Song of the Day: Scott Walker “It’s Raining Today”

Not to be confused with the mercifully soon-to-be-ex Wisconsin governor, long-serving avant-pop artist Scott Walker remains a unique (and notably, highly reclusive) figure in the annals of popular music. Combining an rich baritone, an oddball sensibility and a willingness to subvert expectations, Scott Walker, first as one half of the Walker Brothers, and then as a solo artist, is responsible for some of the most arresting and important records of both the 20th and 21st centuries.

His influences are many and include such left-field picks as brilliant Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel (Walker translated into English and covered a half-dozen or so of Brel‘s songs) and avant-garde German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Despite his obscurity Walker was also quite influential: without Walker, there would certainly be, for example, no Pulp and no David Bowie, the latter a debt fully acknowledge by Bowie himself.

“It’s Raining Today” is a standout track from Scott Walker‘s 1969 LP, Scott 3. The song is built around a strong vocal melody sung by Walker and augmented by dreamy string and gently plucked guitar that occasionally take on almost sinister qualities. The highly poetic song lyrics also take on dark overtones. Initially coming across as a torch song for a lost love, the song descends into quasi-social realism. It’s a neat trick and one that would be impossible to imagine being pulled off by any other English-language singer with the subtlety and aplomb that Walker manages. Indeed, the song is highly reminiscent of the type of song that Walker‘s great hero, Jacques Brel would write. If you’ve never heard Scott Walker before, this song is a perfect introduction into his weird and wonderful world.

It’s raining today
And I’m just about to forget the train window girl
That wonderful day we met
She smiles through the smoke from my cigarette
It’s raining today
But once there was summer and you
And dark little rooms
And sleep in late afternoons
Those moments descend on my windowpane
I’ve hung around here too long
Listenin’ to the old landlady’s hard-luck stories
You out of me me out of you
We go like lovers
To replace the empty space
Repeat our dreams to someone new
It’s raining today
And I watch the cellophane streets
No hang-ups for me
‘Cause hang-ups need company
The street corner girl’s a cold trembling leaf
It’s raining today
It’s raining today