Weatherwatch: The climes they are a changin'

Kate Ravilious | The Guardian | 21 July 2015

"Here comes the sun, do do do do..." sang the Beatles in 1969. The lyrics came to George Harrison after he left a business meeting early and disgruntled in April 1969. He said later: "It was such a great release for me simply being out in the sun ... The song just came to me."

Meteorological records show that the day this song came to Harrison was the first proper sunny day of the year, and had been preceded by a colder than average March. So how much has the weather inspired other musicians?

By searching for meteorological references in hundreds of pieces of music, a new study, published in the journal Weather, has shown that weather has a massive impact on music.

It seems songs that mentioned storms, wind, rain or hurricanes were much more common in the USA during the 1950s and 60s (73% of weather songs used these key words in this period), than in the 1970s and 80s (only 46% used these words).

This correlates with severe weather during that time, including hurricanes Betsy, Hazel, Carol, Donna and Carla, compared with the relatively quiet weather in the decades that followed.

For classical composers it seems that climate, rather than weather, is the influence, with composers tending to use instruments to mimic weather (especially storms), and depict the climate of their homeland.

Meanwhile, jazz has the most mentions of sunshine, and rainbows were more popular prior to 1955.

So what next? Will musicians be influenced by climate change?