40 Days (a demo)

      Mary Todesca, the wife of fellow musician Jim Todesca, thought for a long time that the line “coming down on a sunny day” in John Fogerty’s “Have You Seen the Rain” was “coming down for 40 days.” If you listen to the Creedence version, you can understand the confusion.

       But she held on to that conviction, or at least pretended to, long after being provided proof.

       So, I figured there should be a song about 40 days, just for her.  So, I wrote one. 

      It has a melodic salute to Creedence (one of my very favorite bands in its heyday). If you listen closely you might detect a hint of Fogerty’s “Green River” in the little guitar riff at the end of each verse. And the bridge opens with the line: “there’s a calm before the storm,” which is the second line in “Have You Seen the Rain.”

      I’m rather proud of those touches, and I also like the song. It’s one I play out sometimes. And if I ever recorded a CD or EP of blues numbers, this would be on it. I’d love to hear a slide on a Dobro and maybe more made of the “Green River” riff.

        The above is just me and my guitar

40 Days

The rain’s gonna fall
40 days in all
pour down like a shower of shooting stars

the wind’s gonna blow
lordy it’s gonna howl
like a mangy old wolf on the prowl

   (bridge):
   there’s a calm before the storm
   they say that’s your chance to a run
   but you know you can’t escape
   the damage done

cause the river’s gonna rise
the levees give way
gonna drown all the sinners and saints

(coda):
Yeah, the rain’s gonna come
Wind’s gonna blow
And that river’s gonna wash over you

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