I spent some of my adolescence on a farm in Vermont, a school, and when the confusions of existence (which seemed incredibly bewildering at that age) grew too much, I would slip away and walk a couple of miles into the nearest village, slip into the town diner, and drop a dime into the table-top Wurlitzer extension that graced every booth back in those days.

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain,
Telling me just what a fool I've been.
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain,
And let me be alone again.

Now the only girl I've ever loved has gone away.
Looking for a brand new start!
But little does she know that when she left that day.
Along with her she took my heart.

Rain, please tell me, now does that seem fair
For her to steal my heart away when she don't care
I can't love another, when my heart's somewhere far away.

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain,
Telling me just what a fool I've been.
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain,
And let me be alone again.

Interlude

Rain, won't you tell her that I love her so
Please ask the sun to set her heart aglow
Rain in her heart and let the love we know start to grow.

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain,
Telling me just what a fool I've been.
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain,
And let me be alone again.

Oh listen to the falling rain
Pitter patter pitter patter, Oh
Listen, listen to the falling rain
Pitter patter pitter patter, Oh
Listen, listen to the falling rain
Pitter patter pitter patter ...

Then I'd get a refill, in those thick white china cups with the chips missing that seemed to be native to all diners, drag out another dime and play it again...

IT never solved any of the confusion, but it made me feel better for reasons I could not begin to explain.


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