Sunday, March 8, 2015

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.
 

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