A playlist for your rainy days

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Here’s a drop of odd information for your day: I collect earworms.

Don’t be grossed out. Earworm is a term for songs or snippets of songs that get stuck in your head. I noticed that many mornings when I wake up I’ve got a song stuck in my head, so I started keeping track of them.

One morning recently – a wet one, courtesy the neverending spring shower that is 2019 – my earworm of the day was a deluge of rain songs. From my damaged inner ear to yours, here they are.

I’ve put a YouTube link with each song, and here’s a link to a Spotify playlist, The Rains 2019 https://spoti.fi/2Y0TMTr.

“I Can’t Stand the Rain” – the rainy day earworm that woke me up and started this. It’s by Little Feat’s Lowell George from his only solo album, “Thanks, I’ll Eat it Here.” A gorgeously sorrowful song of lost love that has a great slide guitar solo. Favorite lines: “I know you’ve got/Some sweet memories/But like the window/You ain’t got nothing to say.” https://bit.ly/2RnOyi6

“Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” – classic rain song by Creedence Clearwater Revival from a long time ago. We should update it to “Have you ever seen it stop raining?” Favorite lines: “Have you ever seen the rain/Comin’ down on a sunny day?” https://bit.ly/1ksaIMp

“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” – Gotta have a little Bob Dylan for the rain that’s blowin’ in the wind, right? I’m not a big Dylan fan, but this played over the end credits of a Ken Burns’ “Vietnam” episode the other night and stuck in my head. Favorite lines? It’s Dylan – so many lines! How about: “And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it/And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it.” https://bit.ly/2CGmsqx

“Rainy Days and Mondays” – ah, the Carpenters. Sigh. Lovely song written by Paul Williams, who also gave us a post-storm “The Rainbow Connection” with Kermit the Frog. https://bit.ly/PG69AH

“Purple Rain” – a whole different kind of rain by Prince, wrapped up in a show-stopping anthem. See the movie. Favorite lyric: “Purple rain, purple rain/Purple rain, purple rain/Purple rain, purple rain.” Even I can memorize lyrics like this. https://bit.ly/2DmouMn

“Fire and Rain” – maybe my all-time favorite rain song by James Taylor. Favorite lines, the chorus: “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain/I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end/I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend/But I always thought that I’d see you again.” Rain and tears. https://bit.ly/1v9I1mW

“Here Comes the Flood/Red Rain” – a double dose of drenched downers by Peter Gabriel. Downers, but beautiful downers. Gabriel had the good sense to package them together on “Shaking the Tree,” a greatest hits album. Tracks nine and 10. Favorite lines: “Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky/And as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain/Was warm and soaked the crowd.” Dark. Flood: https://bit.ly/2Xp4s12 Red Rain: https://bit.ly/1yy2Nji

There are plenty more rain songs out there, from the romantic to the dark, so feel free to add your own favorite rain songs to the playlist (assuming I clicked the right button in Spotify). And think dry thoughts for our farmers and our fellow Americans along the Mississippi.

Gary Presley is the pagination director for AIMMedia Midwest. You can reach him at [email protected].

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By Gary Presley

Contributing Columnist

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