Just as Sparklehorse's previous album, It's a Wonderful Life, shook up the Jimmy Stewart flick like a snowglobe, their new song uses another familiar cultural touchstone, "You Are My Sunshine", as its starting point-- specifically the last line of its chorus. In Mark Linkous' hands, though, the original's undauntedly upbeat revelry becomes a desperate cry of devotion and a plea for continued happiness. It starts with a flurry of sweetly skewed similes: "Your smile is like the sun sinking into the ocean," Mark Linkous sings. "Your face is like watching flowers grow in fast motion." But the Beach Boy harmonies on the chorus sound like the ultimate downers, and Linkous' signature fuzzy-filtered vocals exude vulnerability. In pleading for happiness, the song also recognizes its precariousness, which makes the abrupt ending all the more poignant. Coming from the musician who made the exquisitely self-destructive Good Morning Spider, this epiphany gives the song considerable force even beyond its musical elements.