storm – The Sound of One Hand Typing

Since it was a little stormy last week, I chose a few “storm” songs (songs with “storm” in the title or about storms) and threw it out to you to make some more suggestions. A lot of you recommended songs about rain, and I’ll add them to my existing playlist, so I haven’t forgotten you. “Rhythm of the Rain” by The Cascades is the first one on the list, in fact.

We ended up with a few more than five songs, and I couldn’t decide which ones to keep and which to leave off, so this Friday Five is actually a seven. I’m sure you won’t mind…

Stormy – Classics IV Carol over on Facebook suggested this, and I’m surprised I didn’t think of it as well.

Knock On Wood – Eddie Floyd Some classic Memphis Soul here by Eddie Floyd. (It was on Stax, so I assume it was Memphis Soul.) Mary B suggested this one, and Liam seconded it. The lyrics at the end of the verses talk about thunder and lightning, after all. Good enough for me.

Mistress of Storms – Bruce Cockburn This one is a beauty suggested by Arlee, an instrumental that was also covered by Michael Occhipinti and Creation Dream.

Quiet Storm – Smokey Robinson Janet suggested this one. The song that launched an entire sub-genre known as Quiet Storm, of which Anita Baker is one of the key practitioners.

Thunder and Lightning – Grapefruit Arlee tells us that Grapefruit was one of the first bands signed by Apple in the late Sixties, and said he thought they might have been a precursor to Badfinger. Whatever the case, it’s a good song.

Like A Hurricane – Kris Delmhorst Liam told me about Kris Delmhorst, who did an album called Songs For A Hurricane, on which all the songs are about storms, either real or metaphoric. Here’s one of them.

Like A Hurricane – Neil Young Mary B recommended this one as well, but I’m not sure this is the one she was thinking of. “Like A Hurricane” is a popular song name, I guess.

Thanks to everyone who participated! That’s your Friday Five for June 24, 2016.

When we left the house to come to Starbucks this afternoon, the area was under a severe thunderstorm watch. After we were here about five minutes, this is what we were looking at…

So, I had my theme: songs with “storm” in the title, with one exception…

Thunder and Lightning – Chi Coltrane This was the first song that came to mind, as we were getting thunder and lightning before the rain you just saw. Chi’s almost a one-hit wonder; she had a #1 hit in The Netherlands with “Go Like Elijah” in 1975, a song that only reached #94 in the US that year, although it got “considerable airplay,” according to Wikipedia. This one reached #17 on the Hot 100 in 1972.

Riders on the Storm – The Doors The Doors’ last #1 hit, released after the death of Jim Morrison in 1971. It was on the L. A. Woman album, and reached #14 on the Hot 100.

Stormy Weather – Billie Holiday A jazz standard, done by artists such as Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Ethel Waters and others. Here’s Lady Day’s version.

Stormy Monday – B. B. King A blues standard. Most of the biggest names in the blues have done this one, as well as The Allman Brothers, Cream, and other rock acts. Ain’t no bigger name in the blues than B. B. King, who’s playing this one with Albert King, if I heard correctly.

Ridin’ The Storm Out – REO Speedwagon The pride of the University of Illinois, they started in 1967 and played a lot of the clubs in the Chicago area on their way to international fame. This is from their 1973 album of the same name; a live version charted at #94 in 1977.