Britain loved The Beatles because they sang about the weather

Out of 308 songs penned by the Fab Four, 48 (16 per cent) make reference to the weather, researchers found

by Sarah Knapton | The Telegraph | 7 July 2015

Britain may have become obsessed with The Beatles because they bombarded the public with songs about the weather, a new study suggests.

Brits love nothing more than moaning about the weather and it seems a spell of bad weather is an inspiration for songwriters too.

Over 900 songwriters or singers have written or sung about weather - and The Beatles are among the most prolific, researchers from Oxford and Southampton Universities found.

Out of 308 songs penned by the Fab Four, 48 (16 per cent) make reference to the weather.

Dr Sally Brown, of Southampton University, said: "We were all surprised how often weather is communicated in popular music whether as a simple analogy or a major theme of a song.

"These examples indicate discussing weather - often seen as a British obsession - is a popular pastime, and much can be learnt from how society portrays weather in music and the types of weather that inspire musicians.

"Thousands of popular songs have been written, many hundreds of which contain references to weather."

The findings published in the journal Weather were based on an analysis of lyrics, musical genre, keys and links to specific meteorological events.

Songs often mentioned more than one weather type - indicating a range of emotions involving weather issues within a single piece with Cobb and Buie's 1968 hit 'Stormy' by Cobb and Buie getting through six.

Weather-related songs are also very popular with seven per cent of them appearing in Rolling Stone's (2011) top 500 list of the Greatest Songs Of All Time.

The study also found musicians were inspired by specific weather events.

The Beatles classic 'Here Comes the Sun' was written by George Harrison to mark a significant upturn in temperatures after the particularly cold winter of 1969, scientists said.

Even the names of some bands give the game away such as Coldplay, Wet Wet Wet, The Weather Girls, KC and the Sunshine Band and Vanilla Ice.

Out of the 190 songs with weather as a primary theme sun and sunshine are the most common references (86 instances) followed by rain (74 references). Sun and rain represent 37 per cent of the references to weather.

Dr Sarah Mander, of Manchester University, added: "There is definitely a pattern whereby after periods of bad weather you get a lot of weather related songs.

"References to bad weather in pop songs were statistically more significant in the USA during the more stormy 1950s and 1960s than the quieter periods of 1970s and 1980s, for example.

"And in 1969 George Harrison wrote the Beatles' hit 'Here Comes The Sun' after being inspired by one of the first sunny days of spring after a 'long cold lonely winter."

The study concluded by noting a total of 30 weather-related artists, bands and lyricists including Wet Wet Wet, The Weather Girls and KC and the Sunshine Band.

Research has shown about a third of Bob Dylan's records were inspired by the weather but this is the first study of its kind covering such a broad spectrum.