Understanding What Will The Weather Be
The song What Will The Weather Be came out in 1940 as part of the musical "Something for the Boys." Cole Porter wrote it. Peggy Ryan performed it in the film. It became one of those standards that pops up in cover versions constantly, mostly because the melody is straightforward and the lyrics are easy to work around. I've been tracking release dates, songwriter credits, and licensing info on older pop standards for years. This one comes up more often than you'd think, usually when someone is trying to clear a film or TV project and needs to know exactly who owns what.
How to Find the Right Version of What Will The Weather Be
The hardest part isn't finding the song. It's finding the right recording for your specific need. If you're doing a YouTube video, a podcast intro, or an indie film, you need to know which version you're actually looking at. The original 1940 recording by Peggy Ryan is owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The composition itself is under copyright in most territories until at least 2035, depending on how you count. Here's what I actually do when I need a clean version. I cross-reference three databases: ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Sometimes the song is split between two performing rights organizations, which means you need clearance from both. I ran into this exact problem last year on a short documentary. The track list had one version, but the PRO database showed another. Turns out there were two different arrangements registered separately, and only one of them had been properly licensed. The workaround was pulling the original sheet music from the Library of Congress and matching the copyright registration number to the audio file. That took about forty minutes and saved me from licensing the wrong thing. If you just want to listen or learn the song, there are plenty of free resources. YouTube has dozens of cover versions, piano tutorials, and lyric breakdowns. Singers often use this song in auditions because it sits in a comfortable mezzo-soprano range and the phrasing gives you room to breathe.
Practical Details You Need to Know
The tempo is moderate swing, roughly 120 beats per minute. The key is typically D flat major in most published scores, though some jazz arrangements shift it down to C major for male vocalists. The chord progression is standard Porter — cyclical, chromatic, and pretty forgiving if you're reading charts rather than playing by ear. I always tell people who are learning this song to start with the original Peggy Ryan recording. Not because it's the best version, but because it's the reference point. Everything else branches off that arrangement. The melody hits are straightforward, but the bridge section — "Will it be snowing?" — has a deceptive rhythmic shift that trips up a lot of beginners. They rush through it. Play it straight the first time and the rest of the song falls into place naturally.
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Common Mistakes People Make
The biggest issue I see is people confusing the recording rights with the publishing rights. They'll find a great cover on Spotify and assume they can use it. You can't. The recording is owned by whoever recorded it, and the composition is owned separately by the publisher. Two licenses, not one. I've lost count of the number of times I've watched a creator get a strike because they thought a cover version meant the rights were free. Another thing — and this is specific to older songs like this one — is that instrumental covers sometimes bypass lyric clearance, but only if you strip the lyrics entirely. The moment you sing even a line of Porter's words, you're back to needing full synchronization licensing. It's a gray area that most people don't understand until they get an email from a rights holder. If you're looking for a direct download of the original recording, you'll find it on Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify. For sheet music, the Library of Congress has digitized copies available for free. There are also modern arrangements available through Musicnotes and Sheet Music Plus if you want something more contemporary.
The song has been covered by artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and more recently, lesser-known jazz vocalists who post their versions on SoundCloud. Each of these recordings has its own separate licensing situation, so if you're planning to use any of them commercially, check the metadata on the release before you do anything else. One more practical tip: if you're doing a transcription or a analysis for a music class, the official lead sheets are available through standard music education publishers. Just make sure you cite the correct arrangement, because different publishers sometimes notate the bridge differently. I once spent twenty minutes trying to figure out why a student's version sounded off, and it turned out their sheet music had changed the key signature mid-phrase. Common error.
