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Windy (The Association song)

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Wikipedia article




"'Windy'" is a pop music song written by Ruthann Friedman and recorded by the Association. 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 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. Originally, she wrote "Windy" in a waltz tempo. But, their producer at the time, Bones Howe, changed it to the common 4/4 beat 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:

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). The band was so tired of recording that Howe had everybody in the studio singing on the ending of the track, including Friedman, vocal arranger Cliff Burroughs, 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, which included "Windy", in order to get a radio 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 played drums, Joe Osborn played bass, Ray Pohlman played guitar, and Larry Knechtel played keyboards. The recorder solo at the 1:07 mark and in the coda was played by the band's multi-instrumentalist Terry Kirkman.

Chart history



Weekly charts



Year-end charts



All-time charts



Notable cover versions



*Later in 1967 an instrumental version by jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery became his biggest Hot 100 hit when it peaked at No. 44, and No. 10 on the Easy Listening chart.

See also



*List of recordings of songs Hal Blaine has played on

Notes



References




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