Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You)

Many of the lyrics appear to reference A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare: "I'll put a spell on you, you'll fall asleep and I'll put a spell on you, and when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see, and you'll realize that you love me" is what happens to the characters in the play - a spell is cast on a few to make them fall in love with the first person they see after waking up.

This was popularized in 2002 when it was used in a commercial for the Volkswagen Beetle. It started out as a 30-second snippet, but when radio stations and record stores started getting calls about "that VW Beetle song" and its unknown creator, Hales fleshed it out into a full-fledged song and released it as his debut single.

Matt Hales, who records under the moniker of Aqualung, explained his songwriting process to CMU: A) Get the weird feeling. B) Find a piano. C) Play and sing and get lost in it. D) Find a bit that I can't live without. E) Play that bit 1000 times. F) Do something else for a while (between 1 hour and 2 years). G) Get the weird feeling again. H) Turn the bit into a song. decipher the singing and write some words. I) See (f) but be always thinking about it. J) Suddenly need to hear it all finished. NOW! K) Get some friends around and record it. Make it sound great with whatever is lying around. DO IT QUICKLY. L) Listen to it 1000 times.