A Playlist Of Rainbows

Introduction

This is a playlist and example piece for my November Challenge that drops this Saturday. It is simply a playlist of songs that contain the word "rainbow" in their titles.

I love that the rainbow has become one of the Pride symbols, and I see things like rainbow pedestrian crossings at my local hospitals.

This Stonewall poem I wrote on Vocal, I physically wrote out in rainbow colours at a Pride Festival at Exhibition Park in Newcastle in 2022:

I got the idea for this after hearing Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's take on "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", so we will start with that one.

Israel Kamakawiwoʻole - "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"

Al has been written about Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, but this is the only song of his that I (and millions of others) know. He was a big man and had health issues and died in 1997.

Here you can find out a little more about him:

Nirvana - "Rainbow Chaser"

This is the English Nirvana from the 1960s, not Kurt Cobain's grunge monsters. I loved this because of the monstrously phased brass on a relatively gentle song.

I still play this quite a lot but haven't really investigated them further.

The Muppets - "Rainbow Connection"

A favourite of Mariann and Mark

Uriah Heep - "Rainbow Demon" from "Demons And Wizards"

Uriah Heep were the first band I ever saw live. It was at the Public Hall in Preston, where I had performed as part of a school choir. The Public Hall is now 1842 which you can read about here:

"Rainbow Demon" is quite doom laden but it is from an excellent album, and obviously deserves its place in this playlist because of its title.

The Rolling Stones - "She's A Rainbow" from "Their Satanic Majesties Request"

With its tinkling piano and psychedelic lyrics, this opened side two of the album, which features a lenticular cover on its original release. The band thought the album was patchy, but they loved this song and featured it on many of their tours this millenium.

Shed Seven - "Chasing Rainbows"

Although this song seems a bit of a downer, I still love it for the chorus.

The High Kings - "Chasing Rainbows"

I found this by accident looking for the Shed Seven song, but this, to me, seem an incredibly annoyingly contrived piece of not very Irish music, but it has a title which allows it into this playlist.

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - "Catch The Rainbow" from "Rainbow"

A lot of Rainbows in that title, band name and album, Ritchie Blackmore's next band when he moved on from Deep Purple, with a Ronnie James Dio slice of heavy blues. Rather excellent in my opinion.

Sia - "Rainbow" from "Songbird Serenade" and "My Little Pony: The Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)"

This is really nice and a bit more contemporary that a lot of the music I have shared. My daughters Juliet and Kirsty used to love My Little Pony and had a huge collection of figures.

Steve Hillage - "Four Ever Rainbow" from "Rainbow Dome Music"

I will finish this playlist with this twenty-minute piece of electronic ambience from Steve Hillage. When it came out orginally, I didn;t take much notice, but I recently rediscovered it on vinyl and digital, and I find it incredibly relaxing.

You might, too, give it a try.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for listening to this and reading. I know most of the music forms are completely different but all have the Rainbow connection.

I know I have missed a lot, but I did not want to overload you with rainbows, although I do love to see a rainbow after a storm.