DESCRIPTION:
From the album "Dreamy" "Stormy Weather" is a 1933 song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem. The song tells of disappointment, as the lyrics, "Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky" show someone pining for her man to return. The weather is a metaphor for the feelings of the singer; "stormy weather since my man and I ain't together, keeps raining all the time."

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career.

Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy, until she turned the rest of her career over to Norman Granz, who founded Verve Records to produce new records by Fitzgerald. With Verve she recorded some of her more widely noted works, particularly her interpretations of the Great American Songbook.

While Fitzgerald appeared in movies and as a guest on popular television shows in the second half of the twentieth century, her musical collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and The Ink Spots were some of her most notable acts outside of her solo career. These partnerships produced some of her best-known songs such as "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Cheek to Cheek", "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall", and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)".

In 1993, after a career of nearly 60 years, she gave her last public performance. Three years later, she died at the age of 79 after years of declining health. Her accolades included fourteen Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Ella's accompanied by Frank Beach, Don Fagerquist, Conrad Gozzo, Joseph Triscari (tp), Milton Bernhart, Edward Kusby, Richard Noel (tb), George Roberts (btb), Benny Carter (as), Plas Johnson (ts), Chuck Gentry (bs), Justin Gordon, Wilbur Schwartz (ww), Lou Levy (p), Herb Ellis (g), Wilfred Middlebrooks, Joe Mondragon (b), Alvin Stoller (d), Billy May (cnd, arr). Recorded January 14, 1961, Radio Recorders, Hollywood. (Verve Records)

Don't know why
There's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time

Life is bare
Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather
Just can't get my poor self together
I'm weary all the time, the time
So weary all of the time

When he went away
The blues walked in and met me
If he stays away, old rocking chair will get me
All I do is pray
The lord above will let me
Walk in the sun once more

Can't go on
Everything I had is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time
Keeps raining all of the time

I walk around,
Heavy-hearted and sad
Night comes around
And I'm still feeling bad
Rain pourin' down
Blinding every hope I had
This pitter 'n patter 'n beatin' 'n spatterin' drivin' me mad

Love, love, love, love
This misery will be the end of me

(bridge)

When he went away
The blues walked in and met me
If he stays away, old rocking chair will get me
All I do is pray
The lord above will let me
Walk in the sun once more

Can't go on
Everything I had is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time, the time
Keeps raining all the time