Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani’s walk-up song has a Canadian connection: it’s the jazzy cover of Feeling Good performed by none other than Grammy and Juno winner Michael Bublé.
With the Toronto Blue Jays facing off against the Dodgers in the World Series, starting on Oct. 24, Bublé recently reflected on Ohtani’s choice to use the song.
WATCH | Michael Bublé discusses Shohei Ohtani with Stephen A. Smith:
“I gotta somehow fight, that as a Canadian, my beloved Blue Jays are gonna go up against now, my hero,” he told sports personality Stephen A. Smith on The Stephen A. Smith Show.
“I’m conflicted,” he continued.
However, Bublé told Smith he would be rooting for the Jays: “My heart is in Canada, I’m a Canadian, I’m a Canadian patriot, I fly the flag, I bleed the red and white,” he said.
He added that there’s “something deeply sensual” about watching Ohtani walk up to the song.
WATCH | Michael Bublé’s version of Feeling Good:
Ohtani selected the song earlier this year, switching his walk-up track from rapper Lupe Fiasco’s The Show Goes On to Bublé’s 2005 number.
The Los Angeles Times asked Ohtani about what prompted him to select the song, to which he answered, “Nothing in particular. I chose it because the feeling was good.”
Bublé says Ohtani is ‘the best ball player who’s ever lived’
Earlier this month on The Voice, Bublé shared his excitement with the other judges about Ohtani using his song.
“That’s the opening song for the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, who’s the best ball player who’s ever lived,” he told Niall Horan, Reba McEntire and Snoop Dogg.
Feeling Good covered by Nina Simone, George Michael and others
Although Bublé’s cover of Feeling Good is very popular — it has more than 646 million streams on Spotify — the song was originally a show tune penned by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, a 1960s musical.
Since then, Feeling Good has been covered by musicians including Nina Simone, who released her version in 1965, as well as George Michael, Traffic, Muse and also, the Pussycat Dolls.
WATCH | Nina Simone’s version of Feeling Good:
