Previous single “Gives You Hell” gave me a headache (a bit too Everclear to these ears, even as no less than Kelly Clarkson deemed it “awesome”). But now The All-American Rejects have returned to my good graces with the second single from their album, When The World Comes Down.

“The Wind Blows” brings to mind Cutting Crew’s “I’ve Been In Love Before,” The Cars’ “Drive,” and Cock Robin’s “When Your Heart Is Weak.” And that could very well simply be my mind playing musical hat-tricks on me, but the wonderfully retro vibe of this particular AAR tune just can’t be denied. “The Wind Blows” plays out like a lost soundtrack hit from an ’80s film (accentuating keyboards, plaintive guitar). The band originally wrote the song for Gwen Stefani, who rejected it, and while that, ahem, blows, I think the boys did a bang-up job, deciding to record it themselves.

About a month ago, The All-American Rejects appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing “The Wind Blows” with harp accompaniment. Luscious was a lady that night:

Purchase The All-American Rejects – “The Wind Blows” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.