28 April 2010 Going Where Those Chilly Winds Don’t Blow

28 April 2010 Going Where Those Chilly Winds Don’t Blow


Woody sang it, Dylan sang it, and The Grateful Dead sang it and jammed around it, particularly pairing the song with Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away.

Ian Tyson wrote and sang about “Four Strong Winds” and “Dusty Autumn Winds.” Others sang about “Cold Rain and Snow.” Every folk singer has a weather song in his/her repertoire; most of them about bad weather. Mary Travers will always be linked with,” It’s raining, it’s pouring,” a children’s song that caused thousands of audience members to sing along, mostly off key and off temp, whenever the song rolled around in a P, P, & M performance.

From “Wasn’t that a Mighty Day,” to “Mariah;” from beach to mountain tops, songs about cyclonic storm winds chronicle hurricanes in Galveston and late winter storms in California’s Sierra Nevada.

The songs aren’t always great, or even good. “Mariah” is a mawkish Broadway musical number from “Paint Your Wagon. “Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad,” the source of the title lyric line, is a folk standard that speaks to the universal “blues” that we all feel occasionally.

Weather songs are like weather, always with us and subject to change. The more unpleasant the weather, the more we notice it and the more we bitch about it. The better the song, the longer it stays around and the more people perform it or just sing as part of their day’s activities – often autonomic ally, “green boarding” for those who are old enough and widely read enough recall the idiom. On the other hand, a truly horrible song is likely to remain in play, too, as it will undoubtedly wind up in some most popular lists, requested by the musically challenged for any number of reasons having nothing to do with musical worth, talent, or the abilities of the writer, composer, or primary performer.

This weather outbreak is occasioned by three days of thunderstorms, drizzle, hail, gusty winds, and falling temperature. This morning’s low was 36°F. The higher mountains in the region had demonstrable snow yesterday afternoon while other locales had intermittent but heavy rain with some embedded thunderstorms that almost assured that everyone who was moving about would get wet at some point in the day. It was a good day for cioppino and sourdough bread. This morning was quite suitable for oatmeal cooked overnight in a crock pot, a method I first learned when we vacationed in Boothbay Harbor, then later from an Alton Brown book on kitchen tools and techniques.

We will likely have leftovers tonight. Both of us could stand an early night.

I attended my last class for the semester today. I told Dr. Fritz I was glad I had chosen his course. He actually thanked me for my participation. Nice thought to end a class. He expressed concern and regret that the students seemed to be less and less willing to talk, question, and become engaged with subject matter. I’m glad to hear him say that; it seems to confirm some of my thoughts about the last semester.

The next classes will begin in warmer weather and shorts. I’ll be wishing for some slightly more chilly winds by then.