Seasons of the Ukulele

A weekly song challenge for ukulele players - all welcome. Find out more here

SOTU 685 Whatever the Weather!

MsBean

Welcome to Season 685.

The title speaks for itself: I hope you can bring me a song about the weather or that mentions weather related conditions. This is option 1.

Option 2: You bring a song that mentions weather sayings. Or you write your original songs around weather lore sayings.

Option 3 (new Seasonistas only): jump on board and bring any song you like or what you're working on.

Other rules as usual (see the Seasons of the Ukulele FAQ if you don't know what that means)

New videos only please (with the usual exemptions), posted on YouTube so that they can be added to the playlist, and please say either in the video or description that it's for Seasons of the Ukulele 685 Whatever the Weather. It'd also be really nice to put a link to this post so that people who stumble on your video on youtube know what we're up to.

Please, do not post more than 8 videos. The end of the week is just as good as the beginning, if you ask me. However, if spreading your entries out doesn't work for you, then post them when and as you can.

If you are fortunate to have an open mic locally, and you put together a set with several songs that fit this theme, I'll happily listen to your set. The songs from your open mic video will count as separate songs since I don't have as much spare time as I had last year.

Originals, multitracking and collaborations welcome. I always enjoy having several versions of a song. Nobody 'beats' you to a song, for only you can do 'you'.

I would like to ask that you include the songwriters or performers in your post if you do not want to include the information in the YouTube description. Every week I hear a lot of new music on the Seasons, and it's nice to know the name of the song, band and composers if I want to check out other versions.

Don't forget to listen to and comment on other songs too! It's very inspiring to hear and see the different playing styles and techniques. Let people know how awesome they are!

You can post any time from 00:00:00 Sunday 30 March 2025 Hawaiian time, right up to 23:59:59 on Sunday 6 April 2025 Hawaiian time. For most Europeans the clocks spring forward again tonight, so for the UK the new start and end time is around 11 am BST, which makes it noon for Brussels.

Playlist:

another try:

or, if it gives an error (as it does for me and for Graham) you can find the playlist via my YouTube profile. It's the most recent playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/@ukeanflute/playlists

Joko

Thura and I will start the weather week
Here in Mandalay, it's 38C (101F), with 90% humidity, no aircon due to Day 3 of no electricity and a 100% chance of aftershocks continuing this evening.

AlanDP

I tried it outside since it's very overcast and still right now, 74F/23C. A couple of weeks ago we had several days of extreme fire hazard weather because of high winds and low humidity (around 20%), but this past week it rained for nearly two whole days and now the humidity is back up to a more normal 80%. Anyway, this was written by the great song writing team of Al Dubin and Harry Warren in 1937, and first heard sung by James Melton in the musical film Melody For Two. He also made a recording of it (separate from the movie) that same year. It has been recorded by a long list of singers; a very short list is: Chad & Jeremy, Bing Crosby, Frankie Laine (yeah, the guy who sang both the Rawhide and Blazing Saddles themes), Annie Lennox, Julie London, the Platters, Marty Robbins, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington, and Rod Stewart. James Melton actually sang the intro part, but I don't know if anyone else ever did.

UkeFoote

"Stormy Weather", by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, for concert ukulele with singing, overdub of whistling.

Thanks for hosting, Sabine!

Threebird

Thanks for hosting MsBean! This theme fits with an original I have been polishing up that mentions weather stuff several times. Here is 'From This Moment Here', an original song now available on ukulele!

MsBean

And we're off!

Thanks to Joko for his early entry. I hope music helps you and those near you staying sane in the chaos and tragedy following the awful earthquake. Ain't no Sunshine, but it was good to see you!

Alan followed with a sweet song about September in the rain. Brian's comment pokes me to try and find Bug Bunny's version, but I bet the others will be easier to find, so I might opt for Frank Sinatra.

Brian himself brought Stormy Weather, which is always a pleasure to hear, and one I eagerly anticipated.

Threebird penned the first original for this week 'From This Moment Here'. I think it's a great song to listen to, especially when you have a lot on your plate and you need to slow down.

Thanks to all of you and keep them coming!

Bystander

Thanks for hosting Sabine, predictably here's a Beatles song.

I remember doing it as a duet on a season with Linda (Turtledrum) about 8 years ago, totally different World back then.

This time it's just just me, yes, tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun.

AlanDP

This song took me some time to research. Written by Charles O'Flynn,George W. Meyer and Pete Wendling in 1933, this was a "stand-alone" song, that is, not written for a musical (theater or film). They were all well-known songwriters of the Tin Pan Alley era. O'Flynn was a co-writer of "I'm Tickled Pink With a Blue-Eyed Baby," which I recorded for season 623. One of his songs, "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile" was used in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I've also recorded a few songs by George Meyer, two of his more popular songs are "For Me and My Gal" and "Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday on a Saturday Night." Pete Wendling was the other co-writer of "I'm Tickled Pink" and also wrote "Felix the Cat." I've recorded several of Wendling's songs.

"Under My Umbrella" was recorded in 1933 by Syd Lipton and His Grosvenor House Band. Sydney Lipton was a British dance band leader of the house band at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Their version is chorus only, no intro, recorded in the common practice of the time. The band plays the full chorus, then it's repeated with the chorus being sung (this time by an uncredited male "chorus" of three men, I think), then a couple more repeats of the chorus with a different soloing instrument each time. This is the only recording I could find. It was released on 78 rpm by Sterno in England.

The song was also used in the Warner Brothers cartoon "Buddy's Showboat" in 1933, with only a few lines of the chorus being sung by Bernard Brown and Shirley Reed. Brown was a composer, sound engineer, and apparently occasionally also a singer who started out composing music for silent films and continued composing for films and cartoons into the talkie era. Reed was a voice actor and singer whose voice was used in some 50+ cartoons. I also found information that she was a ventriloquist, which probably means that she performed as such in the vaudeville circuit.

According to my little weather station, the temperature outside when I recorded this was 72F/22C with a humidity of 92%. I was sweating by the time I finished, lol. Some wild turkeys have taken up residence somewhere in the pasture behind the house; while I was setting up I heard a tom gobble a few times, but he had stopped by the time I started recording. I've been hearing him frequently for the past week or so, but only around dawn and dusk.

Edwin

Hi Sabine, and thanks for hosting! I just happen to have song about rain from this year's FAWM. In fact it's about Noah's Ark and the flood, and a part of the story that was inexplicably left out of the account in the Bible but which I found out about anyway. And it explains something that I'm sure many have wondered about…

[deleted]

thank you for this week Sabine

this is a sweet ol folk song i've always loved

it's called 'Windy Ol' Weather'

BEV

Ok, here is a homemade song written for the season and inspired by the gorgeous spring day we had here in the UK on Monday - sunshine, blue skies, and very warm in the sun (just ignore that icy breeze in the shade!)

Fingers crossed I can post it ok, er, how to post a vid here???? 🤔

"The Shining Sun"

🤞🤞🤞

Yay it posted 🥳

Lyrics…
after the winter broke my heart
with its cold, cold soul
staring me down and down
spring is here
with flowers all around
let's spend all our time
in the sunshine
just having fun
in that bright and shining sun
after the winter broke my heart
with its lies
and its sad, sad sighs
spring is here
with the bluest, bluest skies
and blossom falls like rain
and i don't feel the pain
of winter anymore
i'm like a wave upon the shore
crashing into spring
into everything
everything beneath the shining sun

[deleted]

a Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer song from 1933 that i've always loved to play

recorded on our walk/bike ride along the beautiful Snug River where we live

big thanks to JooJoo for filming!

johnpoole

Hi Sabine. Thanks for hosting! I'm a bit reluctant to share much personal stuff online. But this small community probably deserves some details. Got some ongoing issues with prostate cancer. Getting treated and doing fine. Drugs, radiation etc.

I think I hadn't missed a week here for several years until recently. Plenty here have gone through things just as serious. Comes with the demographic🙂 Anyway I'm not shuffling off the mortal coil anytime soon. Appreciate anyone commenting on youtube not to make reference to the medical stuff.

Here's one first recorded by Jim Reeves written by Harlan Howard. "The Blizzard"

CanadaJim

IT AIN'T GONNA RAIN NO MORE - P.D.

An easy 2 chord song was the first one to pop into my head. There are tons of verses that I left out.
My mom used to sing:
The higher up the mountain, the greener grows the grass
Down came a billy-goat, sliding on his overcoat.

Mary had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell
Mary went to heaven; the steamboat went "Toot Toot!"

[deleted]

johnpoole really glad to hear you're beating it mate. they build em pretty tough

down Kogarah way apparently. love xo

LimousinLil

johnpoole So good to hear that you're doing well, John! (I have a couple of near neighbours - well, in the next hamlet - who've both had to deal with your problem; and they're both fighting fit now.) OF COURSE, you're not about to shuffle off this mortal coil anytime soon! x

DelGriff

Hurraaaaaah!!! The return of Lynda @BEV and John @johnpoole to the Seasons - what a fabulous surprise to wake up to this morning. Welcome back to you both!!!

And it’s April 1st… which shall henceforth be known as….

….wait for it….

April Pooles’ Day!!! 😆😆😆

johnpoole

DelGriff Del you are a clever fellow! Love that. I’d forgotten BEV was in the clan🙂

bobjking

DelGriff 🤣🤣🤣 Brilliant…

OnlyUkeThatMatters

Creedence Clearwater Revival's song "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" always elicits a resounding "Yes, of course we have - it rains about eight months of the year here" from people living here in Portland, Oregon.

And it's also fun to sing and play 🙂