A little bit of rain is all it takes to ruin a well planed out vacation, a perfectly coiffured set of hair or if you're really unlucky, a wedding day. On the other hand, if you're indoors looking out through the window, rain can also be quite soothing. What better way to enjoy the precipitation than listening to some complimentary music? Here are the ten best songs about rain as chosen by the UpVenue staff.
10Milli Vanilli - Blame It On The Rain
Near the end the 80s, a pop band known as Milli Vanilli was flooding the charts. The duo consisted of lip synchers extraordinaire Fab Morvan and the late Rob Pilatus. Their success came to a sudden halt when they performed “Girl you know it's true” live for MTV and the record started to skip and repeat the words. The band ran off stage and were later slapped with 26 different lawsuits for fraud. Here’s *their* hit “Blame it on the Rain”.
9Madonna - Rain
Rain brought forth a different side of Madonna; it was a more mellow song that clashed with her usual bad girl attitude. The video for Rain was filmed entirely in black and white; the colors you see were hand painted during post production. It went on to win an award for best art direction in a music video.
8James Taylor – Fire and Rain
Rumor had it that Fire and Rain was written in memory of someone close to James who died in a plane crash while trying to visit him. In reality, the song is a tribute to his old friend Suzanna who passed away while James was working on his first album; the death was kept secret from him so that he would not get distracted. The second half of the song indicates his struggle with drug addiction. Here’s James Taylor’s classic, Fire and Rain.
7The Beatles- Rain
Rain by The Beatles was the first song to ever include backward lyrics on a record. The very last verse in the song was intentionally recorded in a way where, if played backwards, would repeat the very first line in the song: “When the rain comes down they run and hide their heads”. This would later come back and haunt the fab four with the “Paul is Dead” rumors as “heard” in the song “Revolution 9” when played in reverse.
6Led Zeppelin - The Rain Song
Jimmy Page has cited that “The Rain Song” featured his best vocal performance and we tend to agree. The 7 minute love ballad is a classic that was featured in Zeppelin’s own movie, “The Song Remains the Same” as well as Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous“.
5Guns 'N Roses - November Rain
Even back in the day, Guns ‘N Roses were known to take their sweet time releasing material. In fact, Axl began working on November Rain back in 1983 and it wasn’t until 9 years later that the single was released. Unlike Chinese Democracy, it was worth the wait. The epic rock song spanned at almost 9 minutes in length and featured an exhausting, 2 minute guitar solo by Slash.