She's Always a Woman - thank you TV advertising

As a general rule I don’t dislike ad music because it has appeared in an advert, but because it has been chosen for a particular type of advert in the first place. Adverts for mobile phones and small cars usually go for the twee lo-fi alt-folk that I like to call ‘dancing squirrel’ music and which knaws away irritatingly inside your head. No better are the vacuous dreamscapes used to compliment the ridiculous melodrama of perfume films.

When covers are used, it’s often an indication that the film-makers couldn’t afford copyright of the original; a new young thing putting a cool gloss on a song that wasn’t so much of a classic in the first place or a new young thing ruining a perfectly good song.

But there are always happy exceptions to the rules, and John Lewis’ choice of Fyfe Dangerfield’s ‘She’s Always a Woman’ to accompany their film of a young girl’s life in full is one of those. I’d never heard the song before, but the advert struck me immediately as one with sincerity – or at least well-executed simulated sincerity – and the song as one with bittersweet depth.

I couldn’t get it out of my head, but after finding out that it was a cover of a Billy Joel song didn’t hold high hopes for the original. It’s pleasingly refreshing when my cynicism is proved unfounded.

Both versions of the song are beautiful, Fyfe’s more knowing but no less heart-felt – it could be his song – and Billy’s a charming discovery; innocent and folky, with a lovely flute accompaniment and of the 1970's singer/songwriter genre I’m so fond of.

It hasn’t made me want to shop at John Lewis - but I’m talking about it so that must be a win in itself - but it has made me add both songs to my current playlist.

Image: Fyfe Dangerfield