Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Raining Cats and Dogs

"Seems it never rains in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya
It pours, man it pours"

I didn't much care for Albert Hammond's 1972 hit...even in 1972. And I still don't. But the recent stormy weather had me mindlessly humming the tune on my drive home, hey the radio's broken. And in my defense, the song is catchy in the same way "It's a Small World" is. I know...it's okay to hate me at this point, I too have some weird combination of the two tunes tangling for dominance in my subconscious...and none of the lyrics are right. 

Nonetheless, there I was driving through the rain at 70 m.p.h., signing various incarnations of "It Never Rains in Southern California" inexplicably mixed with "It's a Small World" keeping time to the windshield wipers and wondering why people say it's "raining cats and dogs." Yeah. I probably have too much time on my hands, or I need to get my radio fixed.

I can understand most euphemisms associated with rain like, it's pouring, it's coming down in buckets, ain't this some gully-washer, and yes even...it's pissing rain. But, not the whole cats and dogs thing. I shared this concern with my chiropractor and he said, "You'd know why they call it that if you've ever stepped in a poodle." Not helpful, but mildly funny. My friend Loring searched the internet and came up with a few origins of the phrase. Mildly helpful, but not funny.

By the way, Albert Hammond's lyrics were, according to Hammond, "About all that stuff that came from that era in my life when I was struggling. Trying to make it." 

I'm thinking life is enough of a struggle without dodging cats and dogs falling from the skies. Not to mention what it would do to the evening commute. Even in a small world. Okay...not helpful or funny. 

It's stopped raining...for now.




1 comment:

Unknown said...

OK. So we know it's illegal to use the phone without a headset, and illegal to text. Is is legal to photograph while driving . . . ???

B