MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
Rain (Mika)
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3:45
Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/music/rain-mika-2219
Description

"Rain" is a song by Mika, it appears on his second studio album The Boy Who Knew Too Much and was released in United Kingdom as the second single. Mika told Q magazine June 2009: "This is an unapologetic '80s pop record. I bumped into producer Stuart Price while he was working with The Killers at Olympic Studios. He helped me program this. It reminded him of ABBA and Frankie Goes to Hollywood."


You can sing to the karaoke version here.

Transcript

Is it really necessary
Every single day
You’re making me more ordinary
In every possible way

This ordinary mind is broken
You did it and you don’t even know
You’re leaving me with words unspoken
You better get back 'cause I’m ready for

More than this
Whatever it is
Baby, I hate days like this

Caught in a trap
I can't look back
Baby I hate days like this

When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains

More than this
Baby I hate days like...

Trying to be ordinary
Was it me who was the fool?
Thought you found the man you wanted
'til you turned him into something new

Well even if our minds are broken
There’s something that I need you to know
It’s nothing like the life we wanted
You better move on
Coz I’m ready for

More than this
Whatever it is
Baby, I hate days like this

Caught in a trap
I can’t look back
Baby I hate days like this

When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains

When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains

More than this
Baby I hate days like...

  (Spoken)
I’m not angry
Don’t know what to do
After all the years that I spent with you
I can’t blame you for the things you say
Getting used to hide away

More than this
Whatever it is
Baby, I hate days like this

Caught in a trap
I can’t look back
Baby I hate days like this

When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains

When it rain and rain and rain and rains
When it rain and rain and rain and rains
... ...

You’re leaving me with words unspoken
You better get back 'cause I’m ready for
More than this
Baby I hate days like...

Explanations

EVERY SINGLE DAY= An emphatic form of "every day".

ORDINARY= Average; not special; of no exceptional qualities; second-rate.
For some reason, Mika pronounces this word (and also "necessary" before) with the American stress. Words ending in -ary are pronounced -/erɪ/ in America, but the stress goes farther back in BrE, so the British pronunciation for this word should be /ordənrɪ/ (like necessary /nesəsrɪ/or secretary /secrətrɪ/etc) while the American pronunciation is /ɔrdɪnerɪ/ ( and /nesəserɪ//secrəterɪ/etc).  



YOU BETTER= (coll.) You'd better (=you had better) = You should.

GET BACK= Move backwards, step back (because I'm going to walk away past you)

WHATEVER= No matter what

CAUGHT IN A TRAP= Trapped, with no possibility of escape, feeling like a prisoner.
You use traps to catch animals in the forest, or to catch mice at home. When the animal is caught in the trap, they can't go away and you can get them.

LOOK BACK= Think of the past.

WHEN IT RAIN...= It should be "rainS" but he leaves the S for the last "rain" in the line.
In English culture, rain is a symbol of sadness, of crying (it rains a lot in England), so a rainy day is a metaphor for a sad day or a feeling of depression.

YOU TURNED HIM INTO= You transformed him into... / you changed him into...


MOVE ON= Move forward (also in a metaphorical sense)
So Mika means: continue with your life, get over this. I'm breaking up with you (leaving you) but you must move forward and continue with your life.

COZ= (coll.) Cause / Because (AmE Cuz).

I CAN'T BLAME YOU= I don't think it's your fault.

GETTING USED TO HIDE AWAY= Considering that you (or maybe me?) are used to hiding away.

Meaning

The song's lyrics are from a letter that Mika wrote to an ex. He explained to The Sun September 11, 2009: "it's a break-up letter I wrote. So I thought it would be funny to put it down to a dance beat and get everyone to dance it."

Mika elaborated on this song to The London Times November 20, 2009: "How was I feeling the day I wrote that? I was furious with the person I was going out with." The interviewer asked what they had done? Mika replied: "Nothing. That was the problem." The interviewer then asked what he wanted them to do? "Embarrass me, Mika replied. "Make me happy at the risk of making me totally miserable... So I wrote this nasty little nursery rhyme - and then I thought, wouldn't it be funny to put it to a dance beat, because that would empower it."


In this letter Mika is complaining about his lover (sure, it's a break-up letter). His lover is an ordinary person who wants Mika to be an ordinary person too. Mika is very special (no explanations needed about that) and he can live in heaven or in hell, but never on earth in an ordinary life. But finally he gave up and changed to suit his lover... and now that he changed, his lover doesn't like it that way because it's not Mika anymore:

Trying to be ordinary [...] [you] thought you found the man you wanted, 'til you turn him into something new.

But Mika can take only so much of an ordinary life and when he couldn't take it anymore...

This ordinary mind is broken, you did it and you don't even know.

... he decides to break free and be himself again, leaving a relationship that was suffocating him.

You better move on cause I'm ready for more than this, whatever it is, baby.


All this reminds me of one of my favourite quotes:


Love people as they are, not as you want them to be, because you may love them no more if they changed.