“No Rain” by Blind Melon (1993)
Dad’s Song of the Day #64, Nov. 1, 2025
I think a lot of people fell in love with this jangly, upbeat tune from its video, which opens with a sweet, slightly-awkward child tap dancing on stage in her bee costume…and our heart breaks for her as the buggers in the audience tease and taunt her. Back to Bee Girl in a sec.
“No Rain” is another of those Trojan Horse songs, where a peppy, finger-snapping tune masks a darker meaning within the lyrics.
In this case, the words reflect lead singer Shannon Hoon’s crippling depression, and the struggles he had just getting out of bed and facing the world.
Singing in his raspy, emotive voice, he hopes for rain, since it offers a plausible excuse for staying inside, isolating himself physically and emotionally.
Meanwhile, back to the video, after her humiliation, our little Bee Girl does the exact OPPOSITE of the sentiments in Hoon’s lyrics.
She goes outside; she meets the world on her own terms; and…she finds her people!!: a whole tribe of dancing, happy Bee People.
I wish Shannon Hoon had found a similar happy fate. But he had a lot of struggles…with his mental health and with physical addictions. He died of a cocaine overdose in 1995, only two years after Blind Melon hit stardom with “No Rain” and only five weeks after he turned 28.