While I typed up the last post, David Letterman was on the TV in the background. My attention was drawn when I heard the band playing If You Want to Be Happy, a Jimmy Soul hit from 1963.
The band was playing in David’s guest, Katherine Heigl, whom I have never heard of, but from what I saw on Letterman, I don’t think anyone would call her ugly. The lyrics of If You Want to Be Happy include: “If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife, so from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you” So the beautiful actress is played in with a song about the virtues of marrying an ugly girl. Ms Heigl did not comment on the music and I wonder if she’s ever heard the song.
It turns out that Ms Heigl is on Letterman to promote the movie The Ugly Truth (the clip did not look promising). Did the fact that the word “ugly” is in the title of the movie justify the song choice?
This is a great song that I’ve always loved. Memory tells me that my oldest sister loved the song (although she is (and was) beautiful!). But it seems an odd choice to play in a guest on a late night talk show.