Song of the Morning: Rain

I usually start writing a post with the process of finding the right picture that goes with it. This is not just because I want to make the post more appealing, but also because I sometimes need some added inspiration, the kind that music, although highly inspirational and influential, can't always provide. So when my morning revelation starred Madonna, I had to find a suitable image. In this case, I spent long minutes contemplating which picture to use; there are over a thousand of these on her Last.fm page alone, and probably thousands more on the net. Hardly any of them seems natural; most are directed and choreographed, bearing and portraying different symbols of power, sex, femininity, religion, spirituality, fashion and much more. It was also difficult to pick between the different transformations and eras the prominent singer has been through (I sort of stopped keeping track after Ray of Light).

So, where was the "real" Madonna? How much substance does she have in her own vast commercial empire today? Why would she wake me up with "Rain", after quite a few days of dry weather and an even longer period of a Madonna-free play list?

I don't know, but it's making me think of her in nostalgic terms, which I find somehow strange and even sad, for both of us. We've grown up. I wonder if we realize that.

Madonna - Rain (from Something to Remember)