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Notebook:I was born in Bozeman, Montana in 1979, but I've been living in Portland since 1986. I grew up here, and it's home. I went to Worcester, MA for college, but after four years there I was ready to come home, and I'e been back ever since.
Weather isn't really the litmus test this song plays it off as, and I don't think it should be otherwise; I have good friends in town who tolerate the rain and wait for the sun to come back around, and I'd prefer they stuck around. But I'm a rain guy—it's what makes this home. It's an inescapable part of Portland's identity, for me, and the long dry hot days of July and August just kill me every year. I suppose I should buy an air conditioner.
Portland songs seems to come back to rain, in fact: I've written at least two other songs substantially referencing Portland, and both that I can think of explicitly work in the rain thematically. That runs the risk of sounding self-conciously dreary or emo or such, but that's not the intent. I like the rain. It makes me happy; it's very tangible, it's atmosphere you can feel, with wind and noise and the promise of thunder now and then; and it's a pleasure to come in out of the rain.