A short time ago, my friend Bert Daniel wrote a column using “teardrops” as a theme. It gave me an idea for my September offering; “Raindrops.” We’ll leave it up to John Karsemeyer to do something clever with “cough drops,” so that leaves “gum drops,” “eavesdrop,” and “backdrop” up for grabs.
To paraphrase a quote I recently read, “If we never had a change in the weather, many folks would not know how to start a conversation.” Well, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a change so here we are, still talking about the parched landscape here in the west and the promise of El Niño to bring an abundance of precipitation.
It wasn’t difficult for me to find a connection between Bluegrass Music and my weather theme. A quick search gave me about forty songs with rain or storms of some kind used as a theme or metaphor.
I don’t know who said it first but the phrase, “Bad weather always looks worse through a window,” is a truthful statement. Can you identify what songs these lines come from? “The rain is cold and slowly falling, upon my window pane tonight.” “Just listen to the rain beat on my window pane.” “I was standing by my window on a cold and cloudy day.” “The snow falls ‘round my window, but it can’t chill my heart.” All of these songs conjure up an image of a lonely person staring out of a rain or snow streaked window. Indeed, a lonely person with a broken heart can stare out of a window into a sunny, cloudless sky and still feel the same but it doesn’t make for good song writing.
Death is a common Bluegrass theme and nothing makes death more somber than a dark and stormy day. “Outside the rain was falling on the lonely boxcar door, but the little form of Hobo Bill lay still upon the floor.” The song, “Galveston Flood,” is based on a historical flood that took many lives; “Wasn’t that a mighty storm, wasn’t that a mighty storm in the morning, wasn’t that a mighty storm, it blew all the people away.” Of course, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” fits into this category also.
Where would the Bluegrass world be without loneliness and loss? When a person is going through this, it’s hard for them to see the sun. Their circumstance or lot in life clouds their whole world. It seems natural for the songwriter to use storms, rain, wind and cold as a setting to emphasize the dark mood. Some titles that come to mind are, “Long Journey Home,” “In the Pines,” “Cold Hard Rain,” “Stormy Horizons,” just to name a few. Many songs have been written with this theme but no one could write a lonesome song like Hank Williams. “My Sweet Love Ain’t Around,” is a song that has been recorded by several artists.
Listen to the rain a-fallin’
Can’t you hear that lonesome sound?
Oh my poor old heart is breakin’
’Cause my sweet love ain’t around.
Lord I think I’ll start to ramble
Got to leave this weary town
This old place is way too lonely
‘Cause my sweet love ain’t around.
On that train tonight I’m leavin’
And don’t ask me where I’m bound
I can’t stay here any longer
‘Cause my sweet love ain’t around.
My raindrop theme sort of overlaps Bert’s column, in that raindrops and teardrops are used synonymously in some songs. “Soft Rain,” an old Ray Price song comes to mind.
A Soft Rain was falling when you said good-bye
Thunder and lightning from out of the sky
A love born in heaven had suddenly died
And the soft rain was teardrops, for the angels all cried
It is my hope that all this talk about the weather will bring us some significant rain and snow, not just “One Raindrop,” as the Gibson Brothers sing about. As Bill Watterson says, “Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery.” Many of us have had to cut back on watering our lawns during the drought and can surely relate to this quote by Clyde Moore, “One thing about snow, it makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbor’s.” I find it sad that there are folks who are actually making money by painting dead lawns green. I say, let’s be different and paint ours blue.
Now that summer has given way to autumn, (at least on the calendar), that means that the CBA Fall Camp-Out is just around the corner. We have had a fun summer, filled with lots of travel and music. Last month we were able to spend some fun filled days of jamming and socializing in Aromas, CA with the Country Music “branch” of the CBA with a few Bluegrassers thrown in. Our hosts, Jim and Carol are two of our favorite people. Next month, many of us will make the trip to Santa Rosa area to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of CBA members, Jesse and Dolores House. Congratulations to our dear friends. Until next month, God bless.
