Almost every year that I can remember… just when I think it’s spring, with newness in the air and the feeling that we are finally throwing off the drab and drear of the cold dark winter… the weather throws me a curve. It snows.
It’s a weird connection for me, but I always think of the Prince song “Sometimes It Snows In April” when this happens.
I don’t remember what year it was, but I had purchased the album “Prince – Parade” and was in love with it completely. I was not always a Prince fan, but I had bought “Around The World In A Day” and was converted 100%. So when the “Parade” album fell on my ears, it was amazing. I had learned to dig his style, acknowledged his guitar talent, and found myself appreciating, to my own surprise, his ballads. The song “Sometimes It Snows In April” comes at the end of the “Parade” album, which is the soundtrack to a film I don’t think I have ever seen. It is slow and full of sadness and revolves around the death of the the character Prince portrayed in the film.
Interestingly, this track was played hard right after Prince’s actual death, the “Parade” album being released 31 years to the day prior.
I am always deeply touched by this song, and like playing “Alice’s Restaurant” at Thanksgiving, and Christmas music during that season… this is an obligatory song for me on the days in April when it snows.
In the past it has reminded me of losing people, friends, family, people whom I may not even personally met, but are known to me.
So the song is sad, but, there is hope in it. It’s that part that I cling to.
Just after I’d wiped away his last tear
I guess he’s better off than he was before
A whole lot better off than the fools he left here
I used to cry for Tracy ’cause he was my only friend
Those kind of cars don’t pass you every day
I used to cry for Tracy ’cause I wanted to see him again
But sometimes, sometimes life ain’t always the way
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish life was never ending
And all good things, they say, never last
A time for lovers holding hands in the rain
Now springtime only reminds me of Tracy’s tears
Always cry for love, never cry for pain
He used to say so strong, oh unafraid to die
Unafraid of the death that left me hypnotized
No, staring at his picture I realized
No one could cry the way my Tracy cried
Sometimes I feel so bad
Sometimes, sometimes I wish that life was never ending
And all good things, they say, never last
I know that he has found another friend
Maybe he’s found the answer to all the April snow
Maybe one day I’ll see my Tracy again
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending
But all good things, they say, never last
And love, it isn’t love until it’s past
The Aural Retentive 
I love you, quarantine buddy. ❤️
❤️❤️❤️