"Windy" is a

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

song written by

Ruthann Friedman Ruthann Friedman (born July 6, 1944) is an American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist best known for writing the hit song "Windy" for the American sunshine pop band the Association. Early years Born in Bronx, New York, Friedman spent her ...

and recorded by

the Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary") and ...

. Released in 1967, the song reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in July of that year, which makes "Windy" the Association's second U.S. No. 1 hit following " Cherish" in 1966. ''Billboard'' ranked the record as the No. 4 song for 1967. The lead vocals were sung primarily by guitarist

Larry Ramos Hilario D. "Larry" Ramos Jr. (April 19, 1942 – April 30, 2014) was a guitarist, banjo player, and vocalist with the 1960s American pop band the Association. In 1963, he won a Grammy with The New Christy Minstrels. Early years Ramos was of F ...

along with vocalist Russ Giguere (both would sing lead together in the band's last Top 40 hit " Time for Livin").

Composition

Friedman was introduced to the Association by her friend, Beach Boys lyricist

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album ''Song Cycle'' and for his collaborations with ...

. Originally, she wrote "Windy" in a

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

. But, their producer at the time,

Bones Howe Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe (born March 18, 1933) is an American record producer and recording engineer who scored a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, often of the sunshine pop genre, starting in 1965 with The Turtles cover of Bob Dylan's "It ...

, changed it to the common

4/4 beat The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

to assure it would have the commercial appeal necessary to be a hit. Ramos said Ruthann Friedman had written the song about a man, and that the Association changed the lyrics to make it about a woman. Many other sources confirm that it was written for a man. Friedman later said about it in an interview with

Songfacts Songfacts is a music-oriented website that has articles about songs, detailing the meaning behind the lyrics, how and when they were recorded, and any other info that can be found. The journalists who work for the site have interviewed thousa ...

: However, in another interview with Songfacts, in 2014, she understood that the song was about herself:

Recording

Recording the vocals for the song would prove to be exhausting to Ramos, Giguere, and the rest of the band. The session started in early afternoon and ended at 6:30 a.m the next morning (after that, they had to take an 8:30 a.m. flight to a live performance in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

). The band was so tired of recording that

Howe Howe may refer to: People and fictional characters * Howe (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters * Howe Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo (1788–1845), Irish peer and colonial governor Titles * Earl Howe, two titles, an ext ...

had everybody in the studio singing on the ending of the track, including Friedman, vocal arranger

Cliff Burroughs In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on coa ...

, his wife Marylin, and Jim Yester's wife Jo-Ellen, along with numerous others. Because of the poor showing of their last album ''Renaissance'', on which the Association performed all their songs, Howe had session musicians (later known as the Wrecking Crew) substitute for the sextet on their

third album ''Third Album'' is the third studio album released by the Jackson 5 on Motown Records, and the group's second LP released in 1970, on September 18. ''Third Album'' featured the group's fourth consecutive No. 1 single on the US pop charts, " I' ...

, which included "Windy", in order to get a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

friendly sound. It is uncertain which session musicians played on the final version of the single, because the song had several sessions, but the website Songfacts states that typically

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

played drums,

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Ray Pohlman Merlyn Ray Pohlman (July 22, 1930 – November 1, 1990) was an American session musician and arranger who played both upright bass and bass guitar, and also did sessions as a guitarist. He is credited with being the first electric bass player ...

played guitar, and

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon ...

played keyboards. The recorder solo at the 1:07 mark and in the coda was played by the band's multi-instrumentalist

Terry Kirkman Terry Robert Kirkman (born December 12, 1939) is an American musician, who was the lead vocalist for the folk rock group the Association and writer of their hit songs " Cherish", " Everything That Touches You", and "Six Man Band" among many oth ...

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Notable cover versions

*Later in 1967 an instrumental version by jazz

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

became his biggest Hot 100 hit when it peaked at No. 44, and No. 10 on the

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart. *A cover of the song called 'Everyone Knows It's Corny', with the lyrics changed to center around wrestling personality and manager

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

, serves as the theme song to one of Cornette's podcasts, 'Jim Cornette's Drive Thru'.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windy 1967 singles The Association songs Gary Lewis & the Playboys songs Barry Manilow songs Andy Williams songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles 1967 songs Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Bones Howe RPM Top Singles number-one singles