Showing posts with label Tribe of Toffs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tribe of Toffs. Show all posts

Thursday, 5 February 2026

Another Day #3: National Weatherperson's Day

Today is National Weather Person’s Day, primarily in the USA where it marks the birthday of John Jeffries, thought to be America's first weatherman. He was also the first person to ever collect weather data from a balloon over London in 1784, rising to a height of 9000 feet with a thermometer, a barometer, and a hygrometer to see if it was raining. Presumably he also took an umbrella.

Here are some predictable tunes about Weather People to celebrate…

A Tribe Of Toffs - John Kettley (Is A Weatherman)

The Weather Prophets - She Comes From The Rain

The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men

Spearmint – The Weather Forecaster

Opinionated weather forecasters telling me it’s going to be a miserable day
Miserable to who? I quite like a bit of drizzle, so stick to the facts

Half Man Half Biscuit – A Country Practice

Hank Williams Jr. - Weatherman

Blur – This Is A Low

Sheryl Crow – Weather Channel

Tom Waits – Emotional Weather Report

ELO – Mr. Blue Sky



Sunday, 25 June 2023

Snapshots #298: A Top Ten Weather Forecast Songs


It's 10 years since I last did a Top Ten Weather Forecast Songs, and although I did re-use a couple of the tracks from that old list this weekend, I also skipped some of the more obvious selections, including The Weather Girls, ELO, and... of course... this...


Every week I try to include a mix of well-known artists alongside artists that have never featured here before... otherwise, you guys get them all immediately, and where's the fun in that? Hence why I always call it "A Top Ten..." rather than "My Top Ten...", since chances are, I might include a track or artist I don't really care for. Although even the ones I might not choose to listen to in my own time uusally spark a brief nostalgic smile. Even the worst bits of the pop past look better from a distance.

Anyway, with thanks to C for suggesting it, here are ten songs about weather forecasting...


10. Before Ella could be bothered.

Ella Fitzgerald was Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered...

B*Witched - Blame It On The Weatherman

9. Jump in the middle of a newspaper tycoon.

The famous newspaper tycoon was not Rupert Murdoch or Robert Maxwell, but William Randolph Hearst. Add a jump to his middle name and you get...

Randolf's Leap - Weatherman

Great video, featuring a post-retirement Michael Fish, infamous for his "don't worry, there's isn't" a hurricane coming forecast back in 1987.

8. Artistically apt... but also prepared for the worst.

It's OK, these guys brought an umbrella.

Weather Report - Umbrellas

7. Rumour has it...

Graham Parker, whose back band was "The Rumour"...

Graham Parker - Weather Report

6. The warm up act on Mars.

The Radiators From Space - Let's Talk About The Weather

5. When upset, she chews lorry.

"She chews lorry" is an anagram. This is what Sheryl looked like when she was a backing singer on Michael Jackson's Bad Tour.

Sheryl Crow - Weather Channel

4. He'll grow on you.

Bob Mould - Forecast Of Rain

3. Doctor, could be related to Shatner's cop.

Shatner's cop was T.J. Hooker. But this is guy's a D.R....

D.R. Hooker - Weather Girl

2. Could easily be confused with the hard part of the Appalachian trail... if your hearing aid isn't working. 

One of the hardest stretches of the Appalachian Trail is the Mountains of Maine. Pardon? I said...

The Fountains of Wayne - Traffic & Weather

Look, I can do hearing aid jokes since I wear them. Don't try and cancel me!

1. That's a Stretch.

I was thinking specifically of...

What do you mean Louis Armstrong never did a song about weather forecasters?

I don't care what the weatherman says
When the weatherman says it's raining
You'll never hear me complaining
I'm certain the sun will shine

Louis Armstrong - Jeepers Creepers


You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. It blows towards more Snapshots next Saturday.


Sunday, 15 December 2019

Saturday Snapshots #115 - The Answers


Dude, where's my answers?



10. Right before the end: a Spider-Man gets stranded on a Welsh island.


A timely choice for the day after the worst election result in living memory.

Barry Island & Toby Maguire.

Barry McGuire - Eve of Destruction

9. Secondary software or failed video clears up the weather.


"This software is in Beta" & Betamax.

The Beta Band - Dry The Rain

8. ACME Joni kills... but her victims enjoy it.


"ACME Joni kills" is an anagram of Millie Jackson.

Millie Jackson - It Hurts So Good

7. Waifs and felines shake the city.


Waifs and strays...

Stray Cats - Rock This Town

6. President's wife confronts his assassin via Pegasus & Uffington.


President Kennedy's wife was Jackie.

His assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald. (He was not a patsy.)

Pegasus & Uffington were white horses.

Nice boots.

Jackie Lee - White Horses

5. Switched on band won't depress me.


You switch on an electric light.

A band can be an orchestra.

Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down

Top intro right there.

4. Posh clan celebrates boiling forecast.


If you remember this one, the clue was really easy. If you've never heard it, you had no chance.

Tribe Of Toffs - John Kettley Is A Weatherman

Lots of extremely dated references in there. But Johnny Marr's immortality is guaranteed.

3. Sweetie brings all the boys to the yard. Dreams unwind. Love's a state of mind.


"Dreams unwind. Love's a state of mind." are lyrics from Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac.

Kelis's Milkshake brought all the boys to the yard.

Sugar is sweet.

Rhiannon Giddens - Shake Sugaree

2. Albert's Theory of BOOM!


Albert Einstein's theory of relativity was E=MC2

BOOM! is a loud sound.

Dynamite also goes BOOM!

I like a bit of a cavort.

Big Audio Dynamite - E=MC2

1. Created 10; created by (part of) 10.


Spider-Man creates webs.

The song Eve Of Destruction (#10) was written by the elusive songwriter P.F. Sloan.

Jimmy Webb is God.



More Excellent! Snapshots next Saturday. Possibly of the Christmas variety. If I can be bothered.

Monday, 19 August 2013

My Top Ten Weather Forecast Songs


There are, of course, millions of songs that predict the weather... from A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall to Here Comes The Sun. None of those are allowed in this Top Ten.

To be included here, you have to actually mention weather forecasting... or forecasters.

Special mentions to The Forecast... and Weather Report. (Hmm.. Jazz. Niiice.)


10. Jason Mraz - The Forecast

Jason swears he's no weatherman... but he doesn't half go on about it.

This song bears mention purely down to one of the most bizarre metaphors ever written...
But your mouth is my umbrella now
And I'm holding your tongue
W. T. F.? (Weather: The Forecast.)

9. Sheryl Crow - Weather Channel

When Sheryl gets depressed, she watched the Weather Channel. It doesn't appear to cheer her up.

8. Tom Waits - Emotional Weather Report

Not a song so much as the jamming intro to Tom's classic live album Nighthawks At The Diner. But there's plenty of forecasting to go around...
And a line of thunderstorms was developing in the early morning
Ahead of a slow moving cold front
Cold blooded
With tornado watches issued shortly before noon Sunday, 
For the areas including...
The western region of my mental health
And the northern portions of my ability to deal rationally 

With my disconcerted precarious emotional situation
7. Hank Williams Jr. - The Weatherman

Hank Jr. needs a good forecast tonight...

6. Spearmint - The Weather Forecaster

It always upsets me when I can't find links to Spearmint records on the internet. This is a gorgeous little story by Shirley Lee about a young man who learns to predict the weather as a way of controlling everything that might happen in his life...

If you know what the weather will be like
There's no danger
You're in control

But then, inevitably, he meets a young lady... and the forecast becomes unpredictable.

Oh, just go buy the album. 

5. The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men 
Get ready, all you lonely girls - and leave those umbrellas at home!
A song so great, even Geri Halliwell couldn't kill it. (Though she gave it a damned good try.)

4. A Tribe of Toffs - John Kettley Is A Weatherman

Ah, 1988 in the UK charts... a terrible time for music. During the dark days of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Bros, Bomb The Bass, Brother Beyond and the Wee Papa Girl Rappers... I was 16. Everything was wrong with the world. And then there came the Tribe of Toffs, a silly group of lads with a jangly guitar pop novelty record full of terrible rhymes about minor British TV personalities of the day (and Johnny Marr). It may have only reached number 21 in the charts... but it was better than Another Day In Paradise.
Debbie Thrower's got a lawnmower,
Johnny Marr he plays guitar,
David Steel lives in Keele,
John Kettley... John Kettley... John Kettley:
He's a weatherman.
3. Fountains of Wayne - Traffic & Weather

A love story unfolds among the Channel 6 news team...
Ooh, we belong together - like traffic and weather...
Any song that contains that timeless chat up line "I like those shorts - I'd like them even more on my bedroom floor" get my vote.

2. Blur - This Is A Low

Damon lies in bed listening to the shipping forecast: the end result is one of their most moving records. Don't spend too much time studying the lyrics though, or the magic is lost. 

1. ELO - Mr. Blue Sky 

Wait a minute, Rol, I hear you cry... isn't this one of those songs you outlawed at the top of the page: like A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall or Here Comes The Sun? Ah, I reply... ahhhh... yes, but listen again to that timeless intro:
Morning - today's forecast calls for blue skies...
However, if you're looking for Dylan or the Fab Four... close your eyes and listen to Mr. Blue Sky one more time. Not only is it one of the greatest pop records ever recorded... doesn't it just sound like "What if Bob was lead singer of the Beatles?"



...but which is your Michael Fish?
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