Since the Mayans, anyway! :)
Posted on 07/30/2015 5:43:07 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Over 900 songwriters or singers have written or sung about weather, the most common being Bob Dylan, followed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, according to British researchers, writing in the journal Weather.
Sixteen percent, or 48, of The Beatles' 308 songs are weather-related.
Weather plays a powerful role in our lives so it should be no surprise that the theme is played out in the music songwriters and singers produce, researchers said.
"I think they simply wrote about aspects of the world that they enjoyed or inspired them. They have lots of good catchy music tunes, so that helps too," Dr. Sally Brown of the University of Southampton, which is part of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research said.
Brown and other Tyndall researchers uncovered 759 popular songs with a weather connection, with about 7 percent of the top 500 songs being weather-related. The group has developed a database of the songs and is looking for any additions it may have missed.
As songwriters, The Beatles made deep connections with their audience about the nature of the human condition, according to Beatles' expert Dr. Kenneth Womack, dean of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University in New Jersey.
"Not surprisingly, we often find ourselves speculating about the weather and its role in our lives," Womack said. "For The Beatles, the weather acts as a touchstone for understanding our humanity. Witness such classic numbers as 'Here Comes the Sun, 'Rain' and 'I'll Follow the Sun' -- tracks that connect the external world with our internal experiences."
Using a subsection from a karaoke database, researchers found over 200 songs where weather was a major theme, such as "Here Comes the Sun," "Singin' in the Rain" and "Bus Stop," Brown said.
"We were also really surprised on how much weather was mentioned just in passing in songs," she said. "Good examples of this are in the Beach Boys' 'Sunlight Plays Upon Her Hair' and in 'Good Vibrations.' Many songwriters just write about their environment, and weather is just part of that."
For example, George Harrison wrote "Here Comes the Sun" on the day of the first sunshine of the year in April 1969, Brown explained.
"George Harrison stated, 'It was such a great release for me simply being out in the sun... The song just came to me,'" Brown said.
"References to bad weather in pop songs were significantly more likely in the stormy 1950s and 1960s than in the relatively quiet 1970s and 1980s," Brown said.
Our moods and emotional patterns often seem to be interrelated with weather change, Womack said.
"Hence, The Beatles offer a song such as 'Here Comes the Sun,' a track that connotes a sense of buoyancy and optimism about the conclusion of a 'long, cold, lonely winter' in contrast with the warmth, newness and renewal associated with the spring," Womack said.
"Such moments, as depicted by George Harrison's imagery, afford us with hope for the future and our own existence. Thus, it affects us in a very personal way," he explained.
Womack said he is enamored with "Here Comes the Sun" because of its inherent beauty and majesty.
"But also 'Rain,' which speaks so fluently about the power that inclement weather invariably holds over the quality of our lives. As John Lennon sings in the song, 'If the rain comes, they run and hide their heads,' which contrasts with a later verse when he sings, 'When the sun shines, they slip into the shade,'" Womack said.
"For Lennon's speaker, the idea of living in spite of the weather's intrusions -- and living in the moment -- is what matters. 'Rain, I don't mind,' he sings in the chorus. 'Shine, the weather's fine.'"
I’ve always liked this song, ‘Snow’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Pretty sure he’s not singing about the cold, wet stuff.) Actually, I don’t know WHAT the hell he’s singing about, but it’s Ear Candy to me, LOL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7MhpFF1vv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3N6Jv8HCqM
Check out the fretless guitar.
What about anything by Hugo WINTERHALTER, Bruce SPRINGsteen or Johnny WINTER?
I think it’s a 1970s song; still one of my favorites.
“I can see clearly now” - Johnny Nash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FscIgtDJFXg
Bobbi McGee.....with them windshield wipers slappin’ time, and Bobbi clappin’ hands, we.....
Another rain song.....In the cold Kentucky? rain, with a dollar in my hand, and an achin’ in my heart, and my pockets full of sand....out on Runway Number Nine; 707 set to go. But I’m stuck here on the ground...
LOL!
Oh, VERY nice! :)
That 1935 ‘mix’ is really nice!
I wish somebody would compile a database about songs with astronomical imagery, for example (in no particular order):
Lucky Old Sun
Sun in the Morning & the Moon at Night
Moon River
Star Dust
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes
No Moon at All
The Planets (Gustav Holtz)
Carolina Moon
Blue Moon (You Saw Me Standing Alone)
Blue Moon of Kentucky
Polkadots and Moonbeams
Midnight Sun
Moonlight in Vermont
Shine On Harvest Moon
O Sole Mio
Moon Over Miami
Moonlight on the Ganges
Moonlight Becomes You
Moonlight Sonata
Moonlight Serenade
What a Little Moonlight Can do
Star Spangled Banner
Sunrise, Sunset
You Are the Sunshine of My Life
Earth Angel
Everybody sings about the weather but only the Democrats have legislated against it.
Kind of a morphing of a joke stolen from Jay Leno.
Best Beatles comment on British weather:
“Sitting in an English garden, waiting for the sun - if the sun don’t come we’ll get a tan from sitting in the English rain.”
Since the Mayans, anyway! :)
‘Windy’ by The Association! How could I have forgotten this charmer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPYT9Vyu62A
>> Here’s a ton more <<
A fantastic list! Thanks!
And how could I have forgotten my faves like:
How High the Moon
Fly Me to the Moon
Stars Fell on Alabama
Swingin’ on a Star
Full Moon and Empty Arms
Chapel in the Moonlight
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
East of the Sun (& West of the Moon)
Only a Paper Moon
etc, etc, etc!
Thanks for the ping dfwgator :)
Who would get away with calling a woman Windy today?
She’d think you were either saying she talked too much,
or was flatulent.
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