“Stormy Weather” is a 1933 torch song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 and recorded it with the Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra under Brunswick Records that year, and in the same year it was sung in London by Elisabeth Welch and recorded by Frances Langford. Also in 1933, for the first time the entire floor revue from Harlem’s Cotton Club went on tour, playing theatres in principal cities. The revue was originally called The Cotton Club Parade of 1933 but for the road tour it was changed to Stormy Weather Revue; it contained the song “Stormy Weather”, which was sung by Adelaide Hall.
In September 1933, the group Comedian Harmonists released their German cover version, titled “Ohne Dich” (“Without You”) with lyrics that are quite different. The song has since been performed by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Lena Horne and many others. Leo Reisman’s orchestra version had the biggest hit on records (with Arlen himself as vocalist), although Ethel Waters’ recorded version also sold well. “Stormy Weather” was performed by Horne in the 1943 film Stormy Weather, a big, all-star show for World War II soldiers.
The song tells of disappointment, as the lyrics, “Don’t know why there’s no sun up in the sky”, show someone pining for her man to return. The weather is a metaphor for the feelings of the singer: “stormy weather since my man and I ain’t together, keeps raining all the time”.
The original handwritten lyrics, along with a painting by Ted Koehler, were featured on the US version of Antiques Roadshow on January 24, 2011, where they were appraised for between $50,000 and $100,000. The lyrics show a number of crossings out and corrections.
Ethel Waters’ recording of the song in 1933 was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2004. Also in 2004, Horne’s version finished at number 30 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American movies. According to the Acoustic Music organization, the version by the Five Sharps (1952) “is one of the rarest of all R&B records. Only three 78rpm and no 45rpm copies are known to exist”.
Ethel Wates’ recording of the song in 1933 was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2004. Also in 2004, Horne’s version finished at number 30 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American movies. According to the Acoustic Music organization, the version by the Five Sharps (1952) “is one of the rarest of all R&B records. Only three 78rpm and no 45rpm copies are known to exist”.
