http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dominique-Fils-Aime-Feeling-Good.mp3 Spring time often inspires musicians and poets to write about renewal and rebirth and hope and all those happy, shake-off-the-cold themes. Songs like that are great, and I’ve featured a few of them here over the years. But for all its mention of birds and sun and drifting breezes, “Feeling Good” is not one of those songs. Written for an obscure musical in 1964 and made iconic by Nina Simone’s recording the following year, “Feeling Good” presents a different attitude towards renewal: it’s less about skipping through fields of flowers and more about asserting a freedom that is long overdue. Less about the optimism of the first day on a new job and more about storming out of an old one without looking back. Artists from Michael Bublé to Muse have recorded versions of this song, but nobody that I’ve heard has made it more their own than Montreal’s Dominique Fils-Aimé. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. In Nina Simon’s version, the horn section asserts the track’s determined attitude. But here, that energy is distilled down to a quiet acapella humming. 2. Fils-Aimé’s quiet crooning is almost more intense than those who belt the words out; it’s like the intensity of an angry parent who takes their volume down several notches until it’s barely a simmering whisper. 3. Her harmonies take a bit of the edge off the intensity while also giving the impression that the singer is not alone in her newfound freedom. Recommended listening activity: Catching a glimpse of yourself in a reflective surface and giving yourself a surreptitious fist-pump. Buy it here. The post Week 776: “Feeling Good” by Dominique Fils-Aimé appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Uly-thats-no-way-to-fly-2019.mp3 The Irish, as a people, have a bit of a history of hard knocks: famines, storms, constant cloud cover, and a long list of problems related to the English. Despite this (or perhaps as a reaction to it) one of the principal concepts connected with St. Patrick’s Day is luck. For your enjoyment, here is a sampling of things the Irish will do to bring on good fortune: Catching a falling leaf in autumn. I’ve tried this, and it’s both harder and more fun than you might think. Saluting a magpie. Failure to do so will bring bad luck. “Drowning the shamrock.” Dunk a clover into your last drink of the night and toss it over your shoulder. Good luck ensues. Touching wood. As with most age-old traditions, the exact origin of the whole “touch wood” thing is a bit murky, but several sources claim that it started in Ireland. Whistling indoors. This is a bit of a strange one. Do it while cooking or cleaning and you’ll attract good luck, but do it at night and you might attract evil spirits. Not sure what the advice is if you’re cooking or cleaning at night. Turning a kid upside down on their birthday. No joke; hold them by their ankles and then bonk their head on the floor once for each year of their age. Plus one for good luck. I’m starting to think that annual concussions might explain some of the other odd behaviour on this list. Whether you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by whistling, dunking foliage into alcohol, or saluting at birds, take a moment to enjoy this beautiful, quiet song by Ireland’s very own Rafino Murphy, aka Uly. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. Everything is so quiet. He sings barely above a whisper, the guitar is finger-picked…even the trumpet solo somehow manages to be quiet. 2. In the second verse, he overdubs himself singing an octave lower, which is an interesting and subtle take on backup vocals. 3. It might just be my own interpretation, but the lyrics seem to send a message of anti-luck. “Fighting with the birds / The wings they leave behind” – magpie wings? Wings kept for good luck? – but then he goes on: “They won’t help you fly / Cause they’re not yours.” Maybe that’s the key to Irish resilience. You can whistle till your lips are dry and salute all the magpies you like, but in the end, you have to make your own luck. Recommended listening activity: Inventing a superstition and living by it all week, just to see what happens. Buy it here. The post Week 775: “That’s No Way to Fly” by Uly appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Apres-la-pluie.mp3 Looking at an accordion, it’s hard to imagine how anyone came up with the idea for such an instrument. I mean, drums I understand. Hitting stuff is fun, so it makes sense to want to make different things to hit just to find out what it sounds like. Flutes make sense too. An early human blows into a bone or a hollow branch, it makes a sound, the rest is history. But an accordion? How does this concept ever come up organically? It has to be the result of some kind of misunderstanding; somewhere in 19 th -Century France there must have been a mix-up at a hotel where an organization of piano manufacturers booked a conference for a weekend, but then the hotel accidentally double-booked a group of typewriter enthusiasts. I can imagine the two groups confusedly checking calendars before finally just saying, “what the heck, let’s do a collab.” They drink some wine, grab a piano, a typewriter, the bellows from the fireplace, and some glue, and there you have it. Accordion. There aren’t too many songs on this list that feature the accordion. The occasional indie weirdos , the occasional French-Canadians , the occasional American trying to sing in French …but this marks the first time that we’ve had a true, born-in-France, master-of-the-craft accordionist, so let’s enjoy it. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. Jean-Louis Matinier is the real accordion deal. And although he could easily shred up this track with some face-melting accordion riffs, he goes instead for mood and beauty. 2. His collaborator, guitarist Kevin Seddiki , adds to the beauty with his classical guitar. I don’t know if the two met thanks to a hotel mix-up, but I kinda hope so. 3. Both musicians are fluent in classical and jazz, and it shows in this song’s unusual – yet not quite dissonant – chord progressions. Recommended listening activity: Talking a walk once the rain stops. Buy it here. The post Week 774: “Après la Pluie” by Jean-Louis Matinier and Kevin Seddiki appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Talk.mp3 This was never one of Coldplay’s biggest songs, but I always liked it. “Talk” came out in 2005, when I was stumbling into adulthood. The song was typical quarter-life crisis stuff, full of lyrics about feeling lost or incomplete, and describing lofty ambitions like “climbing a ladder up to the sun” and “writing a song nobody has sung.” I was feeling the same optimistic-young-adult urge to do something that hadn’t been done. The ironic thing about those lyrics is that songs about doing something nobody else has done…have already been done. Even the main riff from “Talk” had already been done; it was lifted directly (with permission, mind you) from Kraftwerk’s 1981 song “Computer Love.” But then, that’s creativity, right? Taking bits and pieces of culture that you’ve absorbed and reconstituting them through your own aesthetic. Which brings us to Canadian guitar wizard Antoine Dufour’s cover of “Talk.” What makes this a beautiful song: 1. While Coldplay took Kraftwerk’s riff from a (mostly) instrumental track and gave it lyrics, Dufour brings it full circle and gives us an instrumental cover. And that Kraftwerk riff sounds fantastic done on muted harmonics. 2. Like fellow Canadian guitar wizard Don Ross , Antoine Dufour is great at implying percussion by striking the strings or the body of the guitar at just the right time. 3. While his take on the song is entirely its own thing, Dufour stays true to Coldplay’s version in several little details, like the slight change to the bass line at 4:06. Recommended listening activity: Finding the first message ever sent to you by someone close to you, and re-sending it to them with no explanation. Buy it here. The post Week 773: “Talk” by Coldplay (Antoine Dufour cover) appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lose-Control-Teddy-Swims-Too-Many-Zooz-Cover.mp3 In the early 2010s, Too Many Zooz were making noise in New York’s underground music scene. And I mean that quite literally: the trio’s high-energy performances in subway stations made commuters stop, dance, and drop money into their busker’s bucket. It also made commuters pull out their phones and take video. Before they knew it, Too Many Zooz were YouTube famous. Their use of traditional funk/jazz instruments to make dance music – they called it “brasshouse” – came off as both completely new and somehow familiar. Their track “ Warriors” is a good example. It makes you want to grab some glowsticks but also put on a fedora and order an espresso. And then there’s the song that builds a fantastic groove out of a car alarm . Eventually they moved from subway stations to stages all over NYC and the world, although they still perform down there from time to time. When they do, it’s often their cover songs that get the most attention. The way they take a wide array of artists’ work (Nirvana, Backstreet Boys, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Jackson) and turn them into funk-infused bangers is fantastic. But their cover of Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” stands out for its slower tempo and higher emotion. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. The bari sax (played by Leo Pellegrino) is the perfect instrument to replicate Teddy Swim’s voice; gritty but rich in tone. 2. Drummer David Parks, who basically plays a marching band bass drum with a variety of percussive accessories attached to it, uses a tambourine as a hi-hat here. I can safely say this is perhaps the only context I know of in which a tambourine could be described as “plaintive.” 3. Trumpeter Matt Doe plays what is a bluesy guitar solo in the original, and after so much baritone sax Doe’s instrument seems to really soar. Recommended listening activity: Missing your train on purpose. Spotify . The post Week 772: “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims (Too Many Zooz cover) appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/MJ-Cole-Sonoran.mp3 Deserts are known for their spectacular sunrises and sunsets. This is partly because pollution has a muting effect on the colours we see at dawn and dusk. Fewer people live in deserts, and fewer people means less pollution. But even though pollution makes sunrises and sunsets less spectacular, what makes them more spectacular is dust. Which is strange, because to me dust feels like nature’s pollution. In fact, dust particles act like tiny filters, dispersing the sun’s light more effectively. If there’s one thing deserts have in spades, it’s dust. If that dust is kicked up by particularly clean air, then you get some first-rate sunrises and sunsets. The western Sahara, with air coming in off the Atlantic, gets some especially great colours. So does the Australian desert. But if I had to visit a desert – and to be honest, I have no immediate plans – I would probably pick the Sonoran desert in the southwestern US/Mexico. With its majestic cactus plants and spectacular colours painting the sky at dusk and dawn (and the fact that it’s much less remote than Australia or the western Saraha) it seems like the desert for me. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. It was unexpected. MJ Cole’s career took a sharp turn with this album. Originally breaking through in the UK’s garage / deep house scene and becoming a sought-after dance producer, Cole hadn’t released a solo album in 17 years when he told his label that he wanted to do something with mostly piano and strings, and to their credit they told him, “okay, go do that.” 2. The way the piano line creeps up by little steps, like a sunrise peeking over the horizon. 3. In the last twenty seconds, it kind of all dissolves into an echo, like a sunrise becoming morning before you can notice the change. Recommended listening activity: Checking what time the sun will rise tomorrow, and setting your alarm for that exact time. Buy it here. The post Week 771: “Sonoran” by MJ Cole appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Prelude-In-E-Minor.mp3 For those keeping score at home, this is the third Prelude in E Minor I’ve featured here, and none of them have been Chopin’s original. There’s been the experimental electronic Chopin chop-up, we’ve had the indie piano re-imagination , and now we’ve arrived at the mid-century bossa jazz extravaganza. One day, I hope to find an actual Prelude in E Minor recording that fits my personal and strangely stubborn preference for tempo and dynamics. But for now, this one more than holds down the fort. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. Of all the Prelude versions I’ve posted, this is the only one that doesn’t feature a piano, and yet it’s also melodically the closest to the original. 2. The sax is the perfect instrument to capture Chopin’s melancholy. 3. The snare rim is the perfect syncopated replacement for the eight-note chords in the original. Recommended listening activity: Drawing a picture of a photo of a painting. Spotify. The post Week 770: “Prelude in E Minor” by Gerry Mulligan Sextet appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/The-Kiffness-Feira-De-Mangaio-Ft-Mari-Merenda-The-Kiffness-Mari-Merenda.mp3 I’ve decided that the next instrument I’m going to learn to play is the asalato. (Or the kashaka, or kosh kash, or any number of other onomatopoeic words to describe shakers on strings.) You’re likely thinking that learning to play a shaker can’t be too difficult, and I don’t blame you; it’s rare to find an instrument with a name that basically functions as an exhaustive list of instructions as to how to play it. But is not an ordinary shaker. You have to see someone play this shaker to appreciate how amazing it is. I recommend starting with this video , where Ghanaian musician Moussa Diarra gives a tutorial that goes from “beginner” to “advanced” in the blink of an eye. Although it originated in west Africa, the simple percussive instrument has made its way around the world, and is often used in folk styles that place rhythm at the forefront. Brazilian musician Mari Merenda’s Instagram profile is full of clips of her singing while accompanying herself on the asalato. It’s mesmerizing to watch her sing in her easygoing Portuguese, smiling and closing her eyes as if she’s settling in for a tanning session on the beach, with the shakers whizzing frantically around her fingers like bees around a hive. Everyone I’ve watched play the asalato online makes it look so easy, and I’m sure that the learning curve is much steeper and filled with bruised knuckles than I’m expecting. But I’m going to try anyway. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. Portuguese is such a fantastically singable language. The lyrics to this song – originally by Brazilian legend Sivuca – amount to nothing more than a stall-minder at a market listing off the items they have for sale. But to my ears it’s the most rhythmic, flowing poetry imaginable. 2. The extra instrumentation comes courtesy of The Kiffness, aka David Scott, a South African musician who remixes videos that catch his ear on YouTube (most notably cat videos ). He must be just about as big of a fan of the asalato as I am, as he’s also remixed the Moussa Diarra video mentioned above. 3. Even before all Scott’s instruments come in, Merenda’s voice and the asalato are enough. Recommended listening activity: Shaking whatever you have that feels like shaking. Buy it here. The post Week 769: “Feira de Mangaio” by The Kiffness and Mari Merenda appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Heirlooms.mp3 Here’s a very unimportant thing I learned today: tomatoes are not the only fruits or vegetables that come in an heirloom variety. To be honest, I didn’t really know what “heirloom” meant in this context. At the risk of revealing my total lack of gardening knowledge, I think I might have assumed that heirloom tomatoes were descended from the vegetable gardens at Buckingham Palace or something. But no; it just means that the seeds have been saved and passed down for decades, with no cross-breeding or artificial stuff. People who know things claim they have a better taste than supermarket tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes have been hogging the heirloom spotlight it seems, and many other fruits and vegetables come in heirloom format. They’re prized for their higher nutritional value and more robust flavour than the mass-produced food of modern agri-business. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. If pop music is supermarket fruits and vegetables, Pale White Moon is an heirloom variety of band. A loose collective of multi-instrumentalists, their use of classical instruments in a folk-pop context makes their music feel…artisanal? 2. The swinging ¾ time makes it feel easy and relaxed. 3. The plucked strings feel like the careful sowing of seeds. Recommended listening activity: Shopping at a farmer’s market. Buy it here. The post Week 768: “Heirlooms” by Pale White Moon appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Paradise.mp3 In 2017, Finland celebrated the 100th anniversary of its independence from the Russian Empire. In the lead-up to this occasion, its neighbour Norway tried – as any good neighbour would – to come up with the perfect birthday gift. But what? Finland consistently ranks at or near the top in just about every quality-of-life list you’ll ever see. Healthcare, education, safety, environment, work-life balance…it’s basically a paradise. A frigid paradise, sure, but a paradise nonetheless. So what do you get the nation that already has everything? Well, some enterprising Norwegians had a great answer to that question: a mountain. When the borders between Finland and Norway were made official in the mid-1700s, a fondness for straight lines paired with a lack of attention to detail resulted in a minor geographic quirk: the tallest mountain in Finland…wasn’t fully in Finland. The mountain, Mount Halti, was largely within Finnish territory, but its peak was 20 metres on the Norwegian side. As Finland’s 100th birthday approached, the movement to give Finland the peak of its own highest mountain gained quite a lot of social media traction and news media attention. The Norwegian government was on board at first, but after looking into the paperwork, it decided that ceding territory would be counter to its own constitution, article 1 of which states that Norway is “indivisible” – and the campaign abruptly ended there. Norway’s Prime Minister at the time stated that they would choose another “suitable gift” for Finland on the occasion of its anniversary, but try as I might, I can’t find any evidence of what they eventually settled on. Part of me doesn’t want to know, because it’s safe to say that whatever it was, it wasn’t anywhere near as cool as a mountaintop. But I also want to know that Norway tried; that they at least gave Finland something cooler than a 100 Kroner prepaid Visa. Please get in touch with me if you happen to know what it was. What makes this a beautiful song: 1. Finnish DJ / Composer Kupla has a knack for very textured sounds. There’s a white noise in the background of this track that brings to mind falling snow. 2. The ascending arpeggios in the piano make me imagine someone hiking up Finland/Norway’s highest mountain. 3. The melancholic melody played by the clarinet makes me imagine a generous Norwegian standing at the top of Mount Halti, gazing wistfully across the border, constitutionally prohibited from giving his Finnish neighbour the gift he wants to give. Recommended listening activity: Practising your gift-wrapping technique. Buy it here. The post Week 767: “Paradise” by Kupla appeared first on Beautiful Song Of The Week .…