I remember falling for “My Funny Valentine” in 1986, when it appeared on Linda Ronstadt’s For Sentimental Reasons, the final album in her platinum-selling Great American Songbook trilogy produced by the late arranger Nelson Riddle. I’ve always had a certain fondness for standards, especially when contemporary artists give them a whirl, a subcategory that makes up a small but essential part of my music collection. (No arguments today on whether, even back then, Ronstadt qualified as contemporary.)

Written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for their 1937 musical, Babes In Arms, “My Funny Valentine” is sung to a character named Valentine “Val” LaMar in the show. That personal connection has little bearing on the thousands of interpretations recorded in the decades since, with the song now addressed to whomever the target of one’s affection might be, a generic valentine.

Of the singers who’ve recorded “My Funny Valentine” in recent years, I’ll allow that it’s not terribly surprising that Rufus Wainwright would lend his tenor to the song, but his version is my current fave. In the liner notes to the 2005 Starbucks compilation on which Wainwright’s interpretation appears, Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs, he says, “From Ella Fitzgerald to Chet Baker, this song is amazing. No matter who sings it, it transcends all genres.”

Two years prior to his studio recording of “My Funny Valentine,” Wainwright appeared on Letterman to perform the song. He was accompanied on piano by his mom, Canadian folksinger Kate McGarrigle, who passed away last month following a three-year battle with cancer. Watching the two of them performing together with this beautiful rendition, doing what they love, makes this beautiful rendition all the more touching. Hear here:

Rufus Wainwright – “My Funny Valentine” appears on the Sweetheart 2005 compilation, available via Amazon Marketplace (yep, while money can’t buy you love, you’ll need a fair amount to get this CD).