It Never Rains in Southern California
| "It Never Rains in Southern California" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Anyone Here in the Audience" |
"It Never Rains in Southern California", written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, is the title of a song first released by Hammond, a British born singer-songwriter, in 1972. The song is from his album, It Never Rains in Southern California. Hammond's version peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 that year.
In the UK the song is perhaps the quintessential example (alongside The Doobie Brothers "Listen to the Music") of a turntable hit: A song which, although very frequently played and requested on radio, never makes it into the charts. Through the 1970s, the record was re-issued at least five times by various labels—but remained outside the UK top 40, despite yet more airplay—and is still frequently to be heard on UK radio.
The song concerns the struggles of a singer who moves out to California to pursue a career in Hollywood but does not have any success and deteriorates in the process. In the chorus, Hammond sings, "It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn ya. It pours, man it pours."
Cover versions
The chorus was reprised by Julio Iglesias in 1984's Moonlight Lady, which Hammond co-wrote with Carole Bayer Sager.
Saori Minami covered the song on her 1973 studio album Kizu Tsuku Sedai. Agnes Chan covered the song on her 1973 album With Love From Agnes.
A cover was released by the country music band Trent Summar & The New Row Mob, in 2000 on their self-titled debut album. This version peaked at number 74 on the country music charts.
Chart positions
Albert Hammond version
| Chart (1972–73) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japanese Oricon International Chart[1] | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard AC[2] | 2 |
| Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart[3] | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] | 5 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[4] | 5 |
| West German Singles Chart[5] | 9 |
| Japanese Oricon Singles Chart | 11 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[6] | 21 |
Saori Minami version
| Chart (1973) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japanese Oricon Singles Chart[7] | 77 |
Trent Summar & the New Row Mob version
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs | 74 |
In other media
The song, performed by Pete Yorn, appears in the 2003 film Stuck on You.
In 2010, the song was featured in the Ben Stiller comedy Greenberg.
The song was played to close the final scene of the last episode of Veronica Mars, when Veronica leaves the polling booth and walks down the sidewalk in the rain.
The song is played in the closing credits of the movie Empire State 2013 with Dwayne Johnson and Liam Hemsworth.
References
- ^ "List of number-one singles on the Japanese Oricon International Chart (1968-2000)". Oricon. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
- ^ a b "allmusic ((( Albert Hammond > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". allmusic.com. Billboard Charts. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "norwegiancharts.com Albert Hammond - It Never Rains in Southern California". VG-lista. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
- ^ "Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California - hitparade.ch". Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved January 2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Günter Ehnert (ed.): Hit Bilanz. Deutsche Chart Singles 1956 - 1980. Hamburg: Taurus Press 1990, p. 91
- ^ "dutchcharts.nl Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California". dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ a-南 沙織 "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Singles Chart Daijiten - Saori Minami" (in Japanese). December 30, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2009.
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