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We Could Use a Little Rain 3:08
1. Over The River Tonight
© June 11, 1994 by Gary E. Andrews
All Right Reserved for the Globe

Chords
G 32OOO3
C/G (C with G bass) 332010
D XXO232
Am XO221O

(Verse I)
We Could Use A Little Rain.
It wouldn't hurt us a bit!
I wonder if that Crazy Indian,
Would come up and dance for it?
(Chorus Refrain)
We Could Use A Little Rain.

(Verse II)
We could use a little time.
It would help us out a lot!
I wonder if that man at the bank,
Will come and take all we've got!
We Could Use A Little Rain.

(Bridge)
It's been a hard year,
Stumbling be-hind the plow.
Still, Sarah, Never shed a tear.
We Could Use A Little Rain right now

(Verse III)
We could use a little help,
From the govern-ment!
We paid up all our taxes.
Sit and wonder where they went.
We Could Use A Little Rain.

(Verse IV)
We could use a little hope.
I guess we for-get.
It's all in God's hands.
All else is for-feit.
We Could Use A Little Rain.

(Repeat Chorus)

(Verse V)
We could use a little bread,
To sop up the rest of these beans.
I wonder if that man at the store,
Would barter for a mess of greens?
We Could Use A Little Rain.

(Bridge)
It's been a hard year,
Stumbling be-hind the plow.
Still, Sarah, Never shed a tear. (rest)
(Coda)
I think I felt a drop of rain, just now.
We Could Use A Little Rain.

---

More Info...
"We Could Use A Little Rain" Copyright June 11, 1994 by Gary E. Andrews.
All Rights Reserved For The Globe

Bob Dylan was at Live Aid, a concert for the starving folks in Ethiopia I think, and said, "Someone should do something like this for the American Farmer."

Well, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp and Neil Young did and keep on doing.

Somehow, this fictional farmer, the Singer-Character in "We Could Use A Little Rain" told me his story. I wrote it down.
In the video that plays in my head, I always see Sarah giving him a haircut, seated in a white-painted kitchen chair in the dusty front yard of a sharecropper's shack of a house, raggedy towel clutched at his throat 'round his slight shoulders.

Sarah patiently listens as he makes that most obvious of comments, "We could use a little rain," something she's heard a hundred times this summer.

He's ready to believe in his friend, the "Crazy Indian." and a rain dance, worried about the man at the bank taking "all we've got," which, by the look of things, can't be much, but it's his'n.

In the Chorus, he admires his helpmate's steadfast support, "...never shed a tear," which probably keeps him from giving up, keeps him "stumbling behind the plow."

He wishes his Taxes did him some good, admonishes himself for any despairing or unkind thoughts, saying, "It's all in God's hands." The "all else is forfeit" Line seems to me was something I heard somewhere, maybe in the Bible. The Chorus Repeats.

Then it's just him, Sarah, and I think the Indian, sitting at the table on the porch, sharing what little food they've got, beans, turnip greens and wild greens, and winter onions I figure, and maybe a rabbit the Indian brought, wishing for some bread and wondering if they can "barter for a mess of greens."

The final Chorus is him in the chair, Sarah finishing the haircut, a tear running down her dusty cheek and a bit of it dripping on him. He pauses, looks up and holds out his free hand, and says, "I think I felt a drop of rain just now."

Sarah, finished with the haircut, pulls the towel off him, turns her back, says, "Did 'ja?," and, shaking out the towel, says, "We could use a little rain," and goes on into the house.

The Song's as much, if not more, about Sarah than it is about the farmer.

"We Could Use A Little Rain" is in my 36-song "Out Of The Woodwork III" copyright collection.

John Schomburg, a traditional music student and player, based in Columbus, Ohio, asked to cover this song. I quickly consented. It was an honor to be covered by a musician of his breadth and depth of study.

Biggs & Valentine, a splendidly accomplished Portsmouth, Ohio duo, John Biggs and Jeff Valentine, also asked to cover it.

Now YOU can cover it and introduce it to the world. Email: garyeandrews@yahoo.com