From Cameron Nickerson’s Detours album the Music Nova Scotia Country Recording of the Year nominee pulls “Rainy Day Thinkin’,” a single about the gloomy thoughts that get us down even at the best of times. As Nickerson tells it, the song came from a time in his life when his days were rainy more often than not.
As Nickerson describes it, “Rainy Day Thinkin'” is a “simple sad song with a glimmer of hope,” meaning, he’s already survived the worst of it and hindsight makes things inherently optimistic, given the alternative.
At the time he wrote it, Nickerson might not have been so optimistic. It comes from a time in his life, just after high school, when he and the rest of his old band, The Rockabillys, were just kicking around in Yarmouth, killing time before they could move to the big city. Idle hands can make for some interesting times, and for Nickerson, they weren’t happy.
“[We] were waiting around town for a year so our drummer could finish high school and we could move to Halifax. Turned out to be probably the worst year for me. Lots of drugs, booze. Had a bloody awful 3/4 year relationship with a gal that was on its outs,” explains Nickerson.
“So, I wrote the tune while being locked up inside my apt for the better part of a winter/spring. Didn’t really talk to anyone unless I had a party, or found myself drunk somewhere I ended up somehow I would never remember. I was distant with my family. I was watching all my friends I graduated with having the time of their lives in university while I was still home pretty well a 19 year-old alcoholic trying to be a musician.”
In the middle of all that, Nickerson penned the lyrics for “Rainy Day Thinkin’,” a song that seems to show more wisdom and self-awareness than his situation might have suggested.
“A lot of long days stretched out to early mornings looking out the window smokin’ a dart. Too stoned to drive or do anything. Taking shelter from the thunder and the flashing light, which was life, I think.”
Followers of Cameron Nickerson’s Spotify will be getting treated to a live acoustic video version of the song next week. For more click here.