In the pouring rain
Kiss me.
It feels a little off and a little naive to sit and write about my usual themes in my usual tone with everything that’s happening right now.
That was my first thought this morning when considering today’s post. A thought I’ve had many times this year. So maybe I should write a tribute to the great people of Minnesota, a diatribe against ICE, a wringing of hands over whether we’ll make it through all of this.
But I could have said this at any point this year.
And there are plenty, plenty of people writing these lamentations, most with far more skill than me.
What I can do is give y’all a break. So here it is.
Sparks and rain
Our kiddo is a full-on Swiftie, and, frankly so are we.
One of today’s tunes on the way to a therapy appointment was “Sparks Fly,” a banger from Swift’s third studio album Speak Now. The chorus features a variation on the unbelievably uplifting four-chord progression that she wields like a samurai sword in so many of her tunes.
And in the chorus, we hear:
Drop everything now Meet me in the pouring rain Kiss me on the sidewalk Take away the pain 'Cause I see sparks fly, whenever you smile
This brings up a question I’ve had for a while: why pouring rain?
It’s romantic, yes. But why? Why does being drenched in a downpour represent the height of what two people can feel for each other?
Swift isn’t alone in leaning on the rain (she does it again in “Hey Stephen” on Fearless). Maroon 5 puts us there in “She Will Be Loved,” where Adam Levine waits in the rain for his love to arrive. Post Malone’s “Pouring Rain” is a place of being alone, where love has tragically been washed away.
Romance pours down in movies, too.
Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard nearly squish a cat smooching in the rain in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Spider Man’s rain-soaked upside down kiss is as romantic as the MCU gets. In Four Weddings and a Funeral they even talk about it—“Is it still raining? I hadn’t noticed.” Even the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie has an epic, rain-soaked marriage/sword fight.
And, of course, there’s The Notebook. Arguably the gold standard for romance in the pouring rain.
Pouring rain is intense, it’s difficult to take, it’s deeply, completely cleansing, purifying, emptying. After only a minute in the pouring rain, everything is washed away. Leaving nothing except what really matters. And, in the case of songs, movies, and all stories that make us feel special, it’s often love.
So, Taylor, keep bringing those chord progressions that slice our hearts in two. And keep putting us back there, in that moment, soaking wet, kissing someone who the universe and all the gods of romance and weather has said we are meant to kiss.
❤️
Adam