On Days Like These

Although he saw a fair amount of success in the 1960s, English crooner Matt Monro never enjoyed the kind of enduring fame that his voice and songs perhaps deserved. Much of this was due to simple timing: kind of like Marlowe to Shakespeare, Monro's star power was just no match for the living legend that was Sinatra. That that was the correct result does not diminish, however, the fact that Monro, working under producer George Martin, recorded some truly great songs, including one of my all-time favorites, "On Days Like These"--a song used very well (accompanying a Lamborghini Miura) in the opening credits of the original version of The Italian Job (1969). Here is the song:

Perhaps because of its role in a car-centric movie like The Italian Job, "On Days Like These" has become kind of the background song of choice for footage of old roadsters speeding through the countryside. Not only does it play as Mario Andretti drives his old, restored 1964 Indy roadster at the end of the IMAX film Super Speedway, but even amateur would-be Mario Andrettis have adopted the song for their own YouTube driving videos (examples here and here).