Day #27 – The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful
Day #27 – The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful
Of the many aspects of Jimmy’s song writing, one of the things I appreciate most is his sense of humor. It’s there in all his songs, but some of them seem more overt in that sense than others. This is one of those.
And sometimes running away to the Caribbean, for instance, when you are shoveling 8 inches of snow in October, seems like a pretty good idea.
But the best part of this song is that it’s fun! Fun to listen to, fun to sing to, and you really don’t need to think much harder about it than that.
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Original post from 9/28/2023
Day #27 – The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful
Yes, that’s correct, that is indeed the title of one of Jimmy’s songs. According to JB’s The Parrothead Handbook, a phrase that was written on a bathroom wall in either Captain Tony’s Saloon in Key West or Napoleon House in New Orleans. Wherever it was, and whoever graffitied up that wall or stall, led to the rollicking, slightly irreverent, song about escaping your life and finding a new one. I believe Jimmy could find inspiration in anything and everything, and I see that as one of his great gifts to us!
The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful was on Jimmy’s 1981 album Coconut Telegraph, and it’s about a man on a vacation that he refuses to end. So many great lines in this one, but particular favorites are:
“Well, he’s on his third drink before the wheels of the plane leave the ground, makin’ points with the stewardesses high over Long Island Sound.”
“The skies are too clear, life’s so easy today, the beer is too cold, the daiquiri’s too fruitful, no place like home when you’re this far away.”
“He’s just singing and ordering drinks.”
And most importantly…
“And if it doesn’t work out, there’ll never be any doubt, that the pleasure was worth all the pain.”
Please give this one a listen, trust me, it’s so much fun! I’ve included the link in the comments below.
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One of the mentions in this song is Billy Clyde, and I had to do a little research on that name a bit. Billy Clyde Tuggle was a character on ABC’s All My Children (I was an NBC soap opera type of girl… Days of Our Lives, Another World, Santa Barbara, etc) so I missed out on All My Children’s no doubt captivating story lines.
Billy Clyde was portrayed by actor Matthew Cowles. Billy Clyde was a pimp who ran a prostitution ring in Pine Valley. He eventually went to prison but returned years later to start a disco club under the name John Rockafeller and he discovered that he had a long-lost daughter. He was thought to have died in a bridge explosion, but suddenly returned to the show years later, running a prostitution ring in a neighboring town, this time doing the Lord’s work (umm…yup). He won the lottery and tried to redeem himself through philanthropic good deeds. One of his goals at some point in his life was to make enough money to run away and live in the tropics.
I don’t know if Billy Clyde Tuggle ever made it to an island, but Jimmy certainly immortalized the character in this song! I love that Jimmy tossed some pop culture into his songs, and that I got to take a little walk into the amazing plot lines that only soap opera characters can live. Thank you, Jimmy, and thank you Billy Clyde.
Stacy
Please enjoy The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful. I have included the link below. Enjoy!
The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
