Songs About Rain

AS I LEFT home this morning for an early engagement, the sky did not look too promising. Hues of grey patches dominated the eastern sky. The Monday morning traffic was sluggish and crawling at a snailish pace. A friend of mine who grew up listening to The Bangles called this ‘a manic Monday’.
The morning meeting did not turn out too well and I was on the road again as soon as it ended. “I like that rainy day feeling” but since the proposal did not materialize (or subject to further discussions),I was feeling a bit down. Maybe I should sing “Rainy Day and Monday”.
Soon there was a torrential downpour. Although I prefer to describe it as “it rains cats and dogs” (because I love cats and love to look at the husky dogs or the cocker spaniels) but a couple of years ago a friend introduced me the phrase “it rains like trucks and aeroplanes”.
For most of us the rain brings us blessings. In some African countries where the soils are impoverished, the rain is life. Perhaps that’s the reason they have rain witches and rain dances. Even their currency are called ‘pula’ which means “the rain” since rain is critical to the their economic importance. Being impotent (in whatever way) is quite possible should there is a prolonged period without any rain.
In some part of Europe, especially the northern part, rain is a bad news. That’s the reason they created the song Rain Rain Go Away. The Beatles sang (Rain), “If the rain comes they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead…”. But the crazy banker (in Penny Lane) seemed to be happy with the rain, “On the corner is a banker with a motorcar. The little children laugh at him behind his back. And the banker never wears a mack. In the pouring rain, very strange.”
Ah… That song is my mind again. “Tika hujan turun, sayup mendayu lagu keroncong. Merdu irama dialun. Bersenandung.”
But this one isn’t that keroncong.