Gabe Lee arrived at New York City’s Cafe Wha? this past weekend with more than songs. What he put together was a one-man Off-Broadway show — stories and music woven together into a look at what it’s like to chase songs — and a songwriting career — in Nashville. The pain was real, the humor was dry, and it’s a story he knows all too well. “Surrender to the Rain” — a song about a bartender who used to sing — was the perfect place to bring it home.
If one song captured the evening, it was “Surrender to the Rain” — a song that shares life lessons through the story of a man who watched his dream slip away:
I was dropping outta music school at the age of 18
I was gonna start a rockin’ roll band chasin’ tail and the dream
Years later I’m a lonely man, tending bar and serving drinks
Nowadays I switch a kegger out but you should’ve heard me sing.
And then the turn — the lesson hard-won and plainly stated:
Easy way to miss a long shot is dropping out of the game
If all you ever do is run and hide, you can’t learn from the pain
Some people spend their whole life between the sun and the sycamore shade
But you will never catch the lightning til you surrender to the rain.
Enjoy this performance of the song captured recently at Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Cafe.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.