rain songs

11 Things: Rain songs

Thursday, December 6, 2007

1. "Singin' in the Rain" Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown (1929)

"Come on with the rain/ I've a smile on my face"

Random thoughts: About "A Clockwork Orange."
What I meant to say: "Hi, hi, hi there, my little droogies."

2. "Rain" The Beatles (1966)

"If the rain comes, they run and hide their heads/ they might as well be dead"

Random thoughts: The Beatles begin toying around with reverse lyrics.
What I meant to say: yas ot tnaem I tahW

3. "Rainy Day Women, Nos. 12 and 35" Bob Dylan (1966)

"Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good"

Random thoughts: 12 times 35.
What I meant to say: 420.

4. "Cold Rain and Snow" Grateful Dead (1966)

"Well, I married me a wife, she's been trouble all my life"

Random thoughts: I would exclude this if I lived anywhere else.
What I meant to say: I should replace this with Clapton's "Let It Rain."

5. "Who'll Stop the Rain?" Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)

"And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain?"

Random thoughts: Apparently no one.
What I meant to say: Where are the protest songs of today?

6. "Rainy Days and Mondays" Williams/Nichols (1971)

"Talkin' to myself and feelin' old ..."

Random thoughts: The Carpenters?
What I meant to say: Nooooooooooooo!!!

7. "The Rain Song" Led Zeppelin (1973)

"This is the wonder of devotion ..."

Random thoughts: "Houses of the Holy" remains obligatory.
What I meant to say: "The Song Remains the Same."

8. "Purple Rain" Prince & the Revolution (1984)

"I never wanted to be your weekend lover/ I only wanted to be some kind of friend"

Random thoughts: People who don't necessarily love Prince still love this song.
What I meant to say: I still love this song.

9. "Rain" Tones on Tail (1984)

"She said, time to crush this feeling/ Writing very long letters as soon as it rains"

Random thoughts: Tones on Tail once played the I-Beam?
What I meant to say: I wish I were younger. No, wait ... I wish I were older.

10. "No Rain" Blind Melon (1993)

"And all I can do is just pour some tea for two/ And speak my point of view/ But it's not sane/ It's not sane"

Random thoughts: Listening to Shannon Hoon's whiny high-pitched voice isn't sane.
What I meant to say: Ouch.

11. "Chocolate Rain" Tay Zonday (2007) (courtesy of YouTube)

"Chocolate rain/ Seldom mentioned on the radio/ Chocolate rain/ It's the fear your leaders call control"

Random thoughts: The Darth Vader version is better than the original.
What I meant to say: The McGruff the Crime Dog version is better than both.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/05/NSH1TCBUL.DTL

This article appeared on page G - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle