Flowers in the Rain

Infobox Single
Name = Flowers in the Rain


Artist = The Move
from Album =
B-side =
Released = 1967
Format = 7"
Recorded = 1967
Genre = Psychedelic rock, Pop music
Length =
Label = Regal Zonophone
Writer = Roy Wood
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position = * #2
Last single = "I Can Hear the Grass Grow"
This single = Flowers in the Rain (1967)
Next single = "Fire Brigade" (1968)

"Flowers in the Rain" is a song by the sixties Rock band The Move. The song was released as a single and reached number two in 1967.

It achieved its own place in pop history by being the first recordcite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6960296.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Flower Power |accessdate=2007-08-25] to be played on Radio 1 when the station was launched in 1967 (though technically Johnny Dankworth's "Beefeaters" was the first track to be heard, since Tony Blackburn chose it as the theme tune for his "Daily Disc Delivery",and so it was heard before "Flowers in the Rain" [. Another school of thought cites Julie Andrews' The Sound of Music as the first track since this was played at 5:30am when the new Radio One frequency opened up with a shared programme, heard simultaneously on Radio Two, hosted by Paul Hollingdale: The Weekly News, Issue 7,946( dated September 29th, 2007)] ).

In a promotional stunt, for the record - typical of the band's manager
Tony Secunda - a postcard was released with a cartoon of a naked Harold Wilson, linking him to his secretary, Marcia Williams. Wilson sued, and the High Court ordered that all royalties from this song were donated to a charity of Wilson's choice. This legal arrangement remains in force to this day and is thought to have cost the group millions of pounds in royalties over the years.

The song has been covered by Nancy Sinatra.The Kaiser Chiefs also covered this for the Radio 1 Established 1967 [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/established1967/feature/40artists.shtml] CD.

On the 25 September 2007 BBC Radio 4 featured a programme, called "The Story of Flowers in the Rain" hosted by Tony Blackburn on the court action and its related history, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song. In the programme the band said that although they still play the song regularly, they are beginning to get fed up with it.

References

#BBC webpage ref. Radio 1 Est. 1967 CD:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/established1967/feature/40artists.shtml

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/musicfeature/pip/70nx7/ The Story of Flowers in the Rain] (BBC programme)