This morning I awoke to Nic Harcourt’s huffy, gruffy voice–as I do nearly every morning–and proceeded to lie in bed for an inordinate amount of time contemplating Australian accents and what kind of tea best accompanies TJ’s cat cookies. Also pretty typical. If that weren’t already an ideal way to start the day, good ol’ Nic then played The Bird and the Bee’s delightful cover of “Tonight You Belong to Me,” originally made famous by Gene Austin way back in 1927. Eighty-one years ago!!! And musicians are still recording their own renditions of it. Makes you wonder if any of the stuff being released these days has even half a chance of living out a similar fate. I bet “Toxic” will pull through…

A bunch of musicians have covered “Tonight” over the years, and I really think it would take a concerted effort to turn out an arrangement anything short of adorable — it’s just that kind of song. This is my favorite version, sung by two of my favorite folkies, Erin McKeown and Josh Ritter: