Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is a rock singer. She appeared regularly … Read Full Bio ↴Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is a rock singer. She appeared regularly in the television show Ally McBeal in which she played a resident performer at the bar where the show's characters drank after work. She plays piano, guitar, and bass.

Vonda Shepard was born in New York but her family relocated to California when she was fairly young. She played piano from an early age. Her father is Richmond Shepard, a mime and improv actor. Vonda has three sisters: Rosetta, Luana, and Brianna. Her mother left the family when Vonda was ten, and her father raised the four girls by himself.

After performing as a backing singer for many years she was eventually given her own recording contract. Shepard's first chart appearance was in 1987 when she recorded a duet with Dan Hill entitled 'Can't We Try'. She released her first self-titled album in 1989 with little fanfare. The album did yield one chart single, Don't Cry Ilene, a mid-tempo, piano-driven jazz-RnB flavored song dealing with the break-up of a relationship between a black woman and a white man, arising from adult peer pressure. The track is sung from the perspective of the woman's white female friend, who harbors a desire to have the man for herself, but keeps her distance out of respect for her friend. The song peaked at 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on the charts for 12 weeks.

After her third album, Shepard was signed up to appear on Ally McBeal after being spotted by the show's creator David E Kelley. While on the show she recorded two full soundtrack albums and was featured on two other Ally McBeal compilations. The songs Shepard recorded for Ally McBeal soundtrack albums were mainly covers of old songs with lyrics that paralleled what was happening in the title character's life onscreen. Since appearing in the show, Shepard has released two more studio albums and a live album.

Shepard is married to music producer Mitchell Froom and they had their first child, Jack Froom, on 15 April 2006.

Rainy Days
Vonda Shepard Lyrics

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We were walking above
Pretending to be in love
In phases I watched you float away

I was under the gun
Trying to have some fun
In phases I watched you slip away

Remember all these rainy says
We saved them up but tomorrow never came
And now these rainy days are clouding up
Even, even the clearest of days

We were sticking it out
Getting used to the doubt
In phases you watched me drift away

Now I'm taking a train
Shooting through the rain
Amazed that I'm alone here
Once again

Remember all these rainy days
We saved them up but tomorrow never came
And now these rainy days are clouding up
Even, even the clearest of days, yeah

I watched you float away

Remember all these rainy days
We saved them up but tomorrow never came
And now these rainy days are clouding up
Even the clearest of days

These rainy days
We saved them up but tomorrow never came
And now these rainy days are clouding up
Even, even the clearest of days

And now these rainy days are clouding up
Even, even the clearest of days

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Vonda Shepard's song "Rainy Days" tell a story about a failing relationship, expressed through the metaphor of rainy days clouding up even the clearest of days. The song's narrator reminisces about past times with their partner, walking and pretending to be in love, while gradually noticing their partner "float away" and slip out of their grasp. The singer also reflects on their own attempts to save the relationship, "sticking it out" and trying to have fun despite the doubt, but realizing that they too have drifted away. The song expresses a sense of melancholy and regret, acknowledging that despite efforts to hold onto moments of happiness, tomorrow never came and everything eventually slipped away.

The lyrics of "Rainy Days" are filled with rich imagery and double meanings. The phrase "even the clearest of days" suggests not only a literal clouding over of the sky, but also a metaphorical sense of how even the best times in a relationship can become muddled and obscured by difficulties. The repeated refrain of "remember all these rainy days, we saved them up but tomorrow never came" underlines the theme of missed opportunities and unfulfilled promises. Overall, the song conveys a bittersweet nostalgia for a relationship that never quite lived up to its potential.

Line by Line Meaning

We were walking above
We were together, on a high of happiness and love

Pretending to be in love
We were not truly in love, but trying to make it work

In phases I watched you float away
Slowly and gradually, I saw you pull away from me

I was under the gun
I felt pressure to make our relationship work

Trying to have some fun
I was trying to enjoy the moments we had together

In phases I watched you slip away
Gradually, I saw you become distant and slip away from me

Remember all these rainy days
We remember the tough times we went through

We saved them up but tomorrow never came
But we never really moved on from them, and they haunt us

And now these rainy days are clouding up
Those tough times are now affecting us in our present

Even, even the clearest of days
Even when things should be going well, we are still affected by our past

We were sticking it out
We were trying to make our relationship work, despite the difficulties