MARK STEYN’S SONG OF THE WEEK: “I Will Always Love You.”

It is not many songs that can claim the affections of both Brazilian deaf-mute transgenders and the late Saddam Hussein, but “I Will Always Love You” is one of them.

Seriously. Obviously I have my differences with the late Iraqi dictator over torturing political opponents, gassing the Kurds and whatnot, but I had a certain respect for his taste in music. He was said to have had quite a collection of Sinatra LPs, mostly from the Capitol era — In the Wee Small Hours and Songs for Swingin’ Lovers. And at the end of his life Saddam was certainly swingin’.

But that was the dictator after hours, in his wee smalls, with a box of Quality Street and one of his many mistresses. For the public face of his musical tastes, he favored the Bodyguard soundtrack. From The Times of London, and their report on the 2002 Presidential “election” in Iraq:

Party officials have chosen the Whitney Houston song ‘I Will Always Love You’ as the campaign theme tune. The song accompanies the dawn-to-dusk election broadcasts on the three state-controlled television stations, which feature almost continuous footage of Saddam.

Amazing. All over Baghdad, folks were switching on the radio to find Whitney ululating “I will always love you-oo-oooaahooeauooooeeeuoaaaoooo…” And, also all over Baghdad, folks in the next apartment were sighing, “Terrific. Saddam’s got those Shi-ites at Number 23 wired up to the cattle prods again. Might as well forget about any sleep tonight.”

Needless to say, read the whole thing.