“Rutland Rain” - a song about adjuring
Story Pairing
I wrote this in Rutland, VT in a lovely Air BnB that was offered to me by a badass couple that was at my show. As you know I often stay in the van, but because of how small it is I can’t play guitar in it, pretty much just sleep. So when inspiration strikes it’s hard to capture in confined spaces. I think inspiration was watching me and knew that this night I had a place I could spread out and create in. That said I also think it refused to make it easy as a little punishment for not making time for her lately.
I’ve talked about it before, but I am very much of the ilk that songwriting comes from muses that decide to throw you a bone if you’re listening to what they have to say. They hand it out, and you have a limited amount of time to accept their offering (with grace and praise) before they become offended and rip it back out of your grasp. When I write it comes in these bursts and if I don’t sit down and scribe as much of it as I can then I lose it’s potency. Sometimes I can kind of squeeze a tune out of the scraps that are left, but it’s never as special as when the song is done, start to finish in 20 minutes or so.
Lately I have also been making a point to get a first draft completely down before I step away from a song, even when it’s hard. In the past if I didn’t get the entire song in one go, I would rarely finish it. I figured if it wasn’t easy it wasn’t meant to be. And while I still think that to an extent, I also think that sometimes the muses are being vain and stubborn. They want to give you a song, but they want to remind you how thankful you should be and that you should beg them every once in a while. Remind them how much you love them and show them some affection.
With this song, it was like petting a tiger. It wanted to exist but it refused to play nice or sit still. I think if I hadn’t been in that space I wouldn’t have been able to write it. I knew that I only had that night where I could actually hold my guitar and spread some papers out on the table. So I was making a point to dance. If the muse wanted to be an ornery partner, then I would go toe to toe and ride that bull until I got a song out of it! You can tell by my notebook page on this one that it was a journey.
I shared it the next day at a songwriting group held at the same UU church I had played the night before. It was a special full circle moment and a beautiful 24 hours of new places, new music, new friends. It’s those sort of weekends that make me fall so madly in love with songwriting.
To my fellow writers, I’d encourage you to seek out those moments. Making songs can always become a formula. You can find books with their different approaches and their step by step process. If I had a formula I was going to share it would be
1. Go to a new place (call this x)
2. Absorb as much as you can. Walk the roads or trails. Smell what’s different. Eat locally. Talk to strangers. Etc. (call this y)
3. Go on a walk or hike afterwards where your mind can just replay moments. Don’t stop moving until you’ve stirred it all into a beautiful soup. (call this alpha)
4. **Tip. When you go to write it, get a full version down, even if some of the verses are clunky and don’t rhyme or whatever. Just get all those pieces down on paper. It will never be as strong coming back as it was during conception.
x + y + alpha = song
Song Structure
Capo 2. Drop D
Verse: D / G / D / G
Pre Chorus: Bm / A / D / G
Chorus: G / D
Voice Memos
No Notebook Page
Sept 2025
Lyrics
Can you hear the call of Rutland in the fall
Near pine hill trail out by shimmer way
Where I practice songs as the dry stones sing along
Every visit shes slowly taking shape
Shes dancing there, with her make me move now stare
Run my fingers through the dust and then shell sway
I’d learn her every move if she could stay
Rutland rain go away from my window
I’m begging you for just a little time
Rutland rain go away from my window
Where I write her name a letter at a time
The streets in town, getting pretty dirty now
Their hands don’t know the same softness as mine
They curse and cry at an empty quite sky
Whos torn between my love and their bottom line
Shes dancing there, with her make me move now stare
Run my fingers through the dust and then shell sway
I’d learn her every move if she could stay
Rutland rain go away from my window
I’m begging you for just a little time
Rutland rain go away from my window
Where I write her name a letter at a time
So farewell my dear, I can hear the storm a coming
Well meet again, I know, but can’t explain
Rutland rain coming down on my window
Like every rain in every old sad song
Rutland rain coming down on my window
Her name was written there but now shes gone
Rutland rain coming down on my window
Like every rain in every old sad song
Rutland rain coming down on my window
Her name was written there but now shes gone
Now shes gone, with the Rutland rain x3