Recorded 1972 Length 3:49
3:20 (7" version) | Genre Soft rock Label Mums Records | |
B-side "Anyone Here in the Audience" Released October 21, 1972 (United States) | ||
"It Never Rains in Southern California", written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, is a song first released by Hammond, a British born singer-songwriter, in 1972. Instrumental backing was provided by L.A. session musicians from the Wrecking Crew. The song is from his album, It Never Rains in Southern California. Hammond's version peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 that year.
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In the UK the song is perhaps the quintessential example of a turntable hit: A song which, although very frequently played and requested on radio, never makes it into the charts. Through the 1970s, the record was re-issued at least five times by various labels—but remained outside the UK top 40, despite yet more airplay—and is still frequently to be heard on UK radio.
The song concerns the struggles of an actor who moves out to California to pursue a career in Hollywood but does not have any success and deteriorates in the process. In the chorus, Hammond sings: "It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn ya. It pours, man, it pours."
In 1989, Hammond re-recorded the song for his Best of Me greatest hits compilation.