“There’s a gentle lope and swing as much breezy ’60s pop as there is roots revival intensity”
– AllMusic
Spring Rain is the 10th song to appear here from my dual favourite Australian band The Go-Betweens after their previous entry Right Here. Their prominence is comparable in numbers to another stellar, but cruelly underrated Australian group – My Friend the Chocolate Cake. The Go-Betweens remain somewhat of an enigma in Australian contemporary music circles since they were, as the BBC put it – The 80s band that never conquered the world, but their enduring legacy and vast influence on the music industry cannot be understated.
I might sound like a broken record, but to my listening ears no other Australian band encapsulates more instinctively the quintessential Australian ‘sound’ than the The Go-Betweens, analogous to how the wordsmanship of Australian author Tim Winton reacquaints me with my island home when I dive into one of his books.
Spring Rain is the first single from the band’s fourth album Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express. It is written by Robert Forster who appears in the music video below. He said the song was written when he was in London in his late twenties, looking back on a time when he was in his late teens and living in Brisbane suburbia. The lyrics appear an inner monologue, with the singer contemplating his rather monotonous life, waiting for a change to come. He feels alienated by the people around him who rather look for material goals.
Forster says the title is an homage to the Creedence Clearwater Revival songs “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” and “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?”, who also have the word ‘rain’ in it. In his memoir “Grant & I”, Forster writes:
‘Spring Rain’ was my second song – there are now four – with the word ‘rain’ in the title.
[Verse 1]
Dressed in a white shirt with my hair combed straight
Here in my black shoes and me without a date
Me without hindsight, me without
When will change come
Just like Spring Rain
[Chorus]
Falling down like sheets
(falling down like sheets)
Coming down like love
(coming down like love)
Falling at my feet
(falling just like)
Spring Rain
[Verse 2]
Standing on the lawn with cousins and child brides
Caught for the camera on their best sides
Being caught forewarned
Their best sides
When will change come
Just like Spring Rain
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
Driving my first car
My elbows in the breeze
With all these people that I Never, never need
These people are excited by their cars
I want surprises
Just like Spring Rain
References:
1. Spring Rain – Genius Lyrics
2. Spring Rain (The Go-Betweens song) – Wikipedia
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