"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 that year, and in the same year it was sung in London by Elisabeth Welch and recorded by Frances Langford. Also 1933, for the first time in history 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 the Stormy Weather Revue and as the name implies, the show contained the hit song "Stormy Weather" which was sung by Adelaide Hall. Already in September 1933, the group Comedian Harmonists released their German cover version, titled "Ohne Dich" with lyrics that are quite different. The song has since been performed by such diverse artists as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Clodagh Rodgers, Reigning Sound and, most famously, by Lena Horne and Billie Holiday. Leo Reisman's orchestra version had the biggest hit on records, although Ethel Waters's recorded version also sold well. "Stormy Weather" was featured in the 1943 movie of the same name. 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 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's recording of the song in 1933 was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, and the Library of Congress honored the song by adding 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 cinema.
Other versions
Ethel Waters – 1933
Duke Ellington – 1933 and another version with singer Ivie Anderson in 1940. He also performed a vocal version with Ivy Anderson in the 1933 Paramount short film Bundle of Blues.
Harold Arlen – 1933
Lena Horne recorded the song in 1941 for RCA Victor. In 1943, she recorded another version for the movie of the same name. She recorded the song at least five times throughout her career, including for the 1957 album Stormy Weather. Her original 1941 version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.
Connie Boswell – 1941 Connie was one of the successful Boswell Sisters close harmony trio along with her sisters Martha and Vet
The Spaniels recorded in 1958 on Vee-Jay Records #290
Red Garland Trio - All Kinds of Weather, familiar to listeners of American Public Media's Marketplaceradio program, which plays Garland's version as background accompaniment whenever news of a decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average is reported
