cold rain

I always loved this song, it's a kind of an old companion. But I never knew the meaning of its words. I always thought that this song was about some kind of hidden loss... Until now.

"I was visiting my mother in England in early 1977... I was staying at the Midland Hotel in Manchester where, in 1960, my friend Allan Clarke and I met the Everly Brothers. It was a typical Cold, rainy day in the North of England and I was standing on the hotel steps watching the people come and go about their daily business. I began to think about how their lives were, what difficulties they were facing.... how miserable some of them looked battling the weather... I used to be one of them...some of them could be me as a younger man... I began to realize, once again, how lucky I have been in my life... Looking at all the people made me both elated and sad... Elated because I had made the decision earlier in my life to become a musician and had 'escaped' and sad because a lot of my friends were still there battling the elements... And I started the song on the steps of the hotel... "Cold Rain" was the result..." Graham Nash (2012 April 22) Thank you Graham, John and Val :)