Red Rain

"Red rain is coming down
red rain
red rain is pouring down
pouring down all over me


I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
it can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
this place is so quiet, sensing that storm


well I've seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town
they tell you that this rain can sting, and look down
there is no blood around see no sign of pain
hay ay ay no pain
seeing no red at all, see no rain


red rain
putting the pressure on much harder now
to return again and again
just let the red rain splash you
let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
with the trust of a child


and I can't watch any more
no more denial
it's so hard to lay down in all of this
I see it
I'm bathing in it
I'm begging you
red rain coming down
over me in the red red sea
over me
over me
red rain"

Peter Gabriel ~ Red Rain

Its been a very dry onset to Autumn here, but the weather seems to have been trying to balance things out over the last day and a half.  I am sure the reservoirs are grateful to it.  I wasn't quite so grateful riding home on the Duchess yesterday after taking her in for the first service.  By the time I got home there were clouds of steam coming off her - it had been a quite a deluge.  The good news is that despite being an Italian bike she seemed to have coped with the soaking without a problem, which bodes well for the future ... (crosses fingers and toes).

This morning it was still raining when I went out into the garden to take my Tiny Tuesday blip before work.  I had seen these rather attractive red leaves and liked the way the raindrops were pooling on their waxy surface.  At first sight it could almost be a metallic surface.

Which brings me to Peter Gabriel's song from his "So" album.  This was one of my first albums on CD as I recall, 30 years ago back in 1986. 

Gabriel's lyrics have often seemed obtuse to me, and this song is no exception.  Apparently it is a  melange of a number of different ideas including a combination of imagery from different dreams. Those 70's prog rock stars, makes you wonder what they might have been consuming to cause such dreams ....  The other element is an idea that he had had for a movie in which villagers were punished for their sins by a red rain.  

Whatever Mr Gabriel's inspiration, his voice as he sings the line "I am standing next to the water's edge in my dream" has always been particularly haunting.  :-)