We're paying tribute to the month of April this week at Vinyl. Here are seven songs in honor of the fourth month of the year.
Sometimes It Snows In April is from Prince's 1986 album, Parade for his movie, Under the Cherry Moon. Prince wrote the song with Wendy & Lisa and recorded it on April 21, 1985. It wasn't released as a single until April 21, 2016, the day Prince died, exactly 31 years to the day of its recording.
Written by Dave Loggins, Three Dog Night recorded Pieces of April for the 1972 album, Seven Separate Fools. It landed at No. 6 on Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary Chart. Loggins released a version in 1972, and Andy Williams covered it for his 1972 album, Alone Again (Naturally).
April Fools was written by Rufus Wainwright and first appeared as the third track on his debut album, Rufus Wainwright (1998). Released by DreamWorks Records, the music video has cameos by Wainwright's friends Gwen Stefani and Hole bassist, Melissa Auf de Maur.
Written by Paul Simon as a metaphor for a girl's changing moods, April Come She Will first appeared on his 1965 solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook. For Simon & Garfunkel's album Sounds of Silence (1966), Art Garfunkel sings lead vocals. That version was featured in The Graduate (1967).
April 29, 1992 (Miami) is from Sublime's 1996 album, Sublime. The song is about the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which spread after four police officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King. Though the riots started on April 29, the lyrics say April 26, which the band admits was a mistake.
With lyrics by Yip Harburg, Vernon Duke composed April In Paris for the 1932 Broadway musical, Walk a Little Faster. It was originally performed by Freddy Martin. The 1952 remake was inspired by the movie of the same name. Billie Holiday covered the song on her 1958 album, All or Nothing At All.
April is the last track on Deep Purple’s third studio album, Deep Purple. The song was written by guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore about his birthday month. Jon Lord wrote a whale of a middle musical section that pushed the tune to 12 minutes, the band’s longest recording ever.