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Mistress of the Mix: Raincheck

Photo by Sophia Miller

It could’ve been so easy. So easy that I almost did it. I was that close. That close. Then I thought of you, and decided not to shirk my responsibility to you. Yes, you. It’s all because of you, dear reader, that I decided not to call in sick this week. Besides, I’m not sick, but my poor daughter has never been more sick in her life. When a teenage girl is so sick that she turns down chocolate, you know it’s serious. That and the fever of 103.2 she’s been battling all week. So while I haven’t been battling my own sickness, it threw me into a teensy bit of a tizzy as I prepared to go to battle with hers.

And I’ll admit it, I was ready to give up the perfect opportunity for a great playlist. I was all set to beg off and ask Doni to run one of my ‘Best Of’ columns. I even announced it at the dinner table last night; publicly stated to my husband and daughter that I was planning to guide you to an old column I wrote a ways back about stormy weather, since we’re finally getting some, and take the week off.

Then, as I sat there gazing out the window towards the rain pouring down into the backyard, I started singing a great Buddy Guy song, “Feels Like Rain.” Then another tune (“I Can’t Stand The Rain”) popped into my head, followed by “Here Comes The Rain Again.” When I went back to look at the weather related playlists I’ve offered up for your listening pleasure in the past and realized that every single one of these songs was conspicuously absent from any playlist I’ve ever put together, the matter was settled pretty quickly. I had to create a playlist just for rain, and nothing but rain. Solo pioggia.

Besides, and it’s kind of weird to say this after living in a rain forest for well over a decade, but right now we’re starving for rain here in Northern California. Or thirsting, I guess. So Mother Nature needs all the encouragement we can offer to keep the downpour pouring down for a few more days. It’s our civic duty to shower her with all the rain songs we can come up with. Just until Lake Shasta’s thirst has been quenched. Y’all with me on this one? Really, it’s a big deal for me to start praying for rain. You probably wouldn’t really, truly understand until you’ve lived in a place where you regularly drowned under more than 120 inches of rain every. Single. Year. After moving away from the largest rainforest in the nation, I really didn’t think I’d ever miss the rain. Ever. But I was wrong. We’re parched, I know it, we need it, and I hope we get what we need to move us to the point where I can turn on my yard irrigation system again with a clear conscience.

So about this playlist: when it was all done, out of 27 rain songs, every single one of them with the word rain in the title, only 2 are duplicated in Stormy Weather .  I’m offering that one up as an extra added bonus for your listening pleasure over this gray, rainy weekend, because I’m pretty sure you’ve got nothing better to do than sit inside and stream music anyhow, am I right?). And this playlist isn’t wet behind the ears, believe me. It’s soaked with solid hits from the aforementioned tunes to Led Zeppelin, Prince, Creedence and B.J. Thomas. You know the ones. How could I have ever left them out before? Well, I guess I just needed an excuse not to take a raincheck.

  1. Feels Like Rain – Buddy Guy featuring Bonnie Raitt My favorite rain song of all time.
  2. I Can’t Stand The Rain – Seal
  3. Here Comes The Rain Again – Eurythmics
  4. I Don’t Suppose Rain – Jewel Not really a song, but a beautiful poem.
  5. Raindrops – Regina Spektor
  6. Purple Rain – Prince
  7. Rain Fall Down – Rolling Stones
  8. Have You Ever Seen The Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival
  9. The Rain Song – Led Zeppelin
  10. Red Rain – The White Stripes
  11. Can’t Stand The Rain – The Rescues
  12. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head – BJ Thomas
  13. Ballet For A Rainy Day – XTC
  14. Rain – Breaking Benjamin Even though she’s lost 8 pounds this week, my daughter was strong enough to lift up her head and say, “Hey, how about Breaking Benjamin?” So this one’s for Sophia.
  15. I Wish It Would Rain – Phil Collins
  16. It’s In The Rain – Enya
  17. Raindrops – Pitbull featuring Anjuli Stars
  18. Rain On Me – Ashanti
  19. Didn’t It Rain – Hugh Laurie Remember the TV series “House?” Yeah, that Hugh Laurie!
  20. Raindrops – Dee Clark
  21. Songs About Rain – Gary Allen Token country song. Although I coulda gone with Willie Nelson’s “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”
  22. After The Rain Has Fallen – Sting
  23. Between The Raindrops – Lifehouse
  24. Healing Rain – Michael W. Smith
  25. Black Rain – Ozzy Osbourne
  26. Summer’s Rain – Savatage My husband is the official expert on all things Savatage. So. Yeah. Pretty much every time I put together a playlist these days he’s got a Savatage song to suggest that goes along with my topic. So whattaya gonna do? I love the guy.
  27. I Can’t Stand The Rain – Ann Peebles This song made it on to the list twice, because Seal’s version is spectacular, but I can’t ignore my fondness for the version I heard first.

Stream today’s Raincheck Playlist by pressing the arrow below, or go directly to the Grooveshark website.

Valerie Ing-Miller has been the Northern California Program Coordinator for Jefferson Public Radio in Redding for nine years and can often be found serving as Mistress of Ceremonies at the Cascade Theatre. For her, ultimate satisfaction comes from a perfect segue. She’s the mother of a teenage daughter and a 7-year-old West Highland Terrier, and can’t imagine life without them or music. Valerie wakes up with a song in her head, she sings in the shower and at the top of her lungs in the car.

Valerie Ing

Valerie Ing has been the Northern California Program Coordinator for Jefferson Public Radio in Redding for 14 years and can often be found serving as Mistress of Ceremonies at the Cascade Theatre. For her, ultimate satisfaction comes from a perfect segue. She and her husband are parents to a couple of college students and a pair of West Highland Terriers, and Valerie can’t imagine life without them or music. The Mistress of the Mix wakes up every day with a song in her head, she sings in the shower and at the top of her lungs in the car.

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