It has been said that April showers bring May flowers. But in my experience, growing up, most of these flowers appeared in April when the showers started, coinciding instead with spring. My Hungarian grandmother had an acre of land in Middletown, and on this land grew many varieties of fruit, berries, trees, vegetables and, in great abundance,…..flowers. In particular I remember her peony bushes upon which grew huge flowers. At least they seemed that way to me when I was in elementary school.
I went to a small Catholic school which was staffed by Franciscan nuns. Stereotypical nuns with black habits and white head pieces and white ropes with knots which hung down their sides. My job in the spring, usually in April, was to deliver enormous bundles of peonies to a nun at the church for use on the altar as decoration. This was usually done until the peonies finally ran out. The tortuous part, to me, was that I had to walk to school carrying these large bundles of flowers, unable to escape the smell, and barely able to see for the half-mile walk to the church (and school). As a result I developed a lifelong distaste for flowers of all kinds. Especially their sickening sweet smell which I also will forever relate to funerals.
When my grandmother died, I experienced those exact same flowers and their smells at her funeral when I was still in elementary school. A brief freedom followed until I was in high school and playing with dance bands. The height of the season was playing proms, and most of the time the band was presented with flowers, usually carnations, to pin on their band jackets. Whenever I raised my trombone to play, the flower was also raised, and with every intake of breath I inhaled the same sickening sweet smell I grew up with.
So, my association with April showers to flowers to songs is such that I avoid flowers like the plague (much to the consternation of my wife). Showers (rain), on the other hand, I love. And songs are a part of who I am. So the bottom line is that I tolerate April, but I am passionate about my love for rain and music.