In Pop music there’s not another song with the rotation, coverage, or press that Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” is receiving. Many factors contribute to the rise of popularity for Happy including the wonderful arrangement, the feelgood mood of the song, and the way that happiness is evoked both rhythmically as well as lyrically.
The song makes you feel good. Why wouldn’t you love it?
While there are new cover versions emerging left and right on youtube, radio, and the Web. But this one takes the cake. A one man band with an incredible mind for arrangement, Christopher Bill has dissected the individual parts to the track and recreated them using his laptop recording gear, simplistic claps, and interwoven trombone parts.
What might be more interesting (and uplifting) than the cover song itself is how Bill has provided the illustration and How-To for his rendition of this song. A regular-guy-musician might be able to casually teach themselves to play the rhythm or melody of the song. But Bill has gone above and beyond. Note his use of multiple trombone layers throughout along with other seemingly small inclusions to transform the presentation to something other than a regular “cover song.” Brilliant work here.
The cover is also available to stream online from Soundcloud.