We jump ahead to 1996 and this energetic track from The Swing. Mel Torme swears that he wrote his Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) in the middle of summer, but I couldn’t muster that level of imagination here. Rain Dance was definitely written after a 3-week drought in Vermont (1995, I think). There’s something deeply wrong when the Green Mountains are starting to turn brown, and there really was an excitement in the air as the storm clouds gathered. I didn’t see anyone actually dancing on the lawn, but you know those New Englanders. They’re so stoic.
Oh, and the line about how the sound of thunder is “better than a mandolin” is a reference to Bruce Hornsby’s beautiful song, Mandolin Rain. Hornsby, of course, is also responsible for the song Heartbreak Town, which plays over the opening credits of the awesome animated film, Twice Upon A Time. Viva Ralph the All-Purpose Animal.
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