#18: With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair by Pat Boone

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: March 1959
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube: “With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair”
Lyrics: “With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair”

Pat Boone was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 1, 1934. He was the son of Margaret Virginia (Pritchard) and Archie Altman Boone. The Boone family moved to Nashville from Florida when Boone was two years old. In a 2007 interview on The 700 Club, Boone claimed that he is the great-great-great-great grandson of the American pioneer Daniel Boone. Boone is a singer, composer, actor, writer, television personality, motivational speaker, and spokesman. He won a talent contest on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. He became a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He has sold over 45 million records, charted 38 Top 40 hits between 1955 and 1962. Boone has also appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films. He still holds the Billboard record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the charts with one or more songs each week.

At the age of 19 he released his first single 78- RPM titled “Until You Tell Me So” on Republic Records in June 1953. After a second release on Republic, he switched to Dot Records. His first release on Dot was in 1955. It was a cover of R&B doo-wop group The Charms song “Two Hearts”. Boone’s cover peaked at #16 on the Billboard pop chart, right behind The Charms original which peaked at #15. Pat Boone’s next release was a cover of the Fats Domino song “Ain’t That A Shame”. While Fats Domino’s original recording was a #1 hit on the R&B chart and #10 on the pop chart, Pat Boone’s cover climbed to #1 on the Billboard pop chart. Domino complimented Boone’s cover of the song. Boone liked to tell a story about a concert at which Domino invited Boone on stage, showed a big gold ring and said, “Pat Boone bought me this ring,” since Domino, as cowriter of the song, received royalties on it from record sales or radio airplay of other performers’ cover versions of “Ain’t That A Shame”.

Next, Pat Boone did a cover of the El Dorados’ #1 R&B hit “At My Front Door”. The original climbed to #17 on the Billboard pop chart, but Boone eclipsed it when his cover peaked at #7 in November ’55. Finding success by covering black R&B recording artists, Pat Boone followed up with a cover of the #5 R&B hit by the Flamingoes titled “I’ll Be Home”. Hit cover peaked at #4 on the Billboard pop chart, and #1 in the UK. In the winter of 1955-56, Boone’s cover of the Little Richard tune “Tutti Frutti” made it to #12 on the pop chart, while Little Richard’s original peaked at #21 on the pop chart and #2 on the R&B chart.

However, Little Richard next cowrote and recorded a song he bet was too fast for Pat Boone to sing. It was titled “Long Tall Sally”. Little Richard’s original recording beat Pat Boone’s cover, climbing to #6 on the Billboard pop chart, with Pat Boone stalling at #18. Next, Pat Boone went to the archives of R&B hits and recorded Ivory Joe Hunter’s #1 R&B song from 1950, “I Almost Lost My Mind”. In 1956, Boone’s cover of Ivory Joe Hunter’s hit became his second number-one hit on the Billboard pop chart in August ’56. Happy with his success, Boone subsequently covered a #2 hit for Ivory Joe Hunter from 1951 titled “Chains Of Love”, which became a #10 hit on the pop charts for Boone.

A rare original recording by Pat Boone in 1956 was the theme song for the film Friendly Persuasion: “Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)”. This single climbed to #5 in the fall of ’56. In 1957 Pat Boone began to rely on classic pop songs when going to the recording studio. “Don’t Forbid Me” climbed to #1 in February 1957, and “Love Letters In The Sand” – a cover of a 1931 pop standard – topped the Billboard pop chart for five weeks in June and July of ’57. At the end of 1957, Pat Boone’s recording of the theme song “April Love”, for the film of the same name, was the final number-one hit of the year. He also had a Top Ten hit in 1957 with “Remember You’re Mine”, written by Kal Mann (who had success that year penning “Teddy Bear” for Elvis Presley and “Butterfly” for Andy Williams).

At the age of 23, he began hosting a half-hour ABC TV series, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, which aired for 115 episodes (1957–1960). Many musical performers, including Andy Williams, Pearl Bailey, and Johnny Mathis made appearances on the show.

In 1958 Pat Boone recorded a cover of a country song from the 40s titled “Sugar Moon”, which peaked at #5. Boone also had a #4 hit with “A Wonderful Time Up There”, a 1940s gospel song. That year Pat Boone did successfully cover a song originally recorded by the Orioles titled “It’s Too Soon To Know”, which was a #1 hit for the pioneering doo-wop group in 1948. Boone’s recording shot to #4 on the Billboard pop chart in ’58. And the songwriting team of Robert Allen and Al Stillman (notable for “Home For The Holidays” for Perry Como; “Moments To Remember” and “No Not Much” for the Four Lads; “Chances Are” and “It’s Not For Me To Say” for Johnny Mathis) wrote Pat Boone’s last Top Ten hit in the 50s titled “If Dreams Came True”.

From 1956 to 1958 Pat Boone, along with Ricky Nelson, was a pop star rival of Elvis Presley, Pat Boone’s “The Wang Dang Taffy-Apple Tango” stalled at #63 in 1959 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1959 Pat Boone released nine singles, of which severn charted on the Billboard Hot 100, but only one made the Top 20 nationally in the USA. “With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair” missed the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, stalling at #21.

“With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair” was written in 1930 by Clara Edwards and Jack Lawrence. It was a #4 hit Kay Kyser, and #7 hit for Bob Crosby in 1940, and a Top 20 hit for Bob Chester that same year. Clara Gerlich was born in 1880 in a small township in southern Minnesota. She learned to play piano and later published songs, initially under the pseudonym Bernard Haigh. Her husband died in 1916, and she became a single mother, necessitating her shift to publishing music. Between 1921 and 1961, Edwards had over a hundred of her songs recorded by pop singers. She died in 1974 at the age of 93.

Jack Lawrence was born in 1912 with the birth name Jacob Louis Schwartz, and raised in an Orthodox Jewish family. His parents had run away from the central Ukrainian town of Bila Tserkva (pop. 18,720 in 1900), with half the population Jewish and a periodic pogroms. He studied hard and received a Diploma in Podiatry in 1932. The same year, his first song was published and he immediately decided to make a career of songwriting rather than podiatry. That song, “Play, Fiddle, Play”, won international fame and he became a member of ASCAP that year at age 20.

In 1937, Lawrence’s song “What Will I Tell My Heart?” was a #2 hit for Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, and a #5 hit that year for Bing Crosby. In 1938, “Tu-Li Tulip Time” was a Top Ten hit for the Andrews Sisters. In 1939, his song “If I Didn’t Care” was a #2 hit for the Ink Spots, and eventually sold an incredible 19 million copies. Also in 1939, Lawrence co-wrote the chart-topping “Sunrise Serenade” for Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra. It was also a Top Ten hit for Glenn Miller that year. In 1940, his song “Yes, My Darling Daughter”, was a Top Ten hit for Dinah Shore. In 1942, Lawrence’s “Sleepy Lagoon” was a number-one hit for Harry James and his Orchestra.

While serving in the United States Maritime Service during WWII, Lawrence wrote the official song of the Maritime Service and Merchant Marine, “Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho!” as a lieutenant in 1943. That year, “All Or Nothing At All” was a #2 hit for Frank Sinatra. In 1945, “Symphony” was a Top Ten hit for Benny Goodman, Jo Stafford, Bing Crosby and also Guy Lombardo. In 1947, Lawrence’s “Linda” was #2 hit for Buddy Clark (though #1 on Billboard’s Records-Most-Played-On-Air chart), and the number-four song of the year according to Billboard magazine’s retail sales report. I 1949, the “Johnson Rag” was a Top Ten hit for Jack Teeter Trio. In 1951, Rosemary Clooney had a #17 hit with “Tenderly” (which Nat “King” Cole had a Top Ten hit in England with in 1954). And in 1952, Lawrence co-wrote “Delicado” which climbed to #1 for Percy Faith in 1952.

Jack Lawrence went on to write the English lyrics to “La Mer” by Charles Trenet, which became “Beyond The Sea”, a #6 hit for Bobby Darin in 1960 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also wrote the English lyrics to “La Goualante de Pauvre Jean”, with the English title “The Poor People of Paris”. The song with lyrics was a number-one hit in England for Winifrid Atwell. In 1954, he wrote “Hold My Hand” which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song for the film Susan Slept Here. It was a #1 hit in 1955 for Don Cornell in the UK, and #2 in the USA.

Lawrence was a gay man and was open about his sexuality later in life. He was the longtime companion of psychologist Walter David Myden. In 1968, Lawrence and Myden made a sizable donation of 20th-century American art to the then-new American Pavilion of Art and Design at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The gift was noted in an interview with the couple in The New York Times that made clear that the two were a couple who lived together and were making the donation together, an unusual and brave admission for gay men in pre-Stonewall America. Meyden died in 1975 of a heart attack. Jack Lawrence died in 2009 at the age of 96.

“With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair” is a song about a memory of someone on a first date who “sighed when we kissed.” That vision of the romantic interest, “with the wind and the rain in your hair,” as they said “goodnight,” remains with them still.

“With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair” peaked at #1 in Hull (QC), #3 in Albany (NY), Manchester (NH), and Dearborn (MI), #4 in Arlington (VA), #5 in Pittsburgh, #6 in Allentown (PA) and Greensboro (NC), #7 in Baltimore, Orlando, and Buffalo, #8 in Memphis, Salt Lake City, and Boston, #9 in Los Angeles, #10 in Vancouver and Providence (RI), and #13 in Ottawa.

In 1960 Pat Boone kept struggling to regain his earlier successes in the 1955-58 period. “(Welcome) New Lovers” peaked at #18 on the Hot 100. While both “Walking The Floor Over You” and “Dear John/Alabam” stalled at #44, with other single releases in 1960 failing to crack the Top 50.

In 1960 the movie, Exodus, was released prior to Christmas. It was directed by Otto Preminger and written by Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted writer of the Hollywood Ten who were compelled to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. Trumbo refused to testify before the committee and was blacklisted. Trumbo then wrote scripts for Roman Holliday, Spartacus and other films under an assumed name. He was paid under the table for his scripts. Preminger’s open hire of Trumbo put an end to red-baiting in the Hollywood. In 2015 Bryan Cranston was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for his portrayal of Dalton Trumbo in that years movie, Trumbo.

Exodus was a movie, based on the book by Leon Uris, about the creation of the nation state of Israel and was a catalyst for pro-Zionist feeling in America. The instrumental score for the “Theme From Exodus” won an Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 1960 Oscars. The version by Ferrante and Teicher peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1961, kept out of the top spot by the instrumental by Bert Kaemfert, “Wonderland By Night.” The instrumental had peaked at #4 on CKWX in December 1960. Pat Boone was inspired to write lyrics for the instrumental tune with the subtitle, “This Land is Mine”. Boone’s recording was a minor hit in early 1961.

Pat Boone’s next single, “Moody River”, would be his sixth and final #1 hit. He would make the Top Ten just once more with “Speedy Gonzales” in 1962, which was also his last Top 40 charting single.

A conservative Christian raised in the holiness Church of Christ, Pat Boone has supported many Republican candidates, beginning with Ronald Reagan for Governor in California in 1966. A vocal supporter of the Vietnam War, Pat Boone has added his endorsement to many political and socially conservative causes over the decades. In 2009, Boone, stated his belief that President Barack Obama was ineligible to serve as the President of the United States, believing that Obama had been born either in Kenya or Indonesia. Boone also has alleged that Barack Obama was fluent in Arabic and as a child read the Koran. Boone has claimed that President Obama “hasn’t celebrated any Christian holidays in the White House.”

Regarding Obama’s policies in the Middle East, Boone stated “Differing from virtually every previous U.S. president, Mr. Obama seems to accept the claims of the Palestinian leadership, even the violent Hamas and Hezbollah, that the land given by God and settled by Israelites 4,000 years ago now rightfully belongs, at least in large part, to random settlers who moved into the area only in the last 200 years. And though the Balfour Declaration and the United Nations – and most civilized society the world over – have acknowledged and verified Israel’s claim to their historic homeland, this president is doing everything he can to pressure Israel’s leaders to cave in to the demands of the Muslim settlers.”

In 2006 Pat Boone published his memoir, Pat Boone’s America: 50 Years.

September 16, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Boone, Pat. Pat Boone’s America: 50 Years: A Pop Culture Journey Through the Last Fifty Years. B&H Books, 2006.
Scott Ross, Pat Boone: God’s Hall of Fame, CBN.com
Jessica Steinberg, Evangelical Crooner Pat Boone to Fete Jerusalem with Gala Concert, Times of Israel, Jerusalem, May 13, 2018
Julie Mason, Pat Boone: Obama a Kenyan!, Politico, Washington D.C., September 21, 2011.
“Clara Edwards’ Life,” evan-and-jami.com.
Susan Tux, “Redding composer Jack Lawrence dies at 96; wrote “Beyond the Sea”,” News-Times, Danbury (CT), March 17, 2009.
Kay Kyser (Feat. Ginny Simms), “With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair,” Columbia Records, 1940.
Bob Crosby (Feat. Marion Mann), “With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair,” Decca Records, 1940.

CKCH 970-AM Hull (QC) Top Ten | March 28, 1959