Aaron Neville: Feels Like Rain (mp3) – from Warm Your Heart

It Feels Like Rain
(John Hiatt)

Down here the river meets the sea
In the sticky heat I feel you open up to me
Love comes out of nowhere, baby, oh, just like a hurricane
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

Lying underneath the stars right next to you
And I’m wondering who you are, and how do you do, how do you do baby
Oh, the clouds roll in across the moon, and the wind howls out your name
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

We never gonna make that bridge tonight, baby
Set across the Pontchartrain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

Batten down the hatches, baby
Leave your heart out on your sleeve
Looks like we’re in for stormy, stormy, stormy weather
That ain’t no cause to leave
Just lie here in my arms
Let it wash away the pain
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

Downright depressing, isn’t it? It’s unfathomable at the moment to take in the amount of havoc, destruction, and chaos that Hurricane Katrina caused along the Gulf Coast. My brother in law and his girlfriend, both residents of New Orleans, now sit in a friend’s home in Birmingham, Alabama, as they watch news reports showing their neighborhood submerged, while the remaining living residents get plucked from rooftops or caught looting on camera. My prayers go out to anyone affected by this disaster…

The Swan Silvertones: Savior, Pass Me Not (mp3) – from the Big Easy Soundtrack

The Neville Brothers: Yellow Moon (mp3 – live at KBCO) – studio version is the title track on their 1989 album

• The American Red Cross

Listening to Beausoleil last week got me in that good ol’ Cajun mood. I can’t think of another type of music that elicits so much good nature and positivity. Of course, a lot of it is sung in French, which I don’t understand, so they could be singing about armaggedon and I wouldn’t be the wiser. My real introduction to the Cajun / Zydeco sound came by way of the soundtrack to ‘The Big Easy’, a 1987 movie starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin (what happened to her?). For the 18 years (wow) that I’ve been listening to this CD, it’s never lost its luster. It’s an amazing showcase from start to finish. Tonight I sample 2 songs from the soundtrack, one from boogie woogie piano man Professor Longhair, the other from the film’s star, Dennis Quaid. Don’t make the wrong assumptions on Quaid’s swampy ballad. It’s a great love song. And Fess’ tune? Well, you’ll see… it’s the song that inspired the name for the New Orleans club Tipitina’s, which was pretty much created to provide a place for Fess to lay down his rhumba, R&B, boogie woogie piano rhythms.

Enjoy.

Professor Longhair: Tipitina (mp3)

Dennis Quaid: Closer to You (mp3)

• Buy The Big Easy soundtrack on Amazon.
• Check out Tipitina’s web site.