martha passed away in 1914, ending the species. (Jonathan Rosen, “The Birds,” New Yorker 6 Jan. 2014: 62)
Below is a short video about passenger pigeons, featuring a song about Martha called “Martha (Last of the Passenger Pigeons),” written and sung by singer-songwriter John Herald.
Singer John Herald was one of the founders of the bluegrass group Greenbriar Boys, and he worked as a session guitarist for a number of artists like Bonnie Raitt and Doc Watson. He wrote the classic song about a drunk racehorse, “Stewball,” which was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. Herald passed away in 2005.
As for Martha, after her death, she was frozen in ice and sent by train to Washington, D.C. There, she was stuffed and put on display at the Smithsonian. She is now part of a special exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Meanwhile, Project Passenger Pigeon works to educate about the loss of the species. Although Martha has died, we have kept her body to forever haunt humans and remind us that nobody — and no species — survives forever.
Photo of Martha, the last passenger pigeon, via public domain.
What species extinction do you think most about? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In 2013, while everyone was dancing to Pharrell Williams’s song “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 (2013), another artist quietly released a song with the same name. Singer-songwriter John Fullbright’s “Happy” may not be quite as upbeat and instantly memorable as Williams’s song of the same name, but it is an outstanding song you should check out.
(2012) CD. The song was co-produced by Beck.
, the last pair of passenger pigeons, George and Martha, lived in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. After George died in 1910, Martha lived on four more years as a sad attraction, reminding visitors of the destruction of a once widespread species.