All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey….

This is always regarded as a summer song but with that opening line, it’s very obviously about winter. Looking out at brown leaves and a grey sky, this is the ideal day to play it. Michelle Phillips, the co-writer, was expressing her desire to be back in the warmth of her native California while enduring the cold and grey of the East Coast. I can never do that. I live about 15 minutes from where I was born and a song called Cricklewood Dreamin’ wouldn’t have quite the same appeal. I may one day yearn for the sunshine and warmth of Cricklewood. But I’d need to move to Siberia.