IT'LL RAIN - Song Page
© words & music by Annie Wilson
from CD Sky & Water, Wind & Grass
Album Note: Drought can be a form of personal trauma for ranchers and, admittedly, our faith is sometimes shaken. That’s when I think of the words of my wise mother-in-law Elaine who remembered the hard times of the 1930’s. She summoned patience, perseverance, and faith in these two simple words: “It’ll rain.”
Click below to LISTEN FOR FREE (to purchase go to STORE)
LYRICS:
This grass is too brittle and dry ‘neath my feet
With leaves folded in and curled up from the heat
The last shades of green are now fading away
And the prairie is turning more brown every day
The deepest hole down in the bend of the creek
Disappeared and dried up at the end of last week,
Its minnows and frogs are now dead or dug down
Searching for moisture below in the ground
“It’ll rain,” Grandma says,
And I guess she should know
She lived through the hard times
when nothin’ would grow
“It’ll rain,” Grandma says,
“Yes, someday it’ll come.
Then remember
and don’t take for granted your luck”
Enough of this drought and this dust and this heat!
I want to feel rain and breathe air that is sweet
I want mushrooms and snails, mosquitoes and mud
Not the sad choking curse of this dust in my blood
I’d sure love to worry ‘bout driving my truck
Down a long muddy road where I just might get stuck
I want to see footprints in deep muddy soil
Not cracks in the ground as the temperatures boil
CHORUS
But now as the day’s evening sun edges low
This drought disappears in its rich rosy glow
The magic light’s turning the grass green again
So the hills seem alive and relieved at day’s end
Then I see a great owl swooping deep in a draw
And I scramble ahead to explore what it saw
In the shadow is water! - sparkling and cool
In the middle of drought, here’s a tiny spring pool
“It’ll rain,” Grandma says,
And I guess she should know
When it does then
these grasses will wake up and grow
“It’ll rain,” Grandma says,
“Yes, someday it’ll come.
Then remember
and don’t take for granted your luck”