Tornado can kill you.
Sun will make you explode with delight. Snow can depress you to no end.
Rain not so much.
Rain is the trickiest, because rain is never straightforward. Rain is never one
emotion. There is something irresistible about the grey October drizzle, and
God knows the lovely shower at the end of May could make you cry.
Millions of artists
have sung about rain, but it takes a special kind to do it properly. Tom Waits
is your man.
“More Than Rain”, “A
Little Rain”, “Bride Of A Rain Dog”, “Rain Dogs”, “Make It Rain”, “Rainbirds”,
“Rains On Me”, and that’s discarding songs like “Stormy Weather” which don’t
mention the word ‘rain’ in the title.
And these are not
just titles. These are songs that reveal the juxtaposition in full. They make
you think of a small crowd of people gathered at a funeral. Early morning. Grey
coats and black hats. But do you see what they are doing? All these people in
grey coats and black hats? They are… look closer now… they are smiling. The
bastards are smiling.
Was there ever
another artist who made you love rain more than Tom Waits?
