Tag Archives: songs about rainbows

~tuesday tunes~ rainbow love

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when rich and i were deciding on songs for our wedding, we had a lot of fun playing back through our favorite love songs and thinking about what music best suited our story and our celebration. we ended up using 3 songs during our ceremony, and the other two i will talk about later did come from those “oldies” that have been with us for years as part of our soundtrack. the song we ended up starting with, for our parents to walk into the ceremony, was newer to us, only discovered this past year, but so perfectly fitting that we knew it had to be a part of our wedding day.

i had googled “rainbow love songs,” because i’m me, and that was how i discovered this gem from roy orbison, on a lesser-known album called still in love with you, which was apparently considered one of his worst. i guess with roy orbison, you still get amazing when he’s giving his worst, because there is no voice like his. both rich and i love it, and i know my own love for roy’s singing goes back to riding in my dad’s pickup truck and singing along together with roy on the truck’s tape deck. i believe rich has said his dad also appreciated roy’s singing, and it only made sense that this would be the song for our parents’ walk-in. (actually my dad had to wait until song number 2, but don’t worry, that song is great, too!)

when i saw the title rainbow love in my google search results, i knew we’d need to obtain this song, but it was when i finally listened to it that i realized it was a little more than just another song to add to a mix. you really just have to listen to it to understand what i mean, but the song makes you feel like you’re in the middle of a spring day frolicking through a meadow, with its fluttering flutes and melodic orchestral arrangement. then to top it off, roy’s angelic voice sings about finding the love at the end of the rainbow. i love living in a world where you can find still more perfect songs all your life, even ones written in the distant past. (the “video” is not action-packed, but is a convenient way to share it so friends can have a listen.)

I looked behind a silver cloud, I found a pretty rainbow there
I walked out to the rainbow’s end and found a rainbow love
The one that I was looking for, the dream that I was dreaming of
There, down at the rainbow’s end I found a rainbow love

I found my pot of gold, my rainbow love
Just you and all your loving, charming rainbow love
I searched, hoped someday I’d find someone to bring me peace of mind
I found what I’ve been dreaming of when I found my rainbow love

I found my pot of gold, my rainbow love
Just you and all your loving, charming rainbow love
I searched, hoped someday I’d find someone to bring me peace of mind
I found what I’ve been dreaming of when I found my rainbow love

i know that during our wedding, not everyone could have been able to focus on listening to the songs, so i wanted to feature each one here as i share wedding memories. there was so much about that day that fit so perfectly with the rainbow metaphor, and all the color we bring to each others’ lives and why we want to spend our lives together. this song summed it up in such a beautifully simple way.

on our honeymoon, we were served in a diner by a woman named fran who, as we were leaving, told me, “this is the one. this is the end of the rainbow one.” i had not said a single word to her about rainbows, but i had shared that we were on our honeymoon. i’d like to think that something about the way rich and i treat each other comes through to other people, and even this complete stranger in the middle of montana could tell that this is something special, shining through the everyday clouds like a rainbow.

be the rainbow

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2017 is a going to be a big year for us, no two ways about it. i don’t feel the same usual timid anticipation of the unknown to come, because there are already some big plans laid out for this year. standing here on the threshold, it’s more like a certainty cutting through the fog of my winter brain, that this is just bound to be a big one.

i was having trouble articulating actual intentions for the year, but then i realized that in 2017 i will watch my son turn 10 (!); turn 39 myself; and get married!!! and then i cut myself some slack, because that is enough for one year! if i can pull off those three feats with some small measure of grace, it will be an accomplishment.

throughout the transition to the new year, i have been contemplating spiral symbolism (wearing spirals, as i always do, sorting through seashells and fossils in spiral formation, etc.) and reaffirming that every day (not just january first) is an opportunity to begin again. and every hour, every minute within each day, can be a new beginning. the choice to start fresh at any time is so freeing, and empowers me to make life what i want it to be.

last year my intentions were minimal, and i checked most of the items off of that modest list (live music, a doctor visit, new glasses, consistent self care practices) and this year i am just going to reaffirm that self care remains high on my agenda, which enables me to care for my guys in the best way i can.

i watched a clip of maya angelou singing and sharing a spiritual about the rainbow, and encouraging people to be a rainbow in somebody’s cloud. i think i’m adopting that as part of my intention for this year. it’s just vague enough to exert low pressure but be highly inspiring, especially since i tend to be a rainbow (my current theme song when driving alone in my car is “she’s a rainbow” by the rolling stones) every chance i get by default anyway.

in an effort to gain some clarity or insight or inspiration on 2017 intentions, i drew some nature cards from my two inspirational decks (i’ve written about these cards before here, here , here and here where you can also find links to the artists.) the cards all made me chuckle and nod, for each of the three of us, as usual. but none so much as the very first one. “just think about the rainbow” it said, encouraging me to recognize the magic in each moment, each day.

 

the lovers, the streamers, and me

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mostly quinn listens to the same music i listen to, and really, really likes it. i’m sure most kids are like that, i know i absolutely adored the statler brothers and johnny cash growing up, and still have a big old soft spot for gospel. quinn is the biggest bob marley fan you will ever meet.  (it always sounds like “bop marley” when he says his name.) he enjoys the other bob as well (dylan).  he loves michael franti and spearhead, his favorite song being east to the west “one to the lorax who speaks for the trees”, and second favorite “yell fire”. he has requested the indigo girls more than any other artist, i do believe, with number one fave being “clampdown” and i am hoping when he is ten he will explain to me what the song is about, because frankly i don’t know. but it sure has a catchy tune. the heart swells with love to the extreme when kiddo begs me to “sing along with the indigo girls, mama!”  most people i’ve spent lots of time in cars with have been more likely to be opposed to the amount of singing along i do, but not this guy. another recent favorite is “the fishing song” (a.k.a. fishing blues, taj mahal, who sometimes plays guitar in the afternoons in the guitar shop my apartment was perched on top of when i used to live in berkeley.)

topping the charts on the mp3 player at the orange house these days: the rainbow connection. “i want to hear kermit the frog singing.” i have no idea where i had that song stashed, i don’t own any muppets soundtracks, but it snuck onto the player and randomed itself into the mix, and he was spellbound when he heard it. he asks me to sing it when the battery dies, and it can’t be on repeat anymore until i charge up the player, and is upset that i do not know every single word yet and i skip to the lalalalala part at the end. (thus chastised, i’m well on my way to memorizing it, now.) he busts out singing it randomly while he is playing:

“someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the streamers, and me!”