By Jan Boston Sellers
Chronicle contributor
CROSSVILLE —
It is still raining here on the Plateau (at my deadline time) while most Cumberland County students and probably some of their teachers are wishing for the white stuff. It has rained, as they say, “cats and dogs,” forcing me to dodge a couple of Persians and at least one Doberman on my drive into work one morning.
All the wet weather started me thinking about songs that have the word “rain” in their titles. This makes me wonder why this particular weather has resonated so much with the artists. Is it because days of rain trigger some sadness? Or, is it due to rain being a more common weather pattern than say snow is? Regardless of the reason, artists from every genre have written about rain for years. Here are just a few of the songs with the word rain in the title that I can recall. Perhaps you can think of others!
1. "Rainy Days and Mondays" by The Carpenters
2. "Kentucky Rain" by Elvis Presley
3. "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" by B.J. Thomas
4. "Rain" by The Beatles
5. "I Can’t Stand the Rain" by The Commitments
6. "The Rain" by Oran Juice
7. "It’s Raining Again" by Supertramp
8. "No Rain" by Blind Melon
9. "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
10. "Purple Rain" by Prince
11. "Rainy Dayz" by Mary J. Blige and Ja Rule
12. "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor
13. "Singing in the Rain" by Gene Kelly
14. "Blame It on the Rain" by Milli Vanilli (well, at least they mouthed the words)
15. "A Day Without Rain" by Enya
16. "Rainy Day People" by Gordon Lightfoot
17. "Rain" by Madonna
18. "Smoky Mountain Rain" by Ronnie Milsap
19. "Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain" by Ricky Nelson
20. "Who'll Stop the Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
21. "A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan
22. "Red Rain" by The White Stripes
23. "November Rain" by Guns and Roses
24. "So. Central Rain" by R.E.M
25. "Here Comes the Rain Again" by Eurythmics
26. "It’s Raining Men" by Weather Girls
27. "Sure Got Cold after the Rain Fell" by ZZ Top
28. "Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage
29. "I Wish It Would Rain" by The Temptations
30. "Through the Rain" by Mariah Carey
31. "Tears and Rain" by James Blunt
32. "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" by Missy Elliott
33. "Rain" by Patty Griffin
34. "Face in the Rain" by Be Bop Deluxe
35. "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" by Coldplay
Conversely, I can only think of two songs that have the word “snow” in the title: "Snowbound" by Genesis and "Snow Queen" by Carol King. Good news, however, if the rainy days are starting to get to your psyche, this weekend’s forecast is calling for lots of sunshine but cold temperatures.
