Last night a Mixtape saved my life

One of the rainiest autumns in recent years – at least in an unusually grey Rome – deserves an appropriate soundtrack. So we thought we'd put together a highly humid playlist, gathering songs – some well-known, some less so – dedicated to rain. From those who invoke it as a cure and a catharsis, to those who paint it as a poetic backdrop, to those who fear it as the ultimate catastrophic event.

The theme has fascinated legendary bands, from the Doors and their epic "Riders On The Storm", to Led Zeppelin and the poignant "Rain Song", to Creedence Clearwater Revival and their on-the-road anthem "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?", or the Beatles–Stones tandem with the lesser-known "Rain" and "Rain Fall Down". It has also seduced songwriting masters of every era, such as Burt Bacharach, author of the impossibly catchy evergreen "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", which every one of us has whistled at least once in our lives, or Leonard Cohen and Paolo Conte, who each attached their name to a genuine anthem to the quintessential garment of rainy days (respectively, "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Gli impermeabili").

The Eighties too offered valuable contributions on the subject, tilted toward the catastrophic by R.E.M. with "So. Central Rain", dedicated to the floods in Georgia, and also by artists like Peter Gabriel, who prophesied the arrival of a "Red Rain". Perhaps more reassuring was the purple kind foretold by Prince in one of his most celebrated songs ("Purple Rain"), while cult bands of the decade like Secret Service, fresh off the flashes of "Flash In The Night", basked in soggy memories ("Rainy Day Memories"); others told of drizzly cities (the Scottish Deacon Blue with "Raintown"), while the exquisitely refined Jane Siberry sought consolation from the possibility of endless rain ("It Can't Rain All The Time"). A possibility that nonetheless found some unexpected supporters, such as Cult, with the title track of their 1985 masterpiece ("Rain"), the Cure intent on a propitiatory prayer ("Prayers For Rain"), The The and their rainy kingdom ("Kingdom Of Rain"), and above all the Jesus & Mary Chain–Garbage pairing, who went so far as to theorize an unprecedented happiness born of bad weather ("Happy When It Rains", "Only Happy When It Rains").

Rain that can take a dark turn (Lycia, "The Rain"), a pop one (Madonna, "Rain", Enya, "Echoes In The Rain") or a jazz-rock one (Morphine, "You Look Like Rain"); rain that isn't only a winter affair, as Celtic-rock pioneers U2 and Alarm reminded us ("Summer Rain", "Rain In The Summertime"), and one that can even spur wild sprints (Pat Benatar, "Run Between The Raindrops"). Rain that can define an entire place, whether generic (Joe Jackson, "A Place In The Rain") or geographically specific (Tom Petty, "Louisiana Rain").

All that's left to say is: happy raining (and happy listening) to all of you!

Ride the wave of great music

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01/12/2025