Another in our occasional post exploring a well known song in all its versions – however bizarre. “Happy” is a song written, produced, and performed by American singer Pharrell Williams, released as the first and only single from the soundtrack album for the film “Despicable Me 2” (2013). The song was first released on November 21, 2013, alongside a long-form music video. The song was reissued in December 2013, by Back Lot Music. The song also served as the lead single from Williams’ second studio album, Girl (2014).
“Happy” is an uptempo soul song on which Williams’s falsetto voice has been compared to Curtis Mayfield’s by critics. The song has been highly successful, peaking at No. 1 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and 19 other countries. It was the best-selling song of 2014 in the United States with 6.45 million copies sold for the year, as well as in the United Kingdom with 1.5 million copies sold for the year. It reached No. 1 in the UK on a record-setting three occasions and became the most downloaded song of all time in the UK in September 2014.
Walk off the Earth is a Canadian indie pop band from Burlington, Ontario. The group is known for its music videos of covers and originals. The band is well known for covering pop-genre music on YouTube, making use of instruments such as the ukulele and the theremin, as well as looping samples. Their version bears a lot of similarity to the orginal.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain give their own particular spin to the song – it is interesting how the ukulele features so strongly on both of these covers. This clip is taken from their 2018 Le Poisson Rouge, NYC show. From here things become stranger.
Gunhild Carling is a Swedish jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist. She is famous for playing three trumpets at the same time. Here she is playing with the Postmodern Jukebox who are a rotating musical collective founded by arranger and pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. PMJ are known for reworking popular modern music into different vintage genres, especially early 20th century forms such as swing and jazz.
Musica Piccolino is a Japanese TV programme that was launched in2012 by NHK. A music education program for children that provides them with a direct understanding of music and instruments through a story in which the “Musica” forgotten by people is revived by rescuing Monstro, a huge contraption that wanders through the virtual world of Musicamundo. The world is designed in a “steampunk” style.
And finally the inevitable cosplay lipdub produced by TDragon and recorded at the SacAnime in Sacramento, California in 2014.
