[Warning, whiny bit first, then we get to the point of this post.]
I’ve basically been sitting feeling sorry for myself.
As the title suggests, it is in fact raining. I also have exams to revise for, for topics I don’t really understand, plus I haven’t been sleeping well (thanks partly to a new 2am freight train that makes the buildings shake, not to mention my messed up holiday sleeping pattern and randomly waking up in the middle of the night) and I kind of miss my parents, even though I’ve just been home for two weeks, because I feel like we all just did our own thing the majority of the time. Must plan visit soon.
Ok, that’s the rant part over with, and now to the main part of the post.
It is January (well, duh), and despite the fact that I always thought I was above that whole “it’s the most depressing month of the year” nonsense, I must admit that I’m not its biggest fan either. Mainly because of exams. Also it’s cold, dreary, wet, you name it.And I’m so tiired. I should be revising right now, as I haven’t-but-should-have-been-doing all day, but instead I am getting this off my chest and napping for a few minutes (did I mention how tired I am?).
Ok, rant wasn’t quite done – I needed to repeat that for emphasis. But back to music!
I remembered this song:
(The video above is the 2012 film version, but this one is also nice, just less dramatic)
the other day and had to look it up/listen to it again. I still can’t quite decide how I feel about Les Misérables – the fact that it is so depressing bothers me more than a little, for example, but some of the songs aren’t bad. I definitely like this one, the ‘Empty Chairs’ one, and a few others, and the rest aren’t bad either. (This is based purely on the film, by the way.)
Éponine seems to be the most interesting character, although I guess the audience isn’t supposed to like her that much, especially based on the books, but she does kind of redeem herself towards the end..
[Sorry to those of you who LOVE Les Mis by the way, I have a tendency to dislike what so many people (or at least English teachers and people who decide curriculums?) rave about or describe as classics. Usually they are just not cheerful enough for my liking, or just tedious and confusing. This makes me sound like a sulky, ignorant 13 year old, doesn’t it? If this is the first page of my blog you came across, please believe me when I say I actually love reading, do appreciate good stories and am reasonably intelligent, I promise!
I’m the same with the ‘latest crazes’ though, such as ‘Hunger Games‘, ‘Breaking Bad‘ and ‘Game of Thrones‘, which I refuse to read or watch because they are so popular and the plot concept just doesn’t appeal to me. I’m so annoyed by how obsessed people are with them that I’m simply not interested, even if it means missing out on something potentially quite interesting.
When I was little I point blank refused to wear trousers with flares, based on the fact that they were considered to be “in”… While I’m no hipster (those I also judge a tiny bit), I guess I just dislike the fact that I’m supposed to be interested in/obsessed with something purely because everyone else is.]
But back to business. You may have noticed that I sometimes like to take a line of a song out, because it fits with what’s going on in my life or just generally inspires me.
In this case, it is:
“Rain will make the flowers grow.”
Not gonna go and analyse it in detail, I’m sure you get the idea and it’s something worth remembering, or being reminded of (which I need to be sometimes!)
I also stumbled across a new song I like,’A Little Rain’ by Tom Waits.
It’s definitely on the melancholy side, fitting with my rather uninspired mood at present. Today at work I was listening to more of his songs, half of which I liked, the other half not so much. I would definitely recommend ‘Jersey Girl‘ though.
All these rain songs got me thinking about how many other ‘rain’ themed songs I have and like:
Mika – ‘Rain’
James Morrison – ‘Please don’t stop the rain’
Guns ‘n’ Roses (or David Garrett) – ‘November Rain’
Adele – ‘Right as Rain’ and ‘Set Fire to the Rain’
Creedence Clearwater Revival – ‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain’
Prince – ‘Purple Rain’
Rihanna – ‘Umbrella’
[Not technically ‘rain’, but also a great song: The Who – ‘Love reign over me’]
I’ll add links/write in more detail about these songs some other time, for now I’m just going to list them.
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head and Singin’ In The Rain:
I have fond memories of a – slightly strange, admittedly, but very fun – ‘Umbrella Dance’ we did in primary school for the re-opening of our gym/”multi-purpose” hall, which now included the option of a stage and some sort of back room, if I remember rightly.
We all did “Singin’ in the Rain”, complete with lifting our multicoloured umbrellas high at the “siiinging” parts, then the girls did something fancy and complex looking for “It’s raining men” – so appropriate for a bunch of eight or nine year olds – and my best friend and I persuaded our teacher to let us join the boys with “Raindrops”. I’ve never been much of a breakdancer, so that suited me much better!
I just looked up who they’re by:
“Raindrops keep fallin'” is written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, and sung by B.J. Thomas, and apparently it was written for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Another classic, which my Dad got us to watch and I actually found alright until we got to the end. What can I say, I just like happy endings better, ok? It’s also part of the Forrest Gump soundtrack. (Another classic I have put off watching, because it sounds like it might be really sad..).
“Singin’ in the Rain” is by Arthur Freed, with music by Nacio Herb Brown. It’s been performed by a lot of people, but is famous for being in the Gene Kelly musical of the same name, which I’ve been learning about second-hand by proofreading my friend Susanne’s film studies essays.
This also has the the rather appropriate line:
“I’m never gonna stop the rain by complaining”
so I should probably stop complaining and finish here. My books are beckoning, and I feel better now. I really must do this more often…