Better Together

Jack Johnson, the Hawaiian surfer turned songwriter, opened his 2005 album In Between Dreams with Better Together, and it remains one of the songs he is best known for. The lyric is a run of loose thoughts about why life makes more sense with one particular person in it, and the chorus is plain enough that a whole marquee can sing it. Couples choose it because it is relaxed rather than solemn, the tempo is a gentle shuffle that suits bare feet on a lawn, and it was recorded with the same unforced feel Johnson brings to a beach bonfire. The album was made at the Mango Tree studio in Hawaii, which the cover's mango tree honours.