The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "It's Raining Today"

For National Poetry Month, I have been posting song lyrics from popular music that also double as exquisite poetry and this next entry fits the bill beautifully.

The lovely "It's Raining Today" was written and recorded by Scott Walker in 1969 and is a memory poem, full of snapshots from our narrator's past , and just like most nostalgia, is tinged with both the sweetness of before and a weariness of now.

Walker died last March, 2019, at the age of 76.

It's Raining Today
by Scott Walker

It's raining today
And I'm just about to forget
The train window girl
That wonderful day we met
She smiles through the smoke
From my cigarette

It's raining today
But once there was summer and you
And dark little rooms
And sleep in late afternoons
Those moments descend
On my window pane

I've hung around too long
Listening to the old landlady's hard-luck stories
You out of me, me out of you
We go like lovers
To replace the empty space
Repeat our dreams to someone new

It's raining today
And I watch the cellophane streets
No hang-ups for me
'Cause hang-ups need company
The street corner girl's
A cold trembling leaf
It's raining today

https://www.4ad.com/artists/83

"Mound"

Allison Schulnik's vision is a wonder! She is a true multi-media artist, working in 2D (and 3D!) painting, gouache on paper, stop motion animation films, and ceramic creations.

Watch this haunting, astonishing stop-motion film Schulnik made this year. Entitled "Mound," it is a bizarre, candy-colored Hieronymus Bosch landscape populated with pastel skulls, gnomes, red-nosed clowns, and woodland spirits, all crafted and undulating by Schulnik.

It reminds me so much of the maudlin-scary clown paintings that were popular in the late 60s and early 70s...

I'm also reminded of Noface and the Radish Spirit, among others, from the glorious Miyazaki film, "Spirited Away."

And her music choice is pretty inspired too... because of this short film, I have been introduced to the genius of Scott Walker who recorded "It's Raining Today" in 1969. The hovering, nearly dissonant strings are a brilliant touch and compliment his Burt Bachrach-style crooning. Walker is still recording. Visit Allison Schulnik's website to see more of her work: http://allisonschulnik.com/# And visit Scott Walker's site at 4AD to learn more about his career and music: http://4ad.com/artists/scottwalker