Songs about Rain

 

Twenty songs, one theme. About one of the things that will be here when we no longer are

 

1. R.E.M. - So. Central Rain

 

 

My own favourite though it may not be the best song here because of the way it made me feel when I was Seventeen.

 

2. The Velvet Underground - Hey Mr. Rain

 

 

An urban take.

 

3. True West - And Then the Rain

 

 

A fine song from a mostly forgotten Paisley Underground band of the Eighties.

 

4. Ella Fitzgerald - Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

 

 

And a classic.

 

5. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain

 

 

Creedence were as good as anyone when it came to the elements.

 

6. The Beatles - Rain

 

 

English rain. Different from American rain.

 

7. Bryan Ferry- A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

 

 

More about politics than emotion. I prefer Ferry's version.

 

8. The Temptations -  I Wish it Would Rain

 

 

All about emotion.

 

9. The Go Betweens - Spring Rain

 

 

I imagine Robert Forster's enduring love of Creedence played some part in his writing of this. The song though is all Go-Betweens.

 

10. Ann Peebles -  I Can't Stand the Rain

 

 

Perhaps right at the top of the list if I had to sequence them. One of the greatest singles ever made.

 

11. Sir Douglas Quintet - The Rains Came (Rain, Rain, Rain)

 

 

The wonderful Doug Sahm and Sir Douglas Quintet.

 

12. Irma Thomas - It's Raining

 

 

Another classic. New Orleans!

 

13. Prince - Purple Rain

 

 

Not my own personal favourite of his but it needs to be here.

 

14. The Carpenters - Rainy Days and Mondays

 

 

The Carpenters always takes me back to my childhood. One of my mother's few records.

 

15. Gene Kelly - Singing in the Rain

 

 

One of the few songs here clearly about happiness.

 

16. Joni Mitchell - Rainy Night House

 

 

Proper songwriting. Evokes a time and place Tel a story.

 

17. Lonnie Johnson - Falling Rain Blues

 

 

Need some blues.

 

18. B. J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

 

 

More happiness.

 

19. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

 

 

This album was made in New York and it sounds it.

 

20. Buddy Holly - Raining in my Heart

 

 

And to Buddy Holly and the most obvious and deeply understandable expression of rain as pain and longing.