[photogallerylink id=20731 align=left]The sun is shining, but it’s still cold. Bah humbug. So I thought we needed a little pick-me-up. Found just the thing. An adorable cover version of [lastfm]The Beatles[/lastfm] “Ob La Di, Ob La Da”. The original was on The Beatles White Album. [lastfm]John Lennon[/lastfm] hated this McCartney tune. Called it Paul’s “granny sh…” Well, three guesses. They spent days on the song, and finally a frustrated Lennon came into the studio, banged out a rough, loud and fast intro on the piano, and that was used on the recording we all know. Leave it to John. Well this version is a real charmer. It reminds me of the night in Stanger Hall at Elmhurst College the brutal winter of 1968 when it seemed everyone had the dreaded Hong Kong flu.

A bunch of us were sitting in a coma-like condition on the floor of the hallway, when my friend J.C. and I started singing Marvin Gaye’s new version of Heard It Through The Grapevine. It was like a miracle. We were revived by that song and ended up leading a chain of sick coeds around the floor paying tribute to Marvin. Best medicine ever. We were having so much fun, we took it down to the second floor and got these gals to get out of their sick beds to join us. Finally the first floor, then in our jammies and running fevers, we donned our coats and braved the December night to serenade the whole campus. By the time we got to the President’s house and woke up his whole family, we switched to more traditional Christmas carols, then back to Marvin Gaye. So this video reminds me of how great music can sound in an institutional hallway with people willing to have a laugh. Good times.

I can’t stop myself. This one never gets old. Almost 8 million people can’t be wrong.

Oh, I can’t leave this one out of the mix.

And who knew the brilliant dancer Gene Kelly was a Beatlemaniac.

OK, here’s the guy that wrote the song. See you 8 till 10 Sunday mornings…Breakfast With The Beatles. We’re known to get a bit goofy there too. Why not? Life goes on, bra!