Originally posted on facebook, December 2010
Hope you have enjoyed the rainy list so far…in the last post I gave you a little teaser about what was to come – I wonder if you were able to deduce any of the tracks on the top ten….
10 - Who’ll Stop the Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival.
This is from the great album “Cosmo’s Factory”, and despite being rock, it has a folk/acoustic feel to it, and a bit of a melancholy undercurrent.
9 - Kentucky Rain – Elvis Presley.
You can’t leave the King off this list, and Kentucky Rain is a good example of 70’s era Elvis.
8 - Rain – The Beatles.
An unheralded track from their experimental phase, Rain actually holds up pretty well as a solid track.
7 - Buckets of Rain – Bob Dylan.
A simple, but beautiful song from Bob’s great album “Blood on the Tracks”, I found this quote about the song by Oliver Trager, and I can’t do a better job of summing it up, so here it is: “Closing an otherwise desperate album with a light reappraisal of commitment, "Buckets of Rain" is a final Sinatra-like tip of the hat sung with the playfulness of an old Piedmont songster. Though Dylan seems to liken the relationship he describes here with the ferocity of a deluge, he plaintively sings to his love, describing in light, sensual brushstrokes why he still finds her special”
6 - Have you ever seen the rain? – Creedence Clearwater Revival.
The swamp rockers are back with another rain song. At my work’s Christmas party a few weeks ago, a covers band were playing this song, which prompted a bit of a crowd sing a long, and the song just evoked a really nice feel to it. Again, doing some research on the net about the song has prompted a host of explanations as to what the songs lyrics actually mean – was it about tension within the band, was it a Vietnam War protest song (with mean being a metaphor for bombs)?, or was it about the idealism of the 1960’s fading? It doesn’t really matter, it’s a great song whatever it means.
5 - I Love a Rainy Night – Eddie Rabbitt.
This is another of those songs which some might term a bit daggy, but I really like (and often feature on my lists). It was a country crossover hit for Rabbitt, and is a very catchy song. In an interesting piece of trivia, Rabbitt wrote the Elvis song “Kentucky Rain”.
4 - Why Does it Always Rain on me? – Travis.
This song was extremely overplayed at the time it was a hit, and I think a lot of people got sick of it, but revisiting it, I still think it holds up as a great song. When things are not going right for us in our lives, I think everyone can relate to the premise of this song.
3- A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan.
A great song from Dylan’s protest song repertoire, the lyrics take the form of questions and answers. As a general rule, I don’t like long songs, and this one clocks in at nearly seven minutes long, but when long songs are done well, they sound great.
2- Fire and Rain – James Taylor.
A lovely folk/rock ballad from Mr Taylor, this is a moody and introspective, and very sparce. I think it’s a beautiful track.
1- Rain – Dragon.
Possibly a controversial choice to pick a pop/rock track that is relatively simple in structure and lyrics compared to some of the others mentioned, but I happen to really like this song. Its just a great pop song, and the sort of song that I always want to sing along to, despite not being able to hit any of the notes!
So there it is, my rain songs list. I hope you have enjoyed it. Feel free to post your thoughts and let me know what songs I have left off that should be on the list.
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