Weather is frequently portrayed in popular music, with a new scientific study finding over 750 popular music songs referring to weather, the most common being sun and rain, and blizzards being the least common. The study also found many song writers were inspired by weather events.
The study, led by the University, together with the Universities of Oxford, Manchester, Newcastle (all part of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research) and the University of Reading analysed the weather through lyrics, musical genre, keys and links to specific weather events.
Frequently, songs mentioned more than one weather type, indicating a range of emotions within a song. Songs mentioned up to six weather types, such as 鈥楽tormy鈥� by Cobb and Buie. Over 900 songwriters or singers have written or sung about weather, the most common being Bob Dylan, followed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Weather-related songs are also very popular, with 7 per cent of them appearing in . Lead author, Dr Sally Brown from the University, said,
鈥淲e were all surprised how often weather is communicated in popular music, whether as a simple analogy or a major theme of a song, such as Bob Dylan鈥檚 鈥楤lowin鈥� In The Wind鈥� or The Hollies鈥� 鈥楤us Stop鈥�, where a couple fall in love under an umbrella.鈥�
The study, published in the journal Weather, also found that musicians were inspired by specific weather events.