It's Raining: A Porch Sittin' Theme Mix.I occasionally make a mix with a theme based on a particular word in a song title and this one is obviously about rain. These theme mixes I usually put together in my Porch Sittin' group. In this one the rain is a barometer of human emotion.
This mix starts off with the Beatles' Rain which was recorded during the Revolver sessions but released prior to the album as a b-side to the Paperback Writer single. It was said that the rain was a euphemism for the psychedelic experience of LSD. That could probably not be said for the next two songs from the Hollies and XTC but that psychedelic feel starts flowing again for the House of Fire, Traffic and Jimi Hendrix songs. Then the sound of the rain leads into some girl group vocals that get harder until the full throttle of the Jesus and Mary Chain take hold. A couple of 90s tunes takes the mix to Tom Waits and after that intensely gruff voice the voices of the Temptations sound sweet indeed. That gets followed by another rain song from 1968 with the different sounding voices of the Four Seasons that graced the top 40 airwaves at the same time. Then of course is the big disco hit from the Weather Girls followed by the new wave of the Eurythmics. Adele adds some contemporary soulful vocals before sliding into the alt-country sounds of Julie Miller, Steve Earle and John Mellencamp. The mix closes out with Creedence asking who'll stop the rain.
I was surprised with how many songs in my collection that have rain in the title. I could easily put together another couple of mixes with this theme but making this work is getting the flow of the songs to sound good together on their own and not because they have some artificial construct like a common word in the title. They have to sound good together. I think I did that here but you can be the judge.
You can listen to this mix using the link below to Mixcloud.
The photo is from the Rain Room installation at the Barbican Centre in London.
1. The Beatles - Rain (Past Masters Vol. 2, 1988)
2. The Hollies - Rain On The Window (Evolution, 1967)
3. XTC - Ballet For A Rainy Day (Skylarking, 1987)
4. House of Fire - Rain (House of Fire, 2008)
5. Traffic - Coloured Rain (Heaven Is In Your Mind, 1967)
6. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Rainy Day, Dream Away (Electric Ladyland, 1968)
7. The Ronettes - Walking In The Rain (Best of the Ronettes, 1992)
8. The Detroit Cobras - It's Raining (Baby, 2005)
9. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Have You Ever Seen The Rain (The Hit List, 1990)
10. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Happy When It Rains (Darklands, 1987)
11. Los Lobos - Wicked Rain (Kiko, 1992)
12. Blind Melon - No Rain (Blind Melon, 1992)
13. Tom Waits - Rains On Me (Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, 2006)
14. The Temptations - I Wish It Would Rain (The Tempations Wish It Would Rain, 1968)
15. The Four Seasons - Tell It To The Rain (The Definitive Pop Collection, 2006)
16. The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men (The Disco Box, 1999)
17. Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again (Touch, 1983)
18. Adele - Set Fire To The Rain (21, 2011)
19. Julie Miller - Out In The Rain (Broken Things, 1999)
20. Steve Earle - The Rain Came Down (Exit 0, 1987)
21. John Mellencamp - Rain On The Scarecrow (Acoustic Version) (Rough Harvest, 1999)
22. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Who'll Stop The Rain (Cosmo's Factory, 1970)
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