It is said that "Windy" was initially supposed to be about a man. Songwriter Ruthann Friedman has said as much so there's no reason to doubt her. The Association then had its pronouns changed so it became about a woman whose name may or may not have actually been 'Wendy', even if they didn't go so far as to change its title. But I am here to put forth an alternate explanation: "Windy" is in fact about the wind. (Yeah, sorry Ruth but I'll do the explaining of a song that you composed a decade before my birth)
The role of wind in pop is often meant to be profound. While numbers such as Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", Ian and Sylvia's "Four Strong Winds" and The Byrds' "Hickory Wind" are poignant, others like Elton John's "Candle in the Wind", Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings", and Scorpions' "Winds of Change" overplay their hands by placing way too much importance on air circulation. Good or bad, we are meant to believe that the wind is an element of change and/or wistfulness and/or sorrow and/or deep thoughts jotted down in an adolescent's diary. But does it always have to be this way?
The Association's "Windy" does take stabs of its own at profundity but it does so with a lightness that makes its word salad lyrics easier to swallow. Whatsmore, its breeziness is suitable and makes for a refreshing change from all those deep thinking balladeers I mention above. And then there's the fact that this is The Association we're dealing with: having come off the massive success of "Cherish", no one would have blamed such an apparently play-it-safe act from just repeating their breakthrough. "Windy" isn't some radical shift but it does indicate that the LA sextet was willing to have some degree of diversity in their sound.
The only thing that knocks it down from being a truly great pop song is that I don't have the musical sweet tooth to take it for very long. "Windy" didn't impress me all that much but it didn't take long for it to grow on me. Unfortunately, it then ended up shrinking in my esteem over the last few days. It's certainly a fun recording with a melody that refuses to exit the brain but there's ultimately no need for it. Truthfully, there's not much need for many songs about wind and at least this one seems to know it.
Score: 6
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Can Con
I've been neglecting this feature of late but I couldn't not include a band from my hometown. That's right! Anticipating the rise of The Stampeders, Calgary's 49th Parallel seemed fond of fuzz guitars and appropriately laboured vocals on their minor hit "Laborer". While I'm trying not to use my usual 'they would've been a treat to have seen live' line that I fall back on in these short write ups, I am admittedly struck by their solid band dynamic that would've seen them through some big nights at the old Highlander Hotel bar or whatever other dive venues they were reduced to toiling in at the time. As I also tend to remark in these Can Cons, one I ought to look out for (which generally means that I'll forget all about them). I must ask my parents if they ever came across these guys — assuming I remember to do so.
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