Top 5 1991 “Rain” References
Today’s post is a tip of the triple-sided hat to:
– Deke & Andy for their ongoing celebrations of individual tracks, and
– themesongsteve for his thematic posts
As the aforementioned lads often do, today I’ll celebrate individual tracks, under a common theme no less!
When I was compiling a Top 5 songs of ’91, I realized many of my favourites featured lyrics about precipitation.
When digging through my collection, I was pleased to see each of the artists below generously included the lyrics with their 1991 releases.
Here are the Top 5 “Rain” references from my favourite palindromic year:
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5. “Like a summer rain, it all gets washed away”
Tom Cochrane, Washed Away
4. “Think I hear thunder, ain’t no sign of rain”
Bryan Adams, Vanishing
3. “Took a drive in the dirty rain”
U2, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
2. “Drive-in’s rained out, Weatherman wet fingers the sky”
The Tragically Hip, Long Time Running
1. “Nothin’ lasts forever, even cold November rain”
GNR, November Rain
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As a part of my voyage to 1991, Ice T & Mudhoney are coming up this week, enjoy!
1001albumsin10years 
Awesome…thanks for the props! Wait Til this upcoming week as I have a real cool single that I’m pretty sure will be right up your alley! I may be right or I may be wrong! Hahaha…or as Billy Joel once said You May Be Right,I May Be Crazy!…
Thanks dude!
That sounds like just the kind of lunatic post I’m looking for!
By the way…..great songs you referenced with Rain!
My thanks Deke, Blue Rodeo’s Rain Down on Me was unfortunately ’92, otherwise it would have been there too!
Or back to 1985 with the Cults Rain..a stomper of a track!
The Cult’s Rain immediately sprung into my head when I read the title (even though it says 1991).
I could only think of November Rain from that year myself. Good one Geoff!
Many thanks Mike – with the Warrant & Extreme tune added to the mix, it looks like the early 90s had rain on the brain, it would be interesting to see if it was actually an unusually big period for rain tunes!
Got two from 1990 though — the rain that opens Extreme’s Pornograffitti, and Mr. Rainmaker by Warrant.
This is a FANTASTIC idea for a post, Geoff. Well done!
My first thought was Blind Melon’s No Rain, but on looking it up I discovered that was 1992.
I Googled it because my memory ain’t so great, and there was apparently also:
Peabo Bryson – Can You Stop The Rain
Nelson – After The Rain
And also a band called The Rain who formed in Manchester in 1991. You may have heard of the band they later evolved into.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rain
Oh yeah, that future band name rings a bell! That’s interesting to read, I hadn’t known much about pre-Oasis Oasis, they seemed to arrive fully formed, no infancy period!
Peabo – I’m interested to hear that one, my knowledge of his music is limited to the big Disney ballads
I don’t know why I even knew that about Oasis, I’m not the world’s biggest fan (ducks and covers). But there you go. 😉
I think Peabo is a great name. Peabo Peabo Peabo.
That’s OK – based on the excerpts I’ve heard from Noel’s interview on q this week, I don’t think his self-confidence suffered at all from you not being a fan!
The first rain song that came to mind was Madonna’s single “Rain,” but that’s from a 1992 album. Rain’s always a good element to include in song lyrics!
Good choice! Forgot about that one, one of my preferred Madonna tracks, nice & subdued. ’92 is looking like a good rain year too, maybe it was an early 90s theme!
All released in 1991…
Joe Cocker – Out Of The Rain
The Pogues – A Rainy Night In Soho
This Picture – Naked Rain
Queensryche – Another Rainy Night (Without You)
Alice Cooper – It Rained All Night
Nice – not sure if I’d recognize any of them but they still certainly lend support to 1991 being the ultimate rain year!
And WAS 1991 a particularly damp year?
PS. John’s song (paired with Paperback Writer) remains my fave. Once, many years ago, I did a whole radio show in songs with ‘rain’ in the title. Was a bit of a damp squib, actually.
Thanks so much for the mention, Sir! And a great list! I have a “rain and shine” post coming up soon.
My pleasure Steve, and my thanks!