My area has been in a moderate-to-severe drought for years and years, but over the last week we have received nearly 5 inches of badly-needed rain. It’s rained, drizzled, misted, poured, and on Tuesday we had torrential downpours that dropped almost an inch of rain each in 15 minutes. Ahhh.

As a kid, I had an adversarial relationship with The Outdoors. I am allergic to just about every kind of plant, and I hate bugs. I mean, I love the general idea of bugs (and insects) out in the fields and in my flowers; just not the specific ones of the wasps and flies and bees buzzing around me while I try to read. Plus I hate trying to read in the glaring sun. So you know I was always so happy when it rained and I could stay inside, away from the bugs and the sun, and read in peace.

And so the first song of this piece is about the inverse of rain, or “a dreaded sunny day”:

There are hundreds of songs to include in a list like this and since I can’t possibly include them all this is a first installment of a theme I’ll come back to.

This is a good segue:

You might be thinking about this one:

I’d forgotten about this song and had never seen the video before:

Another old favorite:

I have to have one Bryan Ferry entry:

A jazzy take:

In the same vein:

I love Richard Buckner although I don’t think a lot of people have heard of him:

This was a huge hit and I think it still holds up well. I’m not sure it’s a country song, but it’s a good pop song:

Country music, you say? Here’s a classic:

Oh that reminds you of Western swing music, yes, here’s a rain song:

See how you go down the wormholes?

Any list like this needs a show tune:

I’ll leave you on this same positive note with this: