Time Out Ten

Walk Between (The) Raindrops

For this item you need to be able to stop for ten minutes.

We are often moving on to the next job, the next meeting, scrolling down social media, taking the next call ......'Time Out Ten' asks you to stop for ten minutes and listen to a particular piece of music; to find a time when you won't be interrupted, when you can put in/on your headphones and chill out. Ten minutes isn't long.

Today here's a toe-tapping treat for a time out ten:

A shadow crossed the blue Miami sky
As we hit the causeway by the big hotels
We fought
Now I can't remember why
After all the words were said and tears were gone
We vowed we'd never say goodbye

When we kissed we could hear the sound of thunder
As we watched the regulars rush the big hotels
We kissed again as the showers swept the Florida shore
You opened your umbrella
But we walked between the raindrops back to your door
Oh Miami!

In my dreams I can hear the sound of thunder
I can see the causeway by the big hotels
That happy day we'll find each other on that Florida shore
You'll open your umbrella
And we'll walk between the raindrops back to your door

Walk Between (The) Raindrops originated in the album The Nightfly by Donald Fagan. (The word 'The' doesn't appear in the track listing, but it does in the lyrics). Steely Dan is an American rock band band formed in 1971 by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagan (keyboards, lead vocals). As Wikipedia says: "Their first album, Can't Buy A Thrill, established a template for their career, blending elements of rock, Jazz, Latin music, R&B, Blues and sophisticated studio production with cryptic and ironic lyrics". The jazz influence has been well recognised. Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley's East St Louis Toodle-Oo was included in the album Pretzel Logic and the album Aja featured a range of jazz musicians including saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Steely Dan disbanded in June 1981but reunited in 1993. In the interim, Donald Fagan made two solo albums The Nightfly and Kamakiriad although Walter Becker produced the latter album. Walter sadly died in 2017.

The Nightfly introduced a number of popular tracks of which Walk Between (The) Raindrops is one. Within our ten minutes time out we can firstly listen to Donald Fagan's version here.

We can now squeeze in a video of the song where one of the UK's favourite jazz vocalists, Liane Carroll, joins Northampton's Jazz Colossus Big Band (Facebook). Once again it illustrates how many good big bands there are around the UK.