Play 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?'

With the weather, as usual, taking centre stage at the moment, I thought I’d take the opportunity to read up a bit on the popular 90’s hit, “Why Does It Always Rain On Me” by Travis. The song has always seemed to me to obviously be about a bit more than just the weather. As with many great songs, it feels like it has both a superficial and a deeper meaning, (i.e. perhaps about generally being unlucky), but I’ve never really ‘researched’ it. To be honest I’m one of those people who doesn’t necessarily have to understand every word or meaning to appreciate or enjoy a song, the feeling is often enough.

Not today though. I’m going to share with you the story of the song’s conception, and give you an easy version to play through, if you’d like to have a go. First let’s have a listen. As with most music videos, this one doesn’t really make much sense, but there you go…

"Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" was released as the third single from the band's second studio album, ‘The Man Who’. The song became the group's international breakthrough single, receiving recognition around the world. Following a rain-soaked performance at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival, the song became Travis's first top-10 hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 10 in August 1999.

The song was written by vocalist Fran Healy, who started it while on holiday in Israel. According to Healy, he was looking for some winter sun when his accountant suggested Eilat, which is known for its hot weather even during winter time. However, on the way to the hotel, it began to rain, which lasted until he left a week later. This bad luck clearly set Healy on a direction for interpreting the weather as some kind of karma for previous discretions. The line "Is it because I lied when I was 17?" for example, refers to the time when he lied about his age to get a job behind the bar at the biggest club in Glasgow in 1989. 

The rest of the song was written six months later. Healy had just spoken to his manager on the phone who assured him that his career is taking off, but he felt things were not working for him, and wrote the lines "I can't sleep tonight / Everybody's saying everything is alright" and "I can't stand myself”. "I'm being held up by invisible men" allegedly refers to people in the music industry who were trying to support the band's career despite Healy’s reservations.

Rain is probably one of the most overused metaphors in music. Although it is sometimes used as a symbol of rebirth, or a fresh start, it is most commonly used to depict some kind of sorrow or sadness. In the sorrow stakes, ‘lost love’ is one of the biggest hitters as being the motivation, but in this song there’s no lost love, just the pressure of the impending stardom he felt was undeserved in some way, manifested. In this way the song feels like it avoids the obvious cliches, and is probably a reason for it's enduring popularity.

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Looking for more songs with ‘rain’ themes? Check out this article…https://www.classicrockhistory.com/10-essential-songs-about-rain/

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So here’s the song. I’ve transposed it to C, making it easier to play on the ukulele, but the original song is in E, so if you want to play along with the record, you’d need to put a capo on 4 - or better still, try some transposition yourself!

Copyright really prevents me from sharing the whole song, and you can look up the full lyrics online easily enough - so I offer this much in an ‘educational’ capacity…

‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me?’

(Healy) Independiente Records 1999

[Intro] C    /   Gm   /   F    /   Dm7 C    /   Gm   /   F    /   Dm7

[Verse 1] C     /    C / Am / Am I can't sleep tonight, Everybody saying everything's alright C     /        C / Am / Am Still I can't close my eyes, I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights

F   /       G  /    F   / G Sunny days, Where have you gone?

    F / Dm7    /     G     /    G I get the strangest feeling you belong.

[Chorus] C           /               G / F / Dm7 Why does it always rain on me? Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?

C           /               G / F / Dm7 Why does it always rain on me? Even when the sun is shining, I can't avoid the lightning

[Bridge] Am            /           C         /      Am Oh, where did the blue skies go?

                      C   /    Bb   /   Bb       / G  /  G And why is it raining so? It's so cold

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Here's a video of that Glastonbury Festival performance. The keen eyed amongst you might notice Healy uses a capo on 2, effectively playing the D and Bm shapes for the verses....