A Hazy Shade of Winter

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"A Hazy Shade of Winter"
A Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon & Garfunkel US vinyl.png
Side-A label of the US vinyl single
Single by Simon & Garfunkel
from the album Bookends
B-side "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her"
ReleasedOctober 22, 1966
RecordedSeptember 7, 1966
Studio Columbia 52nd Street (New York City)
Genre Folk rock
Length2:17
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Paul Simon
Producer(s) Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Johnston
Simon & Garfunkel singles chronology
"The Dangling Conversation"
(1966)
"A Hazy Shade of Winter"
(1966)
"At the Zoo"
(1967)
Audio
"A Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon & Garfunkel on YouTube

"A Hazy Shade of Winter" is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on October 22, 1966, initially as a stand-alone single, but subsequently included on the duo's album Bookends (1968). It peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. [1]

Contents

In 1987, the Bangles recorded a cover version for the soundtrack of the film Less Than Zero, which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2019, Gerard Way and Ray Toro recorded a cover version for the series The Umbrella Academy .

Background

Billboard advertisement, 29 October 1966 A Hazy Shade of Winter - For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her - Billboard ad 1966.jpg
Billboard advertisement, 29 October 1966

The duo recorded "A Hazy Shade of Winter" during the sessions for Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), but the song was not included on an album until 1968's Bookends . [2]

Composition

"A Hazy Shade of Winter" follows a rock-tinged sound, with a fairly straightforward verse-refrain structure. [3] The song dates back to Simon's days in England in 1965; it follows a hopeless poet, with "manuscripts of unpublished rhyme", unsure of his achievements in life. [3]

The lyrics recall the transition from fall to winter, as suggested by the repetition of the final chorus of the song:

I look around,
leaves are brown
And the sky
is a hazy shade of winter

Look around,
leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground.
[4]

Author and disc jockey Pete Fornatale considered the lyrics evocative of, and standing in contrast with, those of John Phillips' "California Dreamin'". [5] [6]

Reception

Billboard described the song as a "winning number" and a "change of tempo for the duo [which] could make this their biggest to date." [7] Cash Box wrote that it is a "strong session bound for biggiesburg." [8] Record World wrote that it "put[s] poetry in rock motion." [9] Decades later, Allmusic critic Richie Unterberger described the song as "one of [Simon and Garfunkel's] best songs, and certainly one of the toughest and more rock-oriented." [5]

Chart history

Weekly charts

Chart (1966–67)Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles [10] 11
New Zealand ( Listener ) [11] 14
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] 13
US Cash Box Top 100 [13] 17
Chart (1991)Peak
position
UK Singles Chart [14] 30

The Bangles version

  1. Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles at AllMusic . Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  2. Fornatale 2007, p. 57.
  3. 1 2 Bennighof 2007, p. 40.
  4. Paul Simon. "A Hazy Shade of Winter". paulsimon.com. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Unterberger, Richie. A Hazy Shade of Winter at AllMusic . Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  6. Fornatale 2007, p. 102.
  7. "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. October 29, 1966. p. 16. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  8. "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. October 29, 1966. p. 40. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  9. "Single Picks of the Week" (PDF). Record World. October 29, 1966. p. 1. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  10. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. December 11, 1966. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  11. "Flavour of New Zealand, 10 March 1967". Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
  12. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN   0-89820-089-X
  13. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, December 17, 1967". Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  14. "Simon And Garfunkel". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
  15. Breihan, Tom (July 2, 2021). "The Number Ones: The Bangles' "Eternal Flame". Stereogum . Retrieved November 24, 2023. The Bangles had been covering ["A Hazy Shade of Winter"] live for years, and they made sure their recorded version rocked as hard as possible.
  16. Molanphy, Chris (November 20, 2021). "Be the One to Walk in the Sun Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate . Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  17. Alfonso, Barry (June 1983). "Put Up or Shut Up Category: No Bobbles by These Bangles". Record. 2 (8): 12.
  18. Ivie, Devon (2021). "The Most Endearing and Psychedelic of the Bangles, According to Susanna Hoffs". Vulture .
  19. "The Bangles: VH1 Behind The Music - Part 3". YouTube. April 7, 2010. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
  20. "Gen V soundtrack: Every song featured in The Boys spin-off". Radio Times. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  21. "UK Official Charts: Bangles". Official Charts Company. 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  22. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 26. ISBN   0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA from 1983 to 19 June 1988.
  23. "1988 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 100, no. 52. December 24, 1988. p. Y-20.
  24. "Billboard Top 100 – 1988" . Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  25. "Gerard Way Talks 'The Umbrella Academy' Netflix Series & Why the World Is Ready for Superheroes with Demons". Billboard. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  26. "Gerard Way on Instagram: "This is surreal and exciting and just wild. Getting to cover Hazy Shade of Winter for this with Ray Toro and Jarrod Alexander was so much…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  27. "Hazy Shade of Winter (feat. Ray Toro) / Gerard Way". Tidal. January 24, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  28. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 2, 2019.

Sources

"Hazy Shade of Winter"
Bangles hazy shade of winter.jpg
Single by The Bangles
from the album Less than Zero
ReleasedNovember 1987
Genre Hard rock [15] [16]
Length2:46 (radio edit)
4:59 (12" version)
Label Def Jam Recordings
Songwriter(s) Paul Simon
Producer(s) Rick Rubin
The Bangles singles chronology
"Following"
(1987)
"Hazy Shade of Winter"
(1987)
"In Your Room"
(1988)
Music video
"Hazy Shade of Winter" on YouTube