Jim, I enjoyed your conglomeration of weather lyrics in the first paragraph of the prompt. Nancy, what a good suggest for this week’s musical excursion that is Song Lyric Sunday. It didn’t take me long to figure out whose music I wanted to share this week and hoped he would have a song with one of the elements that are being called for.

A musical artist that always manages to infuse emotion in me is Harry Nilsson. Whether it is zoning out in the bliss of the mantra-like Coconut, or tap dancing along the street with Gotta Get Up, or crying my guts out to Without You, or jumping up and dancing, singing along with Jump Into the Fire, or quietly curling up in cozy blankets and letting Harry sing me an exquisite lullaby to sleep. 

The Moonbeam Song uses a moonbeam to navigate weather and other things on its journey across the night. Then its little buddy, the windbeam joins in the adventure, blissfully making the night their own and pulling us off to dreamland in the process.

“The Moonbeam Song” is from 1971 album, Nilsson Schmilsson, as are all of the other songs I mentioned above.  What can I say, it is an iconic album.  It is his seventh studio album, released by RCA Records on 11/11/71. It is his most commercially successful work, producing three of his best-known songs. Among these was the number 1 hit “Without You”, written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the group, Badfinger. The album was the first of two Nilsson albums recorded in London and produced by Richard Perry. “Jump into the Fire” and “Coconut”, both written by Nilsson, also became hits. The album performed well at the 1973 Grammy Awards, earning a nomination for Album of the Year, while “Without You” won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In 2006, it was ranked number 84 on Pitchfork’s “Top 100 Albums of the 1970s”. The album was ranked #281 in the 2020 revision of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.  It is not on Ranker’s List of The 55 Best Moon Songs, but it should be!

I found this excellent mini-blurb about the song at Allmusic.com:

The Moonbeam Song Review by Matthew Greenwald

With its lazy, vaguely country rhythm, “Moonbeam” was one of the many highlights on Nilsson Schmilsson, his breakout 1971 album. The song has a wonderful stream-of-consciousness feeling as a simple observation of nature. In this way, it’s somewhat similar to “Think About Your Troubles” from The Point. Country renegade Steve Forbert cut a charming version of this on Everybody Sings Nilsson.

Movies where this song has been used are Breakfast on Pluto (2005) and High Fidelity (2000.) 

Personnel:
Harry Nilsson – vocals, Mellotron
John Uribe – acoustic guitar
Klaus Voormann – acoustic guitar
Herbie Flowers – bass
Jim Gordon – drums

The Moonbeam Song

Have you ever watched a moonbeam
As it slid across your windowpane
Or struggled with a bit of rain

Or danced about the weather vane
Or sat along a moving train
And wonder where the train has been?

Or on a fence with bits of crap
Around its bottom
Blown there by a windbeam
Who searches for the moonbeam

Who was last seen
Looking at the tracks
Of the careless windbeam

Moving to the tracks
Of the tireless freight train
And lighting up the sides
Of the weather vane
And the bits of rain
And the windowpane
And the eyes of those
Who think they saw what happened

Have you ever watched a moonbeam
As it slid across your windowpane
Or struggled with a bit of rain
Or danced about the weather vane
Or sat along a moving train
And wonder where the train has been?

Choral intermission

Looking at the track
Of the careless windbeam
And moving to the tracks
Of the tireless freight train
And lighting up the sides
Of the weather vane
And the bits of rain
And the windowpane
And the eyes of those
Who think they saw what happened

Written by: Harry Nilsson
Album: Nilsson Schmilsson
Released: 1971

Jim Adams is the host of Song Lyric Sunday. This week the theme is to find a song related to weather conditions of sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, or stormy suggested by Nancy of the Elephant’s Trunk aka The Sicilian Storyteller.