She's My Kind of Rain

I think this song is obviously about romance, about the way he feels about someone he loves, but I think the imagery is so interesting. She’s my kind of rain. Rain is, of course, traditionally seen as being romantic etc etc, but for a woman to be compared to rain isn’t necessarily the most romantic and kindly of images. Surely something brighter and more classically beautiful like the sun would be a more flattering metaphor? But no, he chooses rain. Rain which brings complications, difficulty, frustrations, and eventually washes everything away and makes it pure again. So I guess this is what she does for him. She makes things complicated and difficult and frustrating, but in the end he needs her to make him feel pure and alive again. There is always going to be rain in a life, and what I love about this song is he is accepting that, and saying if there’s going to be rain, complications and a way to be forgiven, she’s the kind of complication and forgiveness he wants. Subtle, understated, he’s not singing on and on about how madly in love he is and how she makes him feel; he simply leaves it to the metaphors to express his feelings. She’s my kind of rain. She’s natural, unavoidable, constant, beautiful but almost poignant at the same time. The metaphor itself almost seems inadequate when he states “Summer days, winter snow, she’s all things to behold...”, like he’s almost not satisfied that what he is saying in the chorus does her justice, but when he returns to it, it is almost a surrender, as if rain is the only thing that makes sense for him to compare her to. This sense of dissatisfaction with himself is also echoed in lines such as “So I wait, and I try, I confess like a child...” showing himself to be helpless and lost; unable to do anything but confess all his crimes to her, and let her wash him clean again. I think this song is one of the most beautiful, romantic songs in the world; partly because I think it’s realistic, and yet shows the perfection in the reality. Relationships are never going to be completely perfect, they’re never going to last for an eternity, they’re never even going to always go exactly the way you wanted/the way you planned; but I think partly what he’s saying in this song is that we have to make the most of the love we find. Even if, in love, we find ourselves in a downpour of pain and loss and confusion, appreciate it. Accept it. Take joy in it. Because we wouldn’t have it any other way. “Rain on me.”