Songs about the Rain

This morning I was casting about for something silly to blog about, when Harman suggested that I do one on rain songs. I know, we're all burning right now, but it pays to be ready right? So here goes my highly subjective list. Not all these songs love the rain, but no matter.

The Beatles- Rain
It had to be the first on my list. The song's about acid, of course, but it's got one of the deadliest deadpan putdown of people averse of getting wet in the rain (or baked in the sun, for that matter). 

Bob Dylan- High Water (For Charlie Patton)
I remember listening to this song after watching footage of Katrina- and the annual cyclones that wreck the Gangetic Delta, and being chilled to the bone by Dylan's gravelly voice gravely declaiming "There's nothing standing here, high water everywhere."

Memphis Minnie- When the Levee Breaks
Most people have just heard the Led Zep version, but this is the Real McCoy, genuinely scary, partly because of the inevitability of the plain yet terrifying opening line, "If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break." And we all know what that means of course.

Jimi Hendrix- Wind Cries Mary
Okay, he might have more specific rain songs, but this one for me captures the atmosphere of imminent rainfall just right, from the buoyant guitar to the changing breeze which quickens and slackens.

Doc Watson- Deep River Blues
I love the metaphor of the rain disguising the tears of a broken heart; its an intensely compelling image. The Doc's voice lives the heartbreak.

Muddy Waters- Blow Wind Blow
Its a force of nature, is Muddy's voice. Its all thunderous desire.

The Prisonaires- Just Walking In the Rain
Another lonely heart in the rain, but what a pretty song.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe- Didn't It Rain?
This song always reminds me of the days I spent in my balcony in Calcutta as a kid loving the continuous rain and hating it too, as I couldn't go out.

Moby Grape- Sitting by the Window
Another song that builds an intimate atmosphere and then builds on it some more, and finally tops it with a beautiful, blink and you miss it solo.

CCR- Have you ever seen the Rain?
Predictable, yes, but its also the song that I love shouting out when I'm getting drenched.

p.s. If you're done being happy, please vent your righteous indignation at this great post here.

The Beatles, their fans, and music lists

http://magazine.jamsbio.com/2009/01/05/playing-the-beatles-backwards-the-ultimate-countdown/20/

I seriously can't think of any musical entity which has had as much words written on it as The Beatles. Its so obvious that I don't even know why I'm writing this. Maybe 'cause I'm such a nut for their music. Then again, unless you're trying to sell a book or do something suitably self-promoting on the back of your obsession, being crazy about the music is an honest enough reason to write. The link above will take you to a stupendous land of music nerd-dome. Some guy called JBev has gone and ranked some 185 published Beatles songs in terms of his preference. It is the countdown to end all countdowns.

Essentially every music fan has a love-hate relationship with music lists. The most irritating of which are probably Rolling Stone's. Ever since that magazine stopped being relevant sometime around the emergence of Punk in the late Seventies, much of its USP has shifted to making lists, lists, and more lists. And they NEVER take any risks with those lists. The top five is almost always the same- The Beatles, The Stones, Dylan, Springsteen; sometimes The Ramones, Radiohead or The Sex Pistols to show they're cool and more often Coldplay and U2 just so that the magazine doesn't scare away musical conservatives. Other magazines like Mojo, Q or Uncut don't do much better.

Websites like Pitchfork do lists too, and though they are commited to their demographic- Indie- as rabidly as Rolling Stone is to Baby Boomer icons, at least their lists are more fun. Check out their insanely addictive 200 Greatest Songs of the Sixties.

All this makes JBev's Beatles countdown all the more fun- because its a fan doing what a fan does well- being fanatic. Of course, the point of the list isn't about agreeing with the rankings (any of those 185 songs could be your favourite one on any given day) but joining another music fan in celebrating that elusive joy of really loving somebody's music. And JBev is an affectionate chronicler who's life has been informed by the Fabs. So in between lengthy discourses about the merit of each song, he inserts heartfelt details about how his father gifted him his first Beatles album when he was nine- this was Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Like a true fan he listened to the eight-track tape until he nearly wore it out, blissing out with his earphones while A Day in the Life floated around in his head. His father passed away the year after. Though the two incidents are not necessarily related, it did have a huge impact on him.

Again, he talks of his girlfriend who doesn't like The Beatles and never did. J Bev talks of the lengths he went to to get her to like the Fabs, and how he made his peace with the fact that she never will. At least they dance to In My Life. That is what a fan's life is, and of all the lists I've ever read, this one actually means something.