View Of The Rain
Urge Overkill Lyrics

The lyrics of Urge Overkill’s “View of the Rain” explore the disillusionment and weariness that comes from life experiences. The first verse depicts the singer’s resignation towards trying to improve his situation with age. He no longer fights or cries, but even the hope in his dreams has been replaced by a mind that is “wasted” on them. The second verse continues this theme of disappointment. The singer no longer smiles, prays or loves, and comments that too many lies and death have dimmed his spirits. This leads him to ask the listener to “take a walk upside yourself” and really examine the person they are underneath their facade. Do they like what they see or is it time for a change?

The repeated line “with a view of the rain” captures the idea that the singer is looking at the world with a sense of resignation, as though the beauty of the rain has been stripped away by life’s hardships. Overall, the song is about coming to terms with the fact that the highs of life might not be as high as we once dreamed, and that sometimes it’s enough to just try and find some contentment in who we are and what we have.

Interesting facts about the song:
- “View of the Rain” was released in 1995 as part of Urge Overkill’s album “Exit the Dragon”.
- The song’s music video features the band members in various surreal scenes, including walking on the ceiling.
- Urge Overkill is mostly known for the song “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”, which was featured in the popular movie “Pulp Fiction”.
- The band is considered part of the alt-rock and garage rock revival scenes in the 1990s.
- The album “Exit the Dragon” was intended to be a comeback for the band after a six-year gap between albums, but it ended up being their last studio album.
- In a 1995 review, Rolling Stone described the album as "a baroque rock spectacle that sounds like it's been painstakingly assembled from various other albums."
- “View of the Rain” was included in a 2017 episode of the TV series “Riverdale”.
- Urge Overkill had a brief rivalry with fellow band the Smashing Pumpkins, with both groups hailing from Chicago and competing for attention in the alternative music scene.
- The band’s name is derived from a phrase used by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, who sang a song titled “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” with the lyrics “We're big rock singers, we got golden fingers, And we're loved everywhere we go...We shoot up the town, we're Urge Overkill”.