"It Feels Like Rain" — Adapted by Samuel E. Burns

Samuel E. Burns’ adaptation of “It Feels Like Rain” breathes new emotional depth into John Hiatt’s original, preserving its swampy Southern soul while lending it a more intimate, poetic edge. Rooted in the imagery of Louisiana’s sultry landscape, the piece unfolds like a storm rolling in—slow, heavy, inevitable—and with it comes a flood of longing, vulnerability, and surrender.

The opening lines—“Down where the river meets the sea / In the sticky heat I feel you open up to me”—immediately place us in a sensual, almost cinematic space. There’s a tactile closeness here that Burns leans into throughout the piece, letting natural imagery do the emotional lifting. The rain is more than weather; it's a metaphor for emotional release, a cleansing force, and a subtle nod to the unpredictability of love.

Burns stays faithful to Hiatt’s tone while adding lyrical flourishes that heighten the mood. Lines like “The clouds roll in across the moon, / The wind howls out your name” shimmer with romantic tension, almost mythic in their simplicity. Meanwhile, the refrain—“And it feels like rain”—repeats like a mantra, grounding the listener in the mood even as the verses meander like a river before a storm.

What makes this adaptation so effective is how it amplifies the original’s themes without overcomplicating them. Love here is messy, inconvenient, impossible to schedule—“Never gonna make that bridge tonight, baby / Crossing the Pontchartrain”—and yet, the speaker leans into the chaos rather than away from it. “Leave your heart out on your sleeve,” Burns urges, transforming vulnerability into a kind of defiant beauty.

By the song’s end, the repetition of “Baby can you feel it... feels like rain” swells into something both urgent and comforting. It's a love song, yes—but also a meditation on the stormy weather of human connection, and the peace that sometimes comes when we stop trying to fight the flood.

Samuel E. Burns' adaptation is not just a respectful homage to John Hiatt—it’s a soulful reimagining that deepens the emotional current of the original. With its vivid imagery, subtle lyricism, and moody atmosphere, “It Feels Like Rain” doesn’t just describe love—it lets us feel it pour down.