"It Had To Be You" by Harry Connick, Jr.

Years before the neo-swing craze temporarily distracted hipsters from their love of grunge, there was Harry Connick, Jr.; now that bands like the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and their ilk have been consigned to the 99-cent bin, Harry Connick, Jr. is still a force with which to be reckoned. Funny, isn't it, how fads come and go but the classics never seem to go out of style?

In keeping with today's unofficial theme - which seems to encompass all things New York - and seeing as it's Connick's birthday, I figured I'd take my readers all the way back to 1989; that's the year the then 22-year-old crooner's rendition of It Had to Be You knocked the socks off of everyone who went to see When Harry Met Sally...

Written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner, When Harry Met Sally... of course starred Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally; they also co-star in the video, emoting up their respective storms alongside their unofficial third costar (namely New York City) while Connick himself pours his honeyed tenor over it all like autumn sunlight glancing off the Hudson River. The film's soundtrack album was produced by Marc Shaiman, and functions pretty neatly as Harry Connick, Jr.'s third collection; not only that, it pretty much launched him into the stratosphere of American performing artists*.

*Where he was destined to end up anyway, but still...
*