Luke Bryan – “Rain is a Good Thing”
Sex is one of the most fundamental human desires; Ever present in the messages we send and consume, it affects our behavior, our world view and serves as the impetus behind emotional (and sometimes physical) conflict. Given all of that, you would think that it would be a significant contributing influence in a genre that prides itself on truth and telling the stories of “real” people.
To be sure, the country music industry is aware of how sex affects image; Nashville has no problem casting aside all but the most alluring singers, and record labels work hard to bring out their artist’s best attributes; from perfectly messy hair and styled facial scruff to outfits that accentuate female assets, anyone in the business will tell you that sex sells.
But when it comes to the music itself, sex is essentially off limits. Allusions to love making are allowed, as long as they aren’t too graphic or direct, and if you’re unmarried, you had better keep it PG—Carrie Underwood can have a fling in Vegas, but we’ll never be privy to that hotel room intimacy. Indeed, Conway Twitty’s “I’d Love To Lay You Down” would make many of today’s country fans blush.
Country music has traditionally trended a bit toward the conservative side, but never as much as since the post 9/11 moral reclamation, when the genre became a safe place to turn to find all of the right kinds of messages—more than ever before, country music was about God, family and country.
A sexless environment is an articifical one, however, and country music has suffered for its recent lack of intimacy, tension and adult conflict.
On the surface, Luke Bryan’s new single parades as a charming and cheery small-town vignette that illustrates the simple logic of cause and effect and celebrates life’s simple pleasures. Hardly hidden beneath a good-old, farm-boy veneer, however, “Rain is a Good Thing” is a really clever piece of songwriting that threads a little bit of that absent sex back to country radio.
Written by Bryan and Dallas Davidson, the song is a celebration of wetness as a catalyst for the cycle of life. The rain makes the corn, the corn makes the whiskey, and “whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky.” By the time the second verse rolls around, Bryan and his baby are in a barn, wringing out their soaked clothes and making love while the rain hits the roof.
Provocative also, if more subtle, is Bryan’s reference to “hunting” down his honey–playful and witty, it’s also an unusually fleshy and earthy turn of phrase.
Bryan makes no apologies for his desires and does not attempt to shield his intentions, and while most of this symbolism will fly under the audience’s collective radar, as a country pride anthem “Rain is a Good Thing” still demonstrates a sense of humor and songwriting personality that sets it apart from the stilted clichés of songs like “Small Town U.S.A.”
To those willing to look a little deeper, the song is a small, unexpected treat.
Listen on MySpace: Luke Bryan – “Rain is a Good Thing”
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December 16, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Saw him play this song live, and it kicked ass!!!
December 16, 2009 at 3:25 pm
He took a lot of heat for his debut album, but I really enjoyed it. “We Rode In Trucks” was one of my favourite songs from last year.
December 16, 2009 at 5:12 pm
So Luke Bryan = Good now?
December 16, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Luke Bryan = Variable. This song is good.
December 16, 2009 at 5:35 pm
“Post 9/11 moral reclamation”, huh? The subsequent election of Obama and direction of the pop and hip hop music movements this decade proves no such thing exists now if it ever did in the first place. It was the emerging domination of the Top 40 country radio market by sensitive Soccer Moms who wanted to shield their children’s ears from “racy” material that wussyfied/neutered mainstream country music. They wanted sappy sippy cup songs and wedding ballads, not down and dirty country music. Radio’s reaction to Jamey Johnson’s “High Cost of Living” and even the word “ho” in Joey + Rory’s “Cheater, Cheater” demonstrates this malady. Jaron and The Long Road To Love’s “Pray For You” will be a current casualty of this “sissyfication” of mainstream country.
Its nice to see Luke is capable of a little depth in one of his co-writes. Most of the songs on his debut album were more shallow than the bogus science supporting “global warming due to man made greenhouse gases”…..
December 16, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Not too bad, but I’m not real crazy about this song either
December 17, 2009 at 12:39 am
toilets are good things too, they provide a means of disposal for stuff like Luke Bryan’s “music”
December 17, 2009 at 8:58 am
Heard him play this song live. Love it! one of the reasons I bought it on amazon awhile back. He is funny! not every song I listen to needs to have the depth of Jamey Johnson.
December 17, 2009 at 10:25 am
Great review. The nuances, references and symbolism in the song certainly did not fly under my radar. I think the undertones and playful references in the song are much more appealing than the blatant, “in your face,” over-the-top style that exist in other genres.
It’s funny that he mentions Conway Twitty’s “Lay You Down” because the first time I saw Luke in concert he played that song and I’ve heard him cover it since and it’s probably my favorite song that he covers.
All the great songwriters are able to say so much by picking just the right way to say it and the songs Luke writes do just that. So glad people are taking notice.
December 17, 2009 at 11:26 am
Jim, I seem to remember a little blip of sexy country songs a couple of years back: “Your Man,” “Come to Bed,” a couple of others. I was hoping we’d have a sort of Conway-Twittyish revival at the time. So I don’t think the sexy stuff has been as completely absent recently as you picture it.
December 17, 2009 at 11:39 am
NM–it hasn’t been entirely absent, but let’s look at just the examples you gave here; Josh Turner is a wholesome Christian boy married to his wife, and there’s nothing really gritty or symbolic about the lyrics to “Your Man.” As for “Come to Bed”… it failed completely.
There are definitely examples of sex in the last ten years of country music, but I would argue it’s been more absent than you picture it ;-)
December 17, 2009 at 11:44 am
Without question, that’s a problem I have with Country music. We go back to all that overt Christianity again, and how wholesome and family-oriented it (apparently) needs to be now. There’s no room for adult topics in Country music apparently. Which is too bad – y’know – for adults who listen to the radio. I’m not saying you need to turn songs into porn, but a throw-back to the stuff Conway wasn’t afraid to talk about would be awesome.
December 17, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Wasn’t “Just Got Started Loving You” one of the most played songs of the year in 2007? And Chris Young didn’t do too shabby with “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song).”
I think you’re giving this one a little too much credit for bringing something to radio that isn’t exactly missing. Granted it’s a little more locker room logic that runs the risk of being branded sexist, but the lack of that seems to be due more to political correctness than a moral reclamation.
December 17, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Brady–
I see where you’re coming from, but there’s no actual reference to sex in “Just Got Started.” Sex is implied, but it’s such a PG reference that it does fit either either a politically correct or morally strong frame of reference.
There’s a big difference between talking about wetness and talking about “wrapping my arms around you.” And I think the question of whether or not the sex is needed probably depends on your own preferences; there are a lot of country fans who would be turned off or even offended by overt sexuality.
December 17, 2009 at 1:02 pm
“Country Boy” and “Back That Thing Up” are two more that come to mind that I’d consider to be a little more overt.
One thing I think you missed, as far as cleverness goes, is the ways wetness relates to alcohol (wet county, drown sorrows, etc). That symbolism seems a little stronger than anything sexual.
December 17, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Oh, and I probably would have just skipped right over this one if you didn’t make me sit down and think about it, so although we might not see eye to eye on it, good job.
December 17, 2009 at 4:00 pm
There are definitely examples of sex in the last ten years of country music, but I would argue it’s been more absent than you picture it ;-)
Oh, come on, now. The only way something can be more absent than a little blip is to be completely absent. Unless we have to start qualifying as to mini-blips, micro-blips, and nano-blips. And that would make my head explode.
December 17, 2009 at 4:22 pm
@NM: Would that be the first thing you’ve ever read here that would make your head explode?
In all seriousness, you’re nitpicking my use of the word “absent.” It goes without saying that there has been some sex on country radio in the past ten years; what I’m concerned with here is the type of sex and the degree to which sex in general influences the music and is avoided by the music.
I mean, one of the two examples you cited from memory proves my point more than disproves is…”Come To Bed” failed at radio. In almost all of the other examples that have been given, the sex is either so soft that it’s only vaguely implied or the referenced so lurid that the sex no longer seems real. “Back That Thing Up” would be a whole lot less acceptable (not that it did well at radio, anyway) had it actually openly been about…well, you know.
What I really like about this song is it doesn’t dance around the subject–it’s kinda dirty, picturing these two young adults taking their soaking wet cloths off in the barn. The fact that Bryan approached that with a level of detachment rather than sentimentalism makes it more real for me.
For what it’s worth, I’m aware that I’m reading into this song quite a bit. It keeps me from going bat crazy as I listen to singles…
December 17, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I mean, one of the two examples you cited from memory proves my point more than disproves is…”Come To Bed” failed at radio …
I think “Come To Bed” could have been a hit for another artist. It just wasn’t the kind of song that radio wanted from Gretchen Wilson.
December 17, 2009 at 4:28 pm
To be sure, Wilson didn’t exactly knock the song out of the park.
December 17, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Nothing I read here makes my head explode. Well, maybe Rick sometimes. No, it would be trying to make out nano-blips that would do it.
And I wasn’t intending to nit-pick; I thought I was engaging in conversation.
December 17, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Sometimes when people converse, they nitpick. Trust me–I didn’t mean that negatively. Just felt like maybe we were getting stuck on the word. I should have written “nearly absent.”
December 17, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Speaking of sex, what about Josh Turner’s “Firecracker.” The song is obviously about sex, and it includes references to “a dynamite stick” and “go[ing] off with a great big bang”
Maybe you have to be slightly pervy, but if you are (and life – and the song – is more fun if you are) you can see references to gentialia and orgasms in that song! Maybe its a stretch, but its one worth making.
December 17, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I never nitpick. [cough, cough]
Do you think that with enough posts like this, you can get a critical groundswell going in favor of sexy songs? Because that would be cool.
December 17, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I smell a Karlie “Your Take” column coming up soon on this subject…
December 18, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I’m not particularly sold on this song, but it’s been stuck in my head for the past couple hours.
January 2, 2010 at 10:06 pm
I’d just lke to start by stating, reviewing songs is ridicoulos! Everybody likes different kinds of songs. “Eight Second Ride” was one of my favs and critis hated it!
But on the song, it’s amazing. I love Luke Bryan so much and any song on his album could be a hit!
February 4, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Wow, this is a breath of fresh air in the mainstream country radio. A simple yet fun story, a great guitar lick after the chorus, and an upbeat tempo. I love this song!
April 29, 2010 at 9:46 am
dis song rox. i luv u luke bryan
June 2, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Why does it sound like he’s singing through his nose? He needs to learn how to breathe. Until he learns that, all his songs suck.
August 24, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Why does it sound like he’s singing through his nose? He needs to learn how to breathe. Until he learns that, all his songs suck.
‘If you can pick a guitar
and sing through your nose
Get yourself some of them cowboy clothes.’
- Tom T Hall
August 24, 2010 at 10:10 pm
“Was it singing through my nose that got me busted by the man?
Maybe this here outlaw bit has done got out of hand.”–Waymore
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