I’ve developed a pre-occupation with advertising music lately, particularly folksy, female-vocal songs that accompany fashion commercials.  Call it a quirk.

Waiting to get snowed in on Saturday night, Tina and I took in a broad selection of horrid cable programming — though nothing was topped by Sunday’s all-day marathon of Cheerleader Nation, which seared our souls worse than even Tila Tequila could –  while dinner simmered on the stove.  During a brief interlude, while Tina went in to stir the soup and I watched college football, I found myself in a shocking position:  I found myself paying attention to a JC Penney commercial.

I felt a little guilty about it at first, because JC Penney isn’t exactly my brand, but the song was so simple and lovely that I had to turn it up.  Covertly.  A little at a time.  Because, seriously:  A JC Penney commercial.

I didn’t have to be shameful about it for long, because not ten seconds later Tina called from the kitchen, “Who is that?  What’s that for?  I like that, rewind it!”  At first I panicked, because I didn’t realize she had a PVR; however, after furiously mashing buttons for a few seconds, I was able to both forestall any concerns about my competence with remote controls, and also replay the ad enough times for us to properly commence a Commercial Song Googlefight.

You know the game, you’ve played it enough times.  Upon hearing any music during a commercial, Googlefighters are required to:

  • Listen intently to melody and lyrics, and retain whatever is possible,
  • make no more than three semi-educated guesses at possible performers,
  • propose their nominees for artist and song title,
  • argue viciously against the idea of any performers that they didn’t think of themselves,
  • and resort to pulling out a laptop to look up the song on the internet.

Bonus points to the person able to look up the answer first, regardless of how wrong they were.

Because it was indeed a nasty snowstorm, and it’s traditional (or it will be from now on) for Tina and me to get loaded and eat hearty foods during nasty snowstorms, our Googlefight was more of a Googlespat.  We only felt wrath towards our internet connection, which simply did not operate fast enough for us to find our answer.

Eventually though, in time to save both our relationship and the cable modem, it came:

The Weepies are an indie-folk duo out of Topanga, California, and are made up of Deb Talan and Steve Tannen.  Their second album together was released in 2006, and most recently, they’ve had a song released on the soundtrack to the Ben Stiller flop The Heartbreak Kid, and co-wrote with Mandy Moore on her most recent stuff.  But it’s from their first record, Happiness, that the JC Penney song is taken:  All That I Want.

What can I tell you?  It’s a Christmas song, and Deb Talan’s vocals are the kind that surprise you and pull you in.  She has the kind of voice that makes you find yourself scrambling to rewind a commercial promising great deals on JC Penney sweaters, if that gives you any understanding of it.  JC Penney believes in it so much that it’s the background music to their holiday website, and one of the anchors to their Christmas charity campaign:

As part of JCPenney’s integrated marketing campaign, five percent of all qualifying downloads from iTunes of John Lennon’s “Real Love” and The Weepies “All That I Want” will be donated to the JCPenney Afterschool Fund. The JCPenney Afterschool Fund is a charitable organization committed to providing children in need with access to life-enriching afterschool programs that foster their academic, physical and social development.

Granted, Lennon’s music is probably considered the driving force there, but it wasn’t his stuff I went scouring the internet for on Saturday night.

Check them out, if you can.  Their MySpace page is full of music from both their albums, uniformly enjoyable and catchy.  If you don’t find yourself replaying All That I Want at least once or twice, I’d be awfully surprised.  It’s the first thing this year that’s actually snuck past my crusty, shitty 2007 shell to get a little Christmas spirit inside.

Bonus!  A live performance of All That I Want from a show at around Christmastime last year: