Entertainment

The Budweiser Puppy's Favorite Band Is...

by Marisa LaScala

Uggggh, the heartstrings — consider them pulled. You'd really have to be made of stone not to get all mushy for Budweiser's 2015 "Lost Dog" Super Bowl commercial. I mean, it's got a puppy, first of all. Who isn't a big softie for puppies? But then the puppy goes through so much hardship — and faces non-Taylor-Lautner wolves — to be reunited with his best-friend, a Budweiser Clydesdale. It's like, genetically engineered to make you go "awwww." But the puppy isn't the only thing that gives you the feels. The music helps, too. So, who sings the song in the 2015 Budweiser puppy ad?

Let's start with the song itself. You probably recognized it as a cover, but, in case you didn't, it's "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers, the Scottish band fronted by identical twin brothers. (I'm not making that up.) If you weren't around during this song's heyday in the early '90s (from the Benny and Joon soundtrack, for you Johnny Depp fans out there), you might remember the tune from How I Met Your Mother; it was the cassingle that was stuck in the tape deck in Marshall's car, so the show played it pretty much any time they drove somewhere.

Obviously, this bouncy Scottish song is not the same as the one being played in the "Lost Dog" ad. So, who's doing the cover in the Budweiser spot? It's a band called Sleeping At Last. Although the word "band" is a little misleading: Sleeping At Last is really one musician, Ryan O’Neal.

His version of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is from a whole album of covers, where it appears beside his version of karaoke staples like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic." Covers, Vol. 1 is available on iTunes.

This isn't the first time that O'Neal's music has made it to the big screen, either. One of his songs, "Sun," was used in the first trailer for The Fault in Our Stars. He also wrote a song, "Turning Page" for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 soundtrack. Basically, he's working his way across the YA food chain, with a little pit stop in beer commercial territory.

I consider "Lost Dog" an upgrade, though. Twilight and the Budweiser ad may both have wolves, but only one of them has an adorable puppy.

Image: Anheuser-Busch