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Why So Good? - "I Think It's Going to Rain Today"


mbfrancis

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Some years ago I read a magazine article interviewing songwriters about their favorite songs (i.e., songs, not recordings). A few songs came up again and again, and none of them were songs I was really super familiar with, or which were major 'hits.' I thought I'd ask the group 1) if they agreed that these were "great" songs, and 2) if so, why?

 

One of them was Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going To Rain Today." Clearly a beautiful, haunting song - it has a great understated heaviness. The bridge is a little weird for me, but it brings us back nicely to the last verse. But the greatest song ever - what do you think?

 

[video=youtube;k9Fn8VhkK5g]

EDIT: Here are lyrics

 

"I Think It's Going To Rain Today"

 

Broken windows and empty hallways

A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today

 

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles

With frozen smiles to chase love away

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today

 

Lonely, lonely

Tin can at my feet

Think I'll kick it down the street

That's the way to treat a friend

 

Bright before me the signs implore me

To help the needy and show them the way

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today

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Randy Newman has written some of the angriest songs, some of the most pain-filled songs of all time. Kids who grew up only knowing him for "You've Got A Friend In Me" and other good-feeling material, have no idea.

 

His "unreliable narrator" method of writing creates misunderstanding among listeners who are used to either unambiguous simplicity or intentional, "make your own meaning" ambiguity. The big example being Short People which criticizes bigotry by making us hear just how idiotic the words of the bigots are. But lots of people thought the song was just making fun of short people...oy.

 

This tune is a tad more subtle, but still in the same vein. If you have never listened closely, the voice of the singer is the voice of the man who is gathering people in Africa to become slaves in America, by lying to them with hideous condescension. Making it sound like they are heading for this Golden Land. There is anger here that you don't even find in Dylan - I swear I see people cover this like it's some inspiring, patriotic song....leaves me speechless. Randy Newman is in my list of the immortals.

 

[video=youtube_share;uwwhHI_IMog]http://youtu.be/uwwhHI_IMog

 

(from Wikipedia: One of the first major establishments of African slavery in the American colonies occurred with the founding of Charles Town and South Carolina in 1670.)

In America, you get food to eat

Won't have to run through the jungle and scuff up your feet

You just sing about Jesus, drink wine all day

It's great to be an American

Ain't no lions or tigers, ain't no mamba snake

Just the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake

Everybody is as happy as a man can be

Climb aboard little wog, sail away with me

Sail away, sail away

We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay

Sail away, sail away

We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay

In America, every man is free

To take care of his home and his family

You'll be as happy as a monkey in a monkey tree

You all gonna be an American

Sail away, sail away

We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay

Sail away, sail away

We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay

 

nat whilk ii

 

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It's the pretty tune wrapped around an almost discordant harmonic structure (backed here by actually discordant strings) meeting up with the opening two lines of each verse, which are about people who seem to be disconnected from other people and their own emotions, and the added irony/sarcasm of these two lines...

 

Human kindness is overflowing

and I think it's going to rain today.

 

...driving that message home.

 

And of course, that fabulous, short and bittersweet/acerbic bridge helps things along immensely.

 

I think it's a great song because of the beauty of the melody and how it contrasts with the feelings of the singer.

 

Apparently, I'm not alone in thinking it's a great song.

 

From Wikipedia: [h=2]Covers (1966-1975)[/h]

 

 

[h=2]Covers (1980-)[/h]

 

 

 

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Awesome stuff. @LCK: Well, I know it's been *covered* a lot - I wasn't debating if it was good. :) (I love the Barbra Streisand version, actually - it's a demo and Newman himself plays piano.)

 

My favorite Newman song is probably Political Science, also an unreliable narrator - sometimes I'm with him on the irony and sometimes I take it literally and just want to blow everyone else up.

 

[video=youtube;Du3WhHrrNgs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du3WhHrrNgs

 

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Awesome stuff. @LCK: Well, I know it's been *covered* a lot - I wasn't debating if it was good. :) (I love the Barbra Streisand version, actually - it's a demo and Newman himself plays piano.)

 

My favorite Newman song is probably Political Science - sometimes I'm with him on the irony and sometimes I take it literally and just want to blow everyone else up.

 

I like his Good Old Boys LP the best. "Guilty" and "Marie" are just fabulous songs as far as I'm concerned. I think they're the best two songs he's ever written. I also have an affinity for "Louisiana, 1927," "Naked Man," and "Rollin'."

 

Sail Away is a gem too. Brian Wilson said it profoundly affected him and kept him from sliding deeper into depression.

 

"Take that, Randy! Even your crotchety, old, satiric songs make people smile and feel good!"

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I'm going to be obnoxious and bump my thread to try to restart the conversation.

 

Do you guys think this lyric is good? Why? What is strong about it? What is it about, other than man's inhumanity to man? Why do you think songwriters love it so much?

 

 

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I like this lyric (and others with a similar approach) because it hints and nudges rather than clearly specifies.

I find that this method (but not always) connects well emotionally rather than intellectually.

Songs are essentially an emotional transport system, so whatever gets the feelings through to us is usually a good start.

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There's a bunch of things to admire, musically. The verses are very hymn-like, fairly simple. So the contrast with the dismal image that kicks things off is already quite unique, and gets you listening.

 

The second verse lyric is I think truly amazing.

 

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles

With frozen smiles to chase love away

 

Who are these scarecrows? Well, mannicans - plastic people, with frozen smiles. So this is an easy metaphor for the happy, successful, beautiful people with whom he has nothing in common.

 

What's it mean that the frozen smiles "chase love away"? Maybe he was in love with someone he now characterizes as a mannican, and he was rejected as he didn't qualify as sufficiently shallow and stylish and so on.

 

So he's "lonely, lonely", the lone walker. Everything reminds him of his pain. The grey sky, the pale moon, the mannicans, the empty buildings, even the empty can in the street. There's some call to help the "needy" - he encounters some positive voice of human kindness but it's just on a sign - and it does him no good in his need, alone, and nothing coming but a rainy day which of course is the ancient metaphor for sadness and lonely isolation.

 

I think the lyric is great because of the economy with which it reaches such intensity. At least it really gets to me!

 

nat whilk ii

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Greatest story ever told? I thought that was Transformers 3...

 

 

I never connected to the song. It never made any sense... till I thought of the protagonist as a homeless person. Out in the elements, ready to be rained on. Figuratively and literally. "Human kindness is overflowing" is Newman sarcasm tying in nicely with the imminent rain.

 

Every image seems to describe what a person living on the street sees. Broken windows and empty hallways of the run down, skid row shops. Scarecrows = mannequins in the shops still holding on in the neighborhood. He sees them as the locals almost, investing story in them with the "chasing love away". Maybe something he did at one time too. The bright lights of the Salvation Army signs asking for charity. Something he is ironically in need of himself.

 

And the can? His "friend"? That is what he holds out everyday. He kicks it, empty, down the street. His old friend. He won't even bother to hold it out today because...

 

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today

 

 

 

 

"I Think It's Going To Rain Today"

 

Broken windows and empty hallways

A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today

 

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles

With frozen smiles to chase love away

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today

 

Lonely, lonely

Tin can at my feet

Think I'll kick it down the street

That's the way to treat a friend

 

Bright before me the signs implore me

To help the needy and show them the way

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today

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Yeah, that's along the same lines. The key seems to be simply understanding that this is someone totally down and out, walking alone, seeing these dismal images, feeling his pain and rejection and ironical observations, and reflecting on how it ain't gonna get better anytime soon.

 

Newman does stretch the listener a bit - as I mentioned above, his lyric technique is not typical. He's not trying to set puzzles for us, 'tho - but you do have to understand the point of view.

 

nat whilk ii

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Yeah^^^. And to be honest, it's not my favorite lyric of his. I love what he does with his songs, this included, but this one in particular feels a bit cryptic. I don't mean in story, though it is, but I mean emotionally. It's not readily apparent what I should be feeling.

 

Having said all that, I still love it. It's great, just not as great as Transformers 3.

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OK, this was exactly the smart conversation I was trying to start. This song makes a ton more sense to me know if he's a homeless guy. Then to me scarecrows (this is my favorite line, too) are the unresponsive people in the street. Or maybe security guards who shoo him away?

 

Great stuff.

 

And man I love the understatement. One lesson I remember vividly from Sheila Davis's The Craft of Lyric Writing is (something like) "when you want to minimize something, overstate it ridiculously - when you want to hammer it home, understate it." Her example of the latter was from "Send in the Clowns": '

 

Don't you love a farce? My fault, I fear

I thought that you'd want what I want, sorry my dear

 

Like, "whoops, oh well," she sings offhandedly, while actually devastated. Bam.

 

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Yes, for someone who has a reputation for writing "unnecessarily" complex lyrics, Sondheim could also nail things with just a few lines.

 

 

"Losing My Mind"

 

The sun comes up,

I think about you.

The coffee cup,

I think about you.

I want you so,

it's like I'm losing my mind.

 

The morning ends,

I think about you.

I talk to friends,

and think about you.

And do they know

it's like I'm losing my mind?

 

All afternoon,

doing every little chore,

the thought of you stays bright.

Sometimes I stand

in the middle of the floor,

not going left,

not going right.

 

I dim the lights

and think about you,

spend sleepless nights

to think about you.

You said you loved me,

or were you just being kind?

Or am I losing my mind?

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Yes, for someone who has a reputation for writing "unnecessarily" complex lyrics, Sondheim could also nail things with just a few lines.

 

"Losing My Mind"

...

 

Is it wrong my only exposure to that song was through the

?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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When I was in high school in the late 1960's my French teacher lent me Judy Collins' RECORD which contained the song " I think it's going to rain Today". this was this was the best song on the album. at the time, I was not aware that it was a Randy Newman. I was mistakenly misinformed that it was a Leonard Cohen song and and mistakenly held that impression until only a few months ago. However that mistake good introduced me to Leonard Cohen so perhaps it wasn't a bad thing. of course, now I have much greater respect for Randy Newman and I think it's his best song. Why? It's the bridge. When I first heard it I was transported to that street I was kicking that tin can its the bridge. When I first heard it I was transported to that street I was kicking that tin can. It became my friend which I playfully abused. musically that point in the song sores and just a departure that is instrumentally sophisticated and stylistically employees and stylistically employs a lot of modern atonal structure which is a departure from the standard Randy Newman Americana Folk type style almost Stephen Foster like with touches of southern gospel structures that you find in hymns with a lot of basic major chords 4th and dominant sevenths. So in this song that basic Simplicity lays the ground work for the soaring Bridge. If you listen to Randy Newman's vocal is heavily laiden with emotion. in the bridge it's a little bit more introspective and wistful a bit more poignant and ironic. What is great for me about the song is that the Observer for the most part is the observed. There's very little ego or me in the lyrics, with the exception of lonely, and the my feat as well as be I think. I've heard some versions where a few singers have changed the lyrics to th at's no way to treat a friend. that's no that's no way to treat a lyric. The song is Pretty Hurts and minimalistic which I think is it strongest virtue. The more understated it is the more the listener seems to perceive from this song. In my opinion, it's truly a great song. It's very human and sensitive. The songwriter is not dogmatic in his point of view and it seems to pull of the listener right into its Central core

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