My Gen X Playlist: Here Comes the Rain Again – The Eurythmics

When I watched her jump out of the plane, her silhouette was surrounded by shades of greens and browns. We were so high up, I couldn’t make out any details on the ground below. That probably was a good thing. If I was able to see cars or people, I may not have jumped.

Before the plane took off, I asked the instructor when he was going to teach the basics of tandem skydiving. I particularly wanted to know how we were going to land. “I’ll teach you that after we jump and we are in the air.” Really? He basically gave a five minute pep talk, I suited up and hopped on the plane. This was a little concerning.

As I looked outside the plane door, I saw my friend fall like a rock. Geeze. My turn. It was now or never. I gave the thumbs up and he pushed us out the door. I was expecting to feel my stomach leap into my throat, but that never happened. We fell through the air, but not in a panicked way. Our arms and legs were spread wide and I could feel the resistance as we maneuvered in the sky. We pulled the rip cord and jerked upward as the chute opened. The next thing I knew, we were gracefully floating in the air. I steered left, then right. It was surprisingly peaceful. True to his word, he explained how to land. We glided to the ground, made a perfect landing and celebrated with drinks while the adrenaline was still fresh in our veins. I was twenty five. Where did that person go?

Recently I’ve been thinking I need to expand my circle of comfort. I’m not suggesting jumping out of another airplane, but daily changes that put myself out there, clear of the safe zone. Out there – As scary as it sounds, maybe it’s time to not always play it safe. I feel the need to stretch myself a little bit, gradually experiencing the discomfort away. Like many good ideas I’ve come up with on this blog, this is easier said than done. It’s easy to toss this in the pile of well intentioned ideas and continue on my merry way. I just need to tell myself to man up a bit and put my big boy pants on. Let’s see if this self-pressure works on me. What was that line in Shawshank Redemption?

Get busy living or get busy dying.

Yeah, that’s it. I love when a movie has that one great liner. I’ll keep reminding myself of this mantra as I step into my big boy pants. I’ll make sure to use Morgan Freeman’s voice for effect.

In the movie, there is a classic scene when Andy escapes Shawshank, rips off his prison shirt in freedom and extends his hands upward as rain pours down from the sky. I love the idea and imagery of cleansing rain. Thinking about the rain connects me of The Eurythmics’ Here Comes the Rain Again, released in 1983. The catalyst of this song is interesting.

“It was an overcast day. Annie was sitting in my room, and I was playing some little riff on the keyboard sitting on the window ledge, and I was playing these little melancholy. . . chords . . . I kept on playing this riff, and Annie was looking out the window at the slate grey sky above the New York skyline and just sang spontaneously, ‘Here Comes The Rain Again.’ And that was all we needed. You see, like with a lot of our songs, you only need to start with that one line, and that one atmosphere, that one note, or that intro melody. And the rest of it was like a puzzle where we needed to just fill in the missing pieces.”

– SongFacts

Maybe that’s how life is suppose to be. One note triggering something bigger and the journey to find missing pieces. Expanding my comfort zone might be one piece of the puzzle I’m looking for. I’m not sure if we ever know if the last piece is eventually found, if we’ve completed the puzzle. Or that’s the beauty of it. We are never truly complete. I hope to have a Shawshank moment someday. I just may not rip my shirt off or be standing in the soaking rain when it happens. It never crossed my mind that there could be an Annie Lennox and Shawshank connection. Maybe they are two unique pieces to my incomplete puzzle.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion
I want to walk in the open wind
I want to talk like lovers do
Want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you?

So, baby, talk to me
Like lovers do
Walk with me
Like lovers do
Talk to me
Like lovers do

Here comes the rain again
Raining in my head like a tragedy
Tearing me apart like a new emotion (Ooh)
I want to breathe in the open wind
I want to kiss like lovers do
Want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you?

So, baby, talk to me
Like lovers do
Walk with me
Like lovers do
Talk to me (Ooh)
Like lovers do

So, baby, talk to me
Like lovers do

Ooh
Ooh, yeah
Here it comes again
Ooh
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion (Here it comes again, here it comes again, ah)
I want to walk in the open wind
I want to talk like lovers do
Want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you? (Ooh, here it comes again)

Here comes the rain again (I said)
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion (Ooh, ooh, yeah)
I want to walk in the open wind (Mhm)
I want to talk like lovers do
Want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you?

Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion