Favorite Songs From Movies: Stormy Weather

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We did it!! We made it through winter and now it’s time for spring! For my friends on the other side of the equator, you sweated through summer and now it’s time for autumn. It wasn’t arranged for this song to be showcased on the first day of spring, because this portion of the countdown is alphabetical (the top ten starts on Wednesday). Happy coincidence. Sing along. Stormy Weather - Lena Horne I guess everyone has a favorite version of this Great American Songbook standard. The original, by Ethel Waters in 1933, is in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Lady Day (Billie Holiday) did a smoking version in 1952. In the 1943 film Stormy Weather you see Lena Horne perform the tune. The movie was made for blacks by blacks. The segregation of the era gave us a most memorable film with some of the greatest talent (not just “African-American” talent) of the era. And, if you haven’t seen it, you must see the Nicolas Brothers’ dance routine to “Jumpin’ Jive.” Fred Astaire said it was the greatest dance sequence ever filmed, and I don’t dispute that opinion in the least. The movie plot is based loosely on the life of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, famously noted for dance routines with Shirley Temple in her movies. All that, and this classic song as well! Stormy Weather Written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler Recorded by Lena Horne From Stormy Weather, 1943 Old rockin’ chair will get me: