We all know the story of Noah’s Ark, and how it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.  That happened a long time ago, and over in the Middle East.  It is different here in North Central Colorado.  Here, it has been 40 days and 40 nights since we have had any rain.¹ It is about time for some sympathetic magic.

According to Merriam-Webster.com, sympathetic magic is defined as ” magic based on the assumption that a person or thing can be supernaturally affected through its name or an object representing it.”  The term was introduced to most Muggles² by Sir George James Frazer in the Golden Bough (1889), where he summarized the concept as “like produces like.”

An example of sympathetic magic is the Voodoo doll, or poppet.  That is a sort of effigy used to represent a particular person.  Voodoo practitioners believe that manipulating the effigy can physically affect the person it represents.

Some archaeologists believe that Paleolithic cave paintings, which date from more than 35,000 years ago, are other examples of sympathetic magic.  Those scholars postulate that shamans (assuming those early hominids had shamans) would withdraw into the darkness of a cave, visualize a successful hunt, and then draw a representation of that vision on the cave wall.

Right now, we are going to participate in some sympathetic magic.  I say “we” because I would ask that as you listen to this week’s Song of the Week, you visualize falling rain.

The Song of the Week is, of course, “Rainmaker.”  There are quite a few songs with that title, and I considered using the song by Traffic because the “Rainmaker, rainmaker/Rainmaker, rainmaker” chorus has sort of a shamanic flair to it.  I decided, though, to choose the “Rainmaker” written by Harry Nilsson and William “Bill” Martin.

Nilsson was a talented musician and songwriter.  His best known songs include a cover of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin'” that he performed in the movie Midnight Cowboy; “One,” which was a huge hit for Three Dog Night; and “Coconut (“put de lime in de coconut and drink ’em both up” – sort of sympathetic magic because the [witch]doctor prescribes the same concoction to cure a stomach ache as that which caused it).  In 1968, the Beatles (at least John and Paul) told the press that Nilsson was their favorite American performer.

1968 was also the year that he wrote the song “Rainmaker” with William “Bill” Martin.  Martin was best known as an actor and writer. He was one of the screenwriters for the movie Harry and the Hendersons, and for awhile he did the voice of Shredder on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.  Martin was a friend of the Monkees’ Michael Nesmith, and he wrote a song or two for that group.

“Rainmaker” has been recorded by a wide variety of musicians, ranging from Nilsson (of course) to Bobbie Gentry (of “Ode to Billy Joe” fame) to The 5th Dimension.  The version here is by Bill Martin’s old buddy, Michael Nesmith, and his later group, The First National Band.  The repetition of “rain” at the end of the song serves as enough of a shamanic hook that I don’t feel too bad for not using the song by Traffic.

Well, thank you in advance for your help in bringing us some needed moisture.  Visualize it.  I am also getting out my Native American flute to play some rain on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5jIbUiDRZw

Raimaker
By Harry Edward Nilsson and William Martin

First day in August
Last rain was in May
When the rainmaker came to Kansas
In the middle of a dusty day

The rainmaker said to the people
“Tell me what you are prepared to pay”
The rainmaker said to the people
“Well, I’ll conjure up a rain today”

Ninety degrees ‘neath the trees where it’s shady
Hundred and ten in the hot sun
Heat from the street burned the feet of the ladies
See how they run

Called down the lightnin’
By a mystical name
Then the rainmaker called on the thunder
And suddenly it began to rain

Then the rainmaker passed his hat to the people
But the people all turned away
Then the rainmaker’s eyes
And the Kansas skies
Both became a darker grey

First day in August
Last rain was in May
When the rainmaker came to Kansas
In the middle of a dusty day

The rainmaker smiled as he hitched up his wagon
And without a word he rode way
Then the people of the town heard the sound of his laughter
And they knew the rain had come to stay

Rain rain go away
Come again another day
Rain rain go away
Come again another day
Rain
Rain
Rain
Raaaiiinnn
Raaaiiinnn
Raaaiiinnn

Update:  This Song of the Week posted late last Saturday night.  It rained about 1/10 of an inch on Monday night, and nearly that much again on Tuesday afternoon.  That may not seem like much to some people, but it is much more rain than we have had in the past seven or eight weeks, combined.  The weather forecasters are saying that more rain is coming by the end of the week.  Thank you, everyone.

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1.  In the interest of accuracy, I should admit that Denver International Airport has recorded 0.05 inch of precipitation during the period from September 1st through the 25th.  However, we don’t live at the airport.  We missed that moisture here.  Also, it is true that we had a wet Spring, so for the 2015 we have so far had over 12 inches of precipitation; and that is pretty close to average.  But what have the rain clouds done for us lately?

2. “Muggle,” I am told, is a term from the Harry Potter stories for a human with no magical ability of any sort. I must confess that I have not read Harry Potter, so I am taking that definition on faith.