This article is about the 1992 single by Crowded House. For the Jimmy Buffett album, see Take the Weather with You. For the animated romantic fantasy film, see Weathering with You.
"Weather with You" is a song by Australian-New Zealand rock band Crowded House. It was the third and most successful single released from the group's third studio album, Woodface (1991), reaching top 50 in 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, where it reached number seven. At the APRA Music Awards of 1994, the song won Most Performed Australian Work Overseas.[2] The song was intended to be part of the Finn Brothers' unreleased 1990 debut, but after Capitol Records found the recordings, they were merged with a Crowded House session to become Woodface.
In 1996, Crowded House disbanded, releasing a greatest hits album, Recurring Dream, in June of that year. "Weather with You" was made the album's first track. Later in the year, the band reunited for one final performance at the Sydney Opera House and performed the song again, calling upon ex-member Tim Finn, who originally performed the song with the group, to join the group onstage. This live performance was not included on the VHS release of the concert, but it was shown on television broadcast and also appeared on the 10-year anniversary DVD entitled Farewell to the World.
The first day we got together, we wrote "Weather with You" and [Tim Finn] had the title and the chorus line. 'Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you', and the opening line, 'Walking round the room singing stormy weather'. We started playing that and got the guitar riff going and wrote the whole thing on the first day, so it got off to a good start.
57 Mount Pleasant Street is a fictitious address as far as the number goes, but my sister used to live in a house in Mount Pleasant Road in Auckland and that’s what we were thinking of when we wrote the song. It was just a good contrast to the theme of the song for it to be called Mount Pleasant Street because really it was about a guy who's totally wrapped up in melancholia standing in his lounge room feeling lost.[3]
He went on to say, "Ultimately, the theme of the song is of course, that you are creating your own weather, you are making your own environment, always."[4]
Critical reception
Andrew Mueller from Melody Maker wrote that songs like "Weather with You" "tout pleasingly wry sentiments but are entirely bereft of any hooks upon which to hang your heart."[5] Another music critic, Peter Paphides, complimented the way Neil Finn could write a song like this and "make it seem like a postcard from a dream."[6] Alan Jones from Music Week praised it as "splendid".[7]
The music video features a slightly rearranged song structure, with a chorus placed before the second verse and some of the instrumental sections shortened.
Note: Live tracks recorded with Roger McGuinn at the Pantages Theater, Los Angeles, 7 April 1989, previously released on "I Feel Possessed" CD and 12" single.
Note: "Walking on the Spot" recorded at The Town & Country Club, London, 10 November 1991 (previously unreleased in Japan); "Don't Dream It's Over" recorded at The Roxy, Los Angeles, 26 February 1987; "Something So Strong" recorded at The Trocadero, Philadelphia, 24 March 1987; "Mr. Tambourine Man" recorded with Roger McGuinn at the Pantages Theater, Los Angeles, 7 April 1989 (however, label indicates 7 July 1989 incorrectly).
Note: All live tracks recorded at The Town & Country Club, London, England, 9–10 November 1991. "Walking on the Spot" was previously unreleased in the US.
