Is it just me or do songs play in your head when you hear certain words?
The other night I woke up to the rain tapping on the skylight and suddenly “I Love a Rainy Night” by Eddie Rabbit was in my mind, specifically the chorus:
“Well I love a rainy night
It’s such a beautiful sight
I love to feel the rain
On my face
Taste the rain on my lips
In the moonlight shadow.”
The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the Hot Country Singles and the Adult Contemporary Singles charts in 1981.
Impressive!
So much so that I did a little research on Edward Thomas Rabbit who was born Nov. 27, 1941, and died May 7, 1998, from lung cancer.
He grew up in New Jersey and moved to Nashville in the late 1960s. He started his career as a songwriter and moved on to a recording career after penning hits such as “Kentucky Rain” – love that song – for Elvis Presley in 1969 or 1970 and “Pure Love” for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Rabbit wrote that one while eating Cap’n Crunch cereal! And that was the song that led to a contract offer from Elektra Records.
Later that decade, he helped develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with hits such as “Suspicions” and “Every Which Way But Loose.”
The duet “Friends and Lovers” with Juice Newton became the theme song for the super-couple Shane Donovan and Kimberly Brady on the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”
I didn’t watch that show, but many people did and I’m sure remember them very well.
Shane was portrayed by Charles Shaughnessy - I do remember him and thought he was so cute - and Kimberly was portrayed by Patsy Pease.
The duet “You and I” with Crystal Gayle was the wedding theme song for Natalie Marlowe and Trevor Dillon on "All My Children." Natalie was played by Kate Collins from 1985 to 1992 and by Melody Anderson from 1992 to 1993. David Jordan played Trevor in 1989 and James Kibberd played him from 1989 to 2000.
I watched “All My Children,” but I don’t remember Natalie and Trevor. My bad!
Back to Eddie Rabbit … seems I’m getting a bit carried away here.
His first single under the Elektra label, “You Get To Me,” made the top 40 in 1975. In 1978, “Forgive and Forget” and “I Should Have Married You” nearly made the Top 10.
After his infant son died in 1985, he put his career on hold. He returned to the music scene in 1988. In 1997, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and after a round of chemotherapy, he released the album “Beating’ the Odds.” In 1998, he released his final studio album, “Songs from Rabbitland.” He described it as “17 songs, jokes and stories I wrote for my kids as they were growing up.”
Throughout his career, Eddie Rabbit wound up having 26 number one country hits and eight Top 40 pop hits.
He also won numerous awards including the Academy of Country Music Top New Male Vocalist in 1977, the Music City News Country Songwriter of the Year in 1979, the BMI Song of the Year for “Suspicion” in 1980, the BMI Two Million-Air Award for “Kentucky Rain” in 1994, and the BMI Three Million-Air Award for “I Love a Rainy Night” in 1996.
My friend Deanna and I saw Eddie Rabbit in Reno with Charo (cuchi-cuchi) back around 1978, if memory serves me right. It was a great performance and we had a wonderful few days of vacation. My first real vacation without my parents. We even spent some time at Lake Tahoe. I remember the water being so very crystal clear.
Anyway ... back to the songs popping into my head.
When I blogged about it being wet, cold and windy, guess what song came to mind? Yep, that’s right. It was “Windy” by the Association.
“And Windy has stormy eyes
That flash at the sound of lies
And Windy has wings to fly
Above the clouds (above the clouds)”
And then, awhile back, we had a light dusting of snow overnight. The roads had been wet and, naturally, froze, so when I pulled out of the driveway, I felt the slipperyness - is that even a word? - on the road and the next thing I knew the Paul Simon song "Slip Sliding Away" was going through my head.
The parking lot at work was a sheet of ice. Too bad I didn’t have a rig I could’ve "cut some cookies" in and had a little fun. J
I know the words to the song don’t have anything to do with sliding on the road, but … it still popped into my head.
“Slip sliding away, slip sliding away … You know the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip sliding away.”
Well, I guess I could say the nearer I got to work going down the hill, the more slip sliding I did, which was kinda true. Who cares? Doesn’t matter. The words pop in and the words pop out for no reasonable explanation!
I could go on and on and on, but ... enough is enough.
Have a great day!
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