Today’s classic song of the day is a vocal gem from the Association. The song is “Windy” and, when released in May of 1967, it went to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. (It was also a number-one hit in Canada.)
“Windy” was written by Ruthann Friedman, a San Francisco-based songwriter. Here’s what she remembers about the tune:
“I was sitting on my bed—the apartment on the first floor of David Crosby’s house in Beverly Glenn—and there was a fellow who came to visit and was sitting there staring at me as if he was going to suck the life out of me. So I started to fantasize about what kind of a guy I would like to be with, and that was Windy—a guy (fantasy). The song took about 20 minutes to write.”
That was obviously twenty minutes well spent. Producer Bones Howe snapped up the tune and gender reversed it for the Association to record. For the recording, he enlisted members of the famed L.A.-based Wrecking Crew, including Al Casey, Mike Deasy, and Ray Pohlman on guitars; Larry Knechtel on keyboards; Joe Osborn on bass; and the then-ubiquitous Hal Blaine on drums.
“Windy” is a sunshine pop number about a free-spirited young lady who could have only existed in California during the Summer of Love:
Who’s peekin’ out from under a stairway
Calling a name that’s lighter than air
Who’s bending down to give me a rainbow
Everyone knows it’s Windy
Who’s tripping down the streets of the city
Smilin’ at everybody she sees
Who’s reachin’ out to capture a moment
Everyone knows it’s Windy
And Windy has stormy eyes
That flash at the sound of lies
And Windy has wings to fly
Above the clouds
Above the clouds
Your daily bonus video of the day features the Association performing “Windy” live at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois, in 1967, just as the single was climbing the charts. You know, those guys sang pretty good together.
