Rain for Never Rains
Saturday, August 16th, 2025 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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82F and raining right now, down from 92F earlier today.
Classes did not actually begin last week at PVHS.
Wednesday & Thursday were half-days of orientation for the students, and Friday was a parent teacher conference.
A few random trees here and there are beginning to turn, but this always happens in August, as a kind of false hope that fall is not still six weeks away.
Still, I have noticed the sun setting a bit earlier now... finally before 8PM.
But it was 90F most of this past week, with last night being another of those hot humid nights.
So, the summer grind continues, but there is some light, or rather some red leaves & early darkness, at the end of the tunnel.
Found out yesterday that I'll have to do building checks tomorrow.
This made the August grind feel a little more grindy, going into the weekend.
Today I didn't wake up until 2:45PM!.. so it was a mad rush to get the coffee going and the backpack packed.
It was hot, humid & sunny as I speed walked to Elgym... sun glinting in my eyes because I'd forgotten both my hat and my sunglasses.
I got into Studio C at 3:07PM, so... not too bad.
Sweating, but with the AC blasting, I set up my stuff on the little coffeetable, and then recorded a practice vocal.
After that I decided to leave the AC run a bit longer and went down for a smoke on the sidewalk.
Back in Studio C at 3:30, I was ready to get down to business.
I recorded three instances of just the verse vocals, to start things off.
Technically, the original verse vocals were fine, but my mike technique is better, three months later.
After that, I focused on just the chorus vocals for the rest of the session, and managed to get six good takes before it was time to go.
The chorus vocals for, Never Rains, break down into four parts;
1) Chrorus Intro: This is the easiest, but does bounce between low and high notes as illustrated below, with low being lowercase, and HIGH being UPPERCASE...
"it NEVER rains on ME, if it EVER rains ON ME. it NEVER rains on ME if it EVER rains ON ME."
So I spent time making sure I was really hitting those low notes right and doing the transitions smoothly.
2) Chorus Bridge: This is fairly easy, but requires a little control;
"when the HEAVENS CRY, I'M ALWAYS DRY. casCADING DOWN and I'D NEVER drown."
3) Chorus Bridge Climax: "i've got an umBRELLA, FELLAH!" This is higher difficulty, and did take longer, each take, to get right.
4) Chorus Conclusion: "because the RAIN NEVER falls on me!" That's the F#5 that was giving me so much grief three months ago.
It was a lot easier this time around to hit that note, but not effortless! By far, the most studio time today was spent on making sure every take of that chorus conclusion... which happens five times in the song; once in the 2nd chorus, and four times in a row in the 3rd chorus.... was sound!
As I grappled with the different chorus parts, over the two hours, the studio grew steadily darker and darker, until near the end, it was so dark in there, that I could barely make out the letters on the laptop keyboard!
Through the glass-brick window I could see the sky had gone a dark slate gray, but the streets were still dry as a bone.
After the sixth full take of the chorus, with five minutes left, I packed up my stuff... leaving at 4:56PM.
Out on the street, it was so dark that the street lights had come on.
The temperature had dropped, a wind had kicked up, and the sky was a fluffy black blanket of menacing cloud, brooding with rumbles of distant thunder!
"It's mighty dark out here!" I said aloud to nobody, as I lit my smoke and headed east.
I stopped in at H+H to get a tiger's eye, as it will be made into an amulet for Brian.
Though it was only a quick stop, it had stretched the patience of the storm beyond it's limits, for it was raining when I walked out.
I was only a block from home so it was fine...
But holy crap, did the wind kick up and the rain start to pour just as I started down the island's block.
I was being hit with sideways rain, such that I could hardly keep my eyes open, with garbage flying around in little twisters... empty water bottles flying past me...
But I was fine with it, because hey!.. now I had the story to tell of how it rained super hard on me the day I recorded, "It never rains on me!.."
At the door to my building, a guy was standing in the vestibule with his bike, waiting for the storm to die down.
Soaked, I walked past him into the lobby saying, "That was fun!"
Another guy was standing at the elevator, and said, "It's crazy out there!"
I said, "Yeah, but I'll take it over the heat."
Just then the power went out in the building!
And my first thought was, Well, why not? Power outages can be fun!
But then we both realized... we were gonna have to take the STAIRS!
For this guy, it wasn't too bad, because he lived up on three.
But I live on ELEVEN!
I was already exhausted by the time I'd climbed to four, with my heavy backpack!
And it was there, that the power came back.
But I dared not take the elevator NOW!.. because that would just be ASKING for the power to go out again, once I was trapped inside it!
I know how the cosmos plays!
So, I caught my breath... climbed to six.
Caught my breath... climbed to eight.
Caught my breath... Climbed to ten....
Caught my breath.... climbed to eleven, got down the hall, and let myself back into the flat!
So, that was my adventure for the re-sing of Never Rains, a song that bedeviled me back in May... first, when the PYLE interface box crapped out and denied me the entire first session to get it sung. And again, a week later, when I simply could not hit the F#5 in any convincing way.
Three months later, I overslept and was late to the session... got hit by a squall on the way home... and had to take the stairs up to eleven, to get that equipment, in it's wet backpack, back into the apartment!
Still, I think I did nail that F#5, in the full context of the verse, several times today!
Some takes better than others, but in the end all I really need is one good take of the chorus, and I could theoretically just copy paste that one good take into every chorus passage, if need be.
So I am DONE singing the vocals for, Never Rains, and I am also DONE with Reavis!
Next Saturday, SAT AUG 23, will be, Our Cold Feet, which should be a walk in the park, now that I've kicked it up a half step.
The week after that will be SAT AUG 30, start of a 3-day weekend, and I should be just patching questionable parts of, Magic Monday, and other songs.
And then it's all about harmonies, for as long as that takes.
Something tells me I'll probably be walking to Elgym with a hoody, surrounded by October colors before it's all truly said and sung, but that's fine.
For today, now that it's properly gray and rainy out there, I'll need to make a grilled cheese & tomato soup, and then settle in to comp, Clue Phone.
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