Singing and the Weather…

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …;

If the first day of the work week is gray and precipitating, I can guarantee you that I will think of the Carpenter’s 1971 hit, “Rainy Days and Mondays”.

It just happens.

So why do so many songs have “weather” in the title?

It seems that weather is often used to represent emotions in lyrics.

It got me to thinking about other “weather” songs.

“Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” was B.J. Thomas’ huge hit from the 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It was the 1970 Academy Award winner for “Best Original Song” written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Also in 1969, the Beatles released “Here Comes the Sun” from the Abbey Road album.

(By the way, George Harrison wrote it.)

From the 1952 musical of the same name, Gene Kelly sang and danced his way into our hearts with “Singing in the Rain”.

History says he was suffering from a pretty high fever when he recorded it.

There was Garth Brooks and his 1991 hit “The Thunder Rolls” and Katrina and the Waves gave us “Waking on Sunshine” 6 years earlier.

Katrina Leskanich by the way.

She and the Waves broke up in 1999.

How about Prince’s “Purple Rain?”

It was originally going to be a country duet but when Stevie Nicks said “No!” to the collaboration, Prince reconsidered and released it in 1984. It was also the final song he performed live and it was during halftime of Super Bowl XLI.

Lots of singers have done “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” but I’ve always been partial to Dean Martin’s version of this 1945 tune.

This tune has no mention of Christmas or the holiday but you’ll always find it on various Christmas albums

Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” from 1963 and Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” are on my list.

The Elton John/Bernie Taupin hit was originally recorded in 1973 as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe and released again in 1999 as a tribute to Princess Diane.

Inspired by the film “The Days of Wine and Roses”, Bill Withers released “Ain’t no Sunshine” in 1971 and it earned him a Grammy for best R&B song.

Creedence Clearwater Revival gives us two weather questions, 1970’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” and a year later “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”.

Little 16 year old Judy Garland wowed us with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz in 1938.

On a weather-related note, I remember school being cancelled by snow once or twice on the next day after the movie was on TV.

There’s a little story behind the Jimi Hendrix Experience and “The Wind Cries Mary”.

Jimi supposedly wrote the song in 1967 following an argument/fight with his then-girlfriend Kathy Etchingham after she prepared lumpy mashed potatoes.

If I mention Gordon Lightfoot, many automatically think “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” which was due to a violent Lake Superior gale.

But his 1966 debut album included “Early Morning Rain” detailing a person standing near a runway in the early morning rain, watching planes take off and wishing he could get his life together.

One of the stranger back-stories to a weather song was The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” from 1971.

Jim Morrison supposedly got the idea from a 1963 philosophy lecture at Florida State University.

When James Taylor recalled his own addiction, a friend’s suicide and a mental hospital, the result was the 1970 hit, “Fire and Rain”.

Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker made Cream rise to the top in 1967 with “Sunshine of Your Love”.

I have to include Donovan with his 1966 weather tune, “Sunshine Superman” which is classified as a “psychedelic pop, folk-rock, psychedelic rock, psychedelic folk” tune.

Seems to cover Donovan.

Now, I didn’t forget Kansas (“Dust in the Wind” from 1978) Weather Girls (“It’s Raining Men” from 1982), Blind Melon (“No Rain” from 1992), the 5th Dimension (“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” in 1967, written for the rock musical “Hair”) or Chi Coltrane (“Thunder and Lightning” from 1972).

I just wanted to give you some “ear worms” to send you off on your own to consider.

There are more, you know.