Rainy Day, Dream Away...
...Sometimes those gray skies are soothing...
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Down here on the Southern Oregon Coast, it can rain, and rain a LOT. That's good, though. It can be a Rainy Day In The Life, but I guess it's all in how you deal with. I once saw a "Peanuts" cartoon in which Charlie Brown was glad the sun wasn't shining; that way he didn't have to go outside and play all kinds of games. The Rainy Days were good for ol' Charlie Brown because he didn't feel obligated to do so much when the sun wasn't out. I think I feel the same way; when the sun's out, I Have To Get Out There. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad I respond to nice weather in that way, but a sleepy cloudy day like today seems to let me move a bit slower. If I want, I can curl up all day with the TV if I choose and not feel the guilt of Not Going Outside, since it's gray, gloomy and raining. I do have to go outside today, sometime...I'm out of milk!
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In honor of this Day of Rain, I've included some song titles to get you in the mood... "Rainy Day People" (Gordon Lightfoot), "Rain" (The Beatles), "Rainy Day, Dream Away" (Jimi Hendrix), "Raining In My Heart" (Buddy Holly), "It's Raining Again" (Supertramp), "See The Sky About To Rain" (Neil Young), "Yesterday's Rain" (Sweet), "The Rains Came" (Sir Douglas Quintet), "Baby The Rain Must Fall" (Glenn Yarborough), "The Rain Song" (Led Zeppelin), "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again" (The Fortunes), "Riders On The Storm" (The Doors), "Kiss Me In The Rain" (Barbra Striesand), "See The Sky About To Rain" (Neil Young), "Who'll Stop The Rain" and "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" (Creedence), "I Wish It Would Rain" (The Temptations), "Let It Rain" (Eric Clapton). I'm sure many other Rain Songs have been recorded over the years; if you can remember any other Rain Songs, toss 'em into the 'comments' section'...

BASEBALL WITHDRAWALS: It's Saturday, mid-day as I type this, and there might be a Division or Wild Card playoff game on right now, but I don't know. To see some of those playoffs games, I need to have the TBS network available to me. It's not, though. I don't feel bad about that. And today, being a hazy, gray, rainy day, I feel a bit too lazy to go and look for the dates of some games. Although, several days ago, I did copy down the schedule for the World Series, and you can bet I'll be glued to the screen, savoring the sport. I always get a bit depressed at the end of baseball season; I hate for things to be "over". Although, and how about this; there's a game coming up today in an hour which my Expanded Basic Cable thru the auspices of ESPN is carrying. There's another game after that, though, and in order to see that one, I'll have to case someone's house and wonder how I can steal their TV signal. Nahhh...it's a gray rainy day and I'm lazy, so neverrr mind...
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ANOTHER SGT. PEPPER? No it's not, but some critics out there think it Could Be. Some have said that an album by the group 'Love' ("Forever Changes") can be seen as a sort of cryptic response to "Pepper". Love's leader and main songwriter, Arthur Lee, said long ago when that 1967 album came out, thought he thought he was going to die soon and wrote the lyrics as a way of saying goodbye. And the lyrics are cryptic; alluding to war, loneliness, the coldness of society, alienation, depression and other fun stuff. "Forever Changes", Love's 3rd album, (1967, pictured at left), didn't sell well at the time, but those who haven't hear it have no idea what they're missing. It's a lush album, not a bad song on it, and the group's music is enhanced by ghostly orchestral arrangements, and except for a couple of songs which buzz mightly with Electric Guitars, the music is largely built around acoustic guitar chord patterns. Do I think "Forever Changes" could be an answer to "Sgt. Pepper"? Not really, although it could be seen that way. This long-forgotten album has been kept alive due to people finding out about it and buying it over the years. Go to YouTube, enter "Arthur Lee Love", scroll down to where a clip, showing him singing the oddly-titled song, "Andmoreagain", and if you do, you'll hear one of the most beautiful songs ever written.
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Love's story is one of the craziest rock and roll histories ever. For a lot of reasons, which have a lot to do with group leader Arthur Lee, the group didn't become universally popular, but the music is unique, diverse and intriguing. A couple of years before he died, Arthur Lee was featured in the DVD, "The Forever Changes Concert" where the entire album is performed live. It was nice to see Arthur Lee revelling in the Spotlight, where he should have been all those years.