As it stands right now, its been raining in New England for three days straight. I’m not the biggest fan of rain (although I’ll take it over snow…wow, I sound just like someone who’s lived in the upper right corner of the map for 34 years, don’t I?), so I’ve begrudingly gone out to run errands and eat. In between doing FloJo like jumps over puddles and cursing myself for wearing my new Nikes with the little ventilation holes at the top (because there are few things more annoying than wet socks), I thought about the fact that there are a million songs out there that use “rain” as a metaphor for…something. There are also songs that just mention the rain outright. Since this is supposed to be a pop culture blog, why not turn the unfortunate and annoying weather conditions into a list. Right? RIGHT???
Anyway, when I typed “rain” into my iTunes search engine, 402 results came up. Some of my candidates for best “rain” song of all time would be “After the Rain Has Fallen” by Sting, “Blame it on the Rain” by Milli Vanilli (what? That was a good-ass song. I don’t care who sang it), “Can You Stand the Rain” by New Edition, “Fire & Rain” by James Taylor, “Here Comes the Rain Again” by Eurythmics, “I Wish it Would Rain” by The Temptations (one of the saddest songs ever made), “Purple Rain” by Prince, and, of course, “The Rain” by the immortal Oran “Juice” Jones. You without me is like a corn flake without the milk!! Preach on, brother Jones. Preach on.
One of the first “rain” songs I can think of is called “Remember the Rain”. The group that recorded it was called The 21st Century (not such a novel concept now that it’s 2010, huh?). I don’t know much about the group beyond this one song, but “Remember” definitely has a Jackson 5 vibe to it. It’s a somewhat sad song, as most “rain” songs tend to be. I played the shit out of this 45 as a young lad (I was emo even then), and it’s an excellent slice of teen soul from back in the day. If only the soul music made by full-grown adults today had as much substance!