Lee Wiley (October 9, 1908 – December 11, 1975) was an American jazz singer… Read Full Bio ↴Lee Wiley (October 9, 1908 – December 11, 1975) was an American jazz singer, popular in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. While still in her early teens, she left home to pursue a singing career with the Leo Reisman band. Her career was temporarily interrupted by a fall while horseback riding. Wiley suffered temporary blindness, but recovered, and at the age of 19 was back with Reisman again, with whom she recorded three songs: "Take It From Me," "Time On My Hands," and her own composition, "Got The South In My Soul." She sang with Paul Whiteman and later, the Casa Loma Orchestra. A collaboration with composer Victor Young resulted in several songs for which Wiley wrote the lyrics, including "Got The South in My Soul" and "Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere," the latter an R&B hit in the 1950s.

In 1939, Wiley recorded eight Gershwin songs on 78s with a small group for Liberty Music Shops. The set sold well and was followed by 78s dedicated to the music of Cole Porter (1940) and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart (1940 and 1954), Harold Arlen (1943), and 10" LPs dedicated to the music of Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin (1951). The players on these recordings included Bunny Berigan, Bud Freeman, Max Kaminsky, Fats Waller, Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett, Eddie Condon, Stan Freeman, Cy Walter, and the bandleader Jess Stacy, to whom Wiley was married for a number of years. These influential albums launched the concept of a "songbook" (often featuring lesser-known songs), which was later widely imitated by other singers.

Wiley's career made a resurgence in 1950 with the much admired ten-inch album Night in Manhattan. In 1954, she opened the very first Newport Jazz Festival accompanied by Bobby Hackett. Later in the decade she recorded two of her finest albums, West of the Moon (1956) and A Touch of the Blues (1957). In the 1960s, Wiley retired, although she acted in a 1963 television film, Something About Lee Wiley, which told her life story. The film stimulated interest in the singer. Her last public appearance was a concert in Carnegie Hall in 1972 as part of the New York Jazz Festival, where she was enthusiastically received.

Stormy Weather
Lee Wiley Lyrics

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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 old 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

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

Overall Meaning

Lee Wiley's "Stormy Weather" is a poignant song that speaks to the heart of anyone who has experienced heartbreak and loss. The song is a classic example of the blues genre, which uses melancholic lyrics and a somber melody to express feelings of despair and sadness.

The lyrics begin with the singer lamenting the absence of the sun in the sky, a metaphor for the absence of joy and happiness in their life since their lover left them. The repetition of the phrase "stormy weather" throughout the song emphasizes the singer's feelings of hopelessness and despair.

The lyrics also touch on the physical toll of heartache, with the singer feeling weary and unable to gather themselves emotionally. The second verse mentions the "blues" walking in and meeting the singer when their lover left, a reference to the name of the musical genre that originated from the feelings of sadness expressed by African American musicians in the early 20th century.

The chorus is a plea to the heavens for relief from the rain and the misery that the singer is experiencing. The final verse explores the singer's struggle to move on from the loss they have experienced and the pain that they feel when they contemplate the possibility of a future without their lover.

Overall, the lyrics of "Stormy Weather" paint a vivid picture of the emotional toll of heartbreak and loss, capturing the sadness, despair, and struggle to move on that many people experience during such difficult times.

Line by Line Meaning

Don't know why
I don't understand why

There's no sun up in the sky
It's cloudy and dark

Stormy weather
The weather is bad

Since my man and I ain't together
Because my man left me

Keeps raining all the time
It's been raining constantly

Life is bare
My life is empty

Gloom and misery everywhere
There's nothing good in my life

Just can't get my poor old self together
I can't seem to pull myself out of this rut

I'm weary all the time, the time
I'm tired and drained all the time

So weary all of the time
I'm exhausted all the time

When he went away
When my man left me