The Philosophy of Modern Song: Come rain or come shine

But despite this melodic restriction, or maybe because of it, many jazz musicians have taken up the song and helped continue its popularity and it has thus become a statement of constancy no matter what goes on around the singer and his love.

In fact it is the harmonies beneath the melody that really make this song stand out and here we might recall the opening of “Like a Rolling Stone” where the entire opening section

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime

is once again sung on the same note, the vocal line only changing with “Didn’t you?”

Indeed, the opening lyrics between “Rain or come shine” and “Rolling Stone” although on the surface quite different

I'm gonna love you like nobody's loved you
Come rain or come shine

and

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime

suggest that Bob was indeed thoroughly familiar with “Come Rain or Come Shine” when he composed “Rolling Stone” – at least so far as the notion of how life changes – or doesn’t change – becoming the heart of the lyrics of a song.

This, of course, is not to suggest that Bob deliberately copied “Rolling Stone” from “Come Rain” but rather that he was conscious of the technique of using a repeated note (traditionally a notion decried by those who discuss the composition of songs) and knew how to use it when the lyrics concern changes in the subject’s situation.

There is, of course, beyond this point, little to link the two songs.  Dylan’s work reflects the fall of a woman with a surfeit of pride, while Johnny Mercer revels in the notion that love surpasses anything that happens in the world around it, as with the middle 8…

Days may be cloudy or sunny
We're in or we're out of the money
But I'm with you always
I'm with you rain or shine