It Never Rains in Southern California

For the Tony! Toni! Toné song, see It Never Rains (In Southern California).
"It Never Rains in Southern California"
Single by Albert Hammond
from the album It Never Rains in Southern California
B-side "Anyone Here in the Audience"
Released October 21, 1972 (United States)
Recorded 1972
Genre Soft rock[1]
Length 3:49
3:20 (7" version)
Label Mums Records
Writer(s) Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood
Producer(s) Albert Hammond, Don Altfeld
Certification Gold (RIAA)
Albert Hammond singles chronology
"Down by the River"
(1972)
"It Never Rains in Southern California"
(1972)
"If You Gotta Break Another Heart"
(1973)

"It Never Rains in Southern California", written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, is a song first released by Hammond, a British born singer-songwriter, in 1972. Instrumental backing was provided by L.A. session musicians from the Wrecking Crew.[2] 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 an actor 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."

In 1989, Hammond re-recorded the song for his Best of Me greatest hits compilation.[3]

Cover versions

Chart performance

Albert Hammond version

Chart (1972–73) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles 2
Japanese Oricon International Chart[4] 1
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 2
U.S. Billboard AC[5] 2
Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart[6] 3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5] 5
Swiss Singles Chart[7] 5
West German Singles Chart[8] 9
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart 11
Dutch Singles Chart[9] 21

Saori Minami version

Chart (1973) Peak
position
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart[10] 77

Trent Summar & the New Row Mob version

Chart (2000) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs 74
Preceded by
"Holidays, On ira tous au Paradis" by Michel Polnareff
Japanese Oricon International Chart number-one single (Albert Hammond version)
February 19-March 26, 1973
Succeeded by
"You're So Vain" by Carly Simon

In other media

References

  1. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Hard to Find 45s on CD, Vol. 14 - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
  2. Hartman, Kent (2012). The Wrecking Crew. St. Martin’s Griffin. pp. 261–263. ISBN 978-1-250-03046-7.
  3. "Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California 1989". YouTube. 2013-11-25. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  4. "List of number-one singles on the Japanese Oricon International Chart (1968-2000)". Oricon. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  5. 1 2 "allmusic ((( Albert Hammond > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". allmusic.com. Billboard Charts. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
  6. "norwegiancharts.com Albert Hammond - It Never Rains in Southern California". VG-lista. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  7. "Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California - hitparade.ch". Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  8. Günter Ehnert (ed.): Hit Bilanz. Deutsche Chart Singles 1956 - 1980. Hamburg: Taurus Press 1990, p. 91
  9. "dutchcharts.nl Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California". dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved January 8, 2010.

External links

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