It was the third rainy weekend in a row, and I was scrolling through comments to a post by MSNBC blogger Melissa Dahl about a new study linking song lyrics to cultural changes.
After performing a computer analysis of lyrics to more than three decades of popular songs, researchers found a trend toward narcissism and hostility, even after controlling for genre to prevent the growing popularity of rap and hip-hop from skewing the results.
In top-10 songs from 1980 to 2007, the words “I” and “me” appeared more frequently, along with “anger-related” words, while the use of the words “we” and ”us” and the expression of positive emotions declined. The study was published in the March issue of the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Can song lyrics accurately document cultural changes, and are Americans more narcissistic and angry? The 178 comments to the article touched on these questions, but the discussion degenerated into a debate over who is more self-centered, liberals or conservatives.
Looking out the window, my thoughts turned to songs about rain. It has certainly been a rich topic in popular music, from “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” which topped the Billboard charts in 1970, to more recent hits, like “A Year Without Rain” by Selena Gomez.
But how, I wondered, do people feel about rain? Have our attitudes changed since Karen Carpenter complained about “Rainy Days and Mondays” in 1971? I couldn’t do a scientific study, of course, but a quick search on lyrics.com yielded hundreds of songs, old and new, with the word “rain,” “rainy” or “raining” in the title.
These songs reflect a range of attitudes, from, “I Can’t Stand the Rain” to “I Love a Rainy Night.” There are songs about doing things in the rain _ singing, kissing, walking, crying, standing _ and songs that urge rain-related action: “Let it Rain,” “Make it Rain,” “Forget About the Rain,” “Bring on the Rain,” “Listen to the Rain,” “Blame it on the Rain,” “Come in From the Rain.”
Rain apparently comes in many varieties, including “Red Rain,” “Black Rain,” “Steel Rain,” “Healing Rain,” “Sweet Rain,” “Summer Rain,” “Monday Rain,” “November Rain,” “Early Morning Rain,” ”Alabama Rain,” “Kentucky Rain,” “Louisiana Rain” and “Georgia Rain.”
Self-absorbed rain songs have been around for a while. “There’s just been too much rain, down on me,” Carole King sang back in 1971. And what could be sadder than “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” first recorded by country singer Roy Acuff in 1945, and later by Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Elvis Presley?
Happy rain songs also transcend generations, from Neil Sedaka’s 1974 hit “Laughter in the Rain” (“Ooh how I love the rainy days and the happy way I feel inside”) to Clint Black’s 1996 country chart-topper “Like the Rain” (“I never liked the rain until I walked through it with you”).
Of course, for every song that’s actually about rain, there’s at least one more where the rain is metaphorical, from the uplifting (“I Made it Through the Rain” by Barry Manilow) to the depressing (“I Wish it Would Rain Down on Me” by Phil Collins) to the poetic (Tim McGraw’s “She’s my kind of rain, like love in a drunken sky.”)
Then there are the songs where rain is used in an expression, from Barbra Streisand’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade” in 1964 to Adele’s “Right as Rain” in 2008.
What’s your favorite rain song? I can’t choose just one. My favorite sad rain songs are the Prince classic, “Purple Rain,” and “Rain” by Patty Griffin. As for happy songs, one of my favorites _ and one of the most popular rain-related songs in recent years _ doesn’t have the word “rain” in the title.
Originally released by Rihanna with Jay-Z in 2007, “Umbrella” has been covered by everyone from OneRepublic to Sara Bareilles to Train to the cast of the TV show “Glee,” in a mash-up with the Gene Kelly classic “Singing in the Rain” that features actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Consider the lyrics:
When the sun shines, we’ll shine together
Told you I’ll be here forever
Said I’ll always be a friend
Took an oath I’m a stick it out ’til the end
Now it’s raining more than ever
Know that we’ll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
Nothing angry or narcissistic about that.
Lisa Miller is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Oneonta. She can be reached at
lisamiller44@hotmail.com.
Columns
Related Photos
-
Lisa Miller
Discussion
COMMENTING ON STORIES:
Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.
Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.
Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.
Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.
RULES OF CONDUCT:
We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:
1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.
WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:
1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:
1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.
WE WELCOME:
1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.
Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.
Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.
Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.
RULES OF CONDUCT:
We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:
1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.
WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:
1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:
1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.
WE WELCOME:
1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
May 1, 2011
Song lyrics are an odd measure of attitudes
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
-
-
Upstate theme parks offered affordable thrills
I saw in the news last week that Disney theme parks are raising admission prices to almost $100 a person. Children (who Uncle Walt considers 10 and under) are now $86 a day.
Continued ... - Getting creative with gifts for grads
- Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
-
Upstate theme parks offered affordable thrills
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
Book-banning has a tendency to backfire
So what does the 1960s game show ``What's My Line'' got to do with the Bloomsday festivities occurring in Dublin, Ireland, this week? Surprisingly, there is a link.
Continued ... - Envisioning a world without terror
- We've become our own worst enemies
- Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
-
Book-banning has a tendency to backfire
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
- Lisa Miller
-
-
A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
-
- Mark Simonson
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Don't play around with snappers
The other day, I was driving along Route 205 between Mount Vision and Hartwick. Suddenly, I had to swerve out of my lane to miss a huge snapping turtle. It was crossing from a large swamp on the left to some higher ground on the other side of the road.
- Emmons Pond Bog is pretty easy to enjoy
- Fishing has gotten a lot more complex
- Waterfalls are even better when you keep them to yourself
- Kids have sparkle in their eyes
-
Don't play around with snappers
- Sam Pollak
-
-
Justice Dept., IRS abuses worth screaming about
"If this had happened while a Republican was president, the liberal media would be screaming."
Continued ... - THIS WEEK'S POLL
- Using time off in the worst way possible
- Terror lives on, and there's no end in sight
- Remembering the glory of their times
-
Justice Dept., IRS abuses worth screaming about
- William Masters
-
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
-
Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
-
Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
-
Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
