My Ten Favorite Rain/Storm Songs: Early Morning Rain (#3)

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I have three "top ten" lists going right now: two actual top ten lists and a "top 25" for Johnny Cash (hey, he's Johnny Cash, he could have a top 250!!) Meanwhile, here's a song about rain. #3: Early Morning Rain I may have mentioned it when I reviewed the Gordon Lightfoot concert earlier this year, but dang I love this song!!! I first heard it by George Hamilton IV in a country version (Hamilton did a number of Lightfoot songs, including "Canadian Pacific" and another song on my 100 favorites list, "Steel Rail Blues"), so my love affair with this song is 50 years old. As with so many other songs, the "rain" is a metaphor for the pain of a lost love. Lightfoot watches the former love take off ("there she goes, my friend, she's rolling down at last...she's away and westward bound...where the morning rain don't fall") and has no option but to realize it's over. One of my favorite lines of his from any song: "this ol' airport's got me down, it's no earthly good to me 'cause I'm stuck here on the ground as cold and drunk as I can be." He knows there's no way to go after her because "you can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train." This is one of Lightfoot's great classic songs, proving why he is one of the most revered and iconic songwriters of our generation...well, of any generation. Early Morning Rain Written by Gordon Lightfoot Recorded by Gordon Lightfoot From Lightfoot!, 1966 Gordon performing his classic tune: