Goo Goo Dolls - Iris (J. Rzeznik) ~ Erwin Lazaro 029

Twelve of my twenty-eight
videos, thus far, have been dedications, or requests.  My twenty-ninth video is another request.  This time, the request is from a person who was introduced to me because of my YouTube adventure.  She is a friend of our family who lives in the Philippines.  I want to thank Mercedes Oliva for requesting me to sing "Iris", made popular by the Goo Goo Dolls.  This is the song that made the Goo Goo Dolls famous.  Also, I've had requests for all kinds of songs, but it's been difficult to figure out which songs to sing, mostly because I already have a plan for my own queue.  So, those of you who have asked me to sing specific songs, I apologize, if I have not posted your selection yet.  Between birthdays, celebrations, dedications, memorials, requests, and my own favorites selections, I am trying to post a wide variety of music, because, I just love to sing.  I want to sing everything.  I have to represent my eclectic taste in music.  Hopefully, all of you can tell that I can sing songs from genres that cover many decades of popular music.  And, as I've mentioned in the past, the quality of my video posts depend entirely on my song selection.  I know that I will not please everyone all of the time.  My good friend, Steve Hayatsu, gave me sage advice about singing what I love to sing.  "You gotta sing what you love to sing.  Don't worry about everyone else."  I understand that his meaning leads me to provide my best quality effort, when the choice has meaning for "me".  Of course, that makes perfect sense.  Thanks, Steve.  ... But alas, I'm lured to toil and fret.  Steve is absolutely right, I wouldn't project the true colors of my rendition, if I had little appreciation for what I was doing.  But, with endless songs to choose from, I know that I can do both. I'll still try to make choices that will make people come back for more, without compromising my ability to successfully tell the story for each song.  So please, continue to enjoy ... and share =)

From Wikipedia:
"Iris" is a song by the Goo Goo Dolls.  Originally written for the soundtrack of the 1998 film City of Angels, the song was later included on the band's sixth album Dizzy Up the Girl.  The acoustic guitar in the song gives a distinctive sound as it is in an odd tuning, with the bass E string tuned down to B, and the remaining 5 strings tuned to D.  This gives a ringing effect similar to a 12-string guitar.  "Iris" has contributed greatly to the band's success.  It is the longest charting number one single in Billboard Hot 100 Airplay history with 18 weeks scoring number one.  It is considered by many as the band's best-known song.  Upon its release, "Iris" became second of a string of hits from the film's soundtrack, City of Angels: Music from the Motion Picture.  (The first was Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited" and the third was Sarah McLachlan's "Angel.")  On the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 the song peaked at number nine for five weeks, and it spent a record eighteen weeks at number one on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.  It was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 until after it had peaked (still managing to crack the top ten at #9) because no commercial single had been released.  "Iris" also peaked at #8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock and #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts.  The song was also a major international hit.  "Iris" spent a total of 31 weeks in the Ireland singles chart, and became the thirteenth biggest-selling single there.  The Goo Goo Dolls performed this on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden as part of the The Concert For New York City to raise money for victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Besides the song's success on the charts, "Iris" enjoyed critical acclaim.  At the 41st Grammy Awards, "Iris" received nominations for "Record of the Year" and "Pop Performance by a Duo or Group."  The song also garnered John Rzeznik a "Song of the Year" nomination.  The single was certified Platinum by the RIAA on August 18, 2008.

Avril Lavigne performed the song on stage at the Fashion Rocks Awards with Goo Goo Dolls lead singer Johnny Rzeznik.  It was the choice of the first dance for her 2006 wedding with Sum 41 lead singer Deryck Whibley.  In 2006, Irish singer, Ronan Keating, covered the song and subsequently released it as the second single from his Bring You Home album, with a music video shot in Dubai.  It is his first single not to reach the UK top ten.  It was recently featured on the reality show Rock Star: Supernova, performed by Ryan Star.  New Found Glory also recorded the song for their album, From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II.  Jade Gallagher covered the song on her Maybe This album, released in 2007.  Finley covered the song on their Adrenalina 2 album, released in 2008.  Pakistani band Jal has recorded a cover version of the song and released it on their website. Iris was also covered by Boyz II Men on their 2009 Love album.  The newest cover of Iris is by Boyce Avenue (band) on Youtube.