"Rain" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 30 May 1966 as the B-side of their "Paperback Writer" single. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for Revolver, although neither appear on that album. "Rain" was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. He described it as being "about people moaning about the weather all the time".

The song's recording contains a slowed-down rhythm track, a droning bass line and backwards vocals. Its release marked one of the first times that reversed sounds appeared in a pop song, although the Beatles used the same technique on the Revolver track "Tomorrow Never Knows", recorded days earlier. Ringo Starr considers "Rain" his best recorded drum performance. Three promotional films were created for the song, and they are considered among the early precursors of music videos.

Background and inspiration

Commenting on "Rain", Lennon said it addressed "People moaning because ... they don't like the weather". According to Paul McCartney's recollection in his 1997 authorised biography Many Years from Now, the pair collaborated on it, and the song's authorship was "70–30 to John". In what Beatles biographer Steve Turner deems an oversimplification that ignores the philosophical aspect, McCartney recalled: "Songs have traditionally treated rain as a bad thing and what we got on to was that it's no bad thing. There's no greater feeling than the rain dripping down your back."

Composition

According to musicologist Alan Pollack, although the Beatles recording has "no sitars or other ethnic 'world music' instruments", "Rain" strongly evokes the style of Indian classical music through its "droning harmony and the, at times florid tune". Ethnomusicologist David Reck recognises the song as "a more subtle absorption of Orientalism" in comparison with "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Love You To", but one nevertheless possessing an Indian sound through Harrison's distorted lead guitar, Ringo Starr's drumming, and the use of reverse tape effects.

Harrison confirmed Lennon's creative accident, as did Emerick, but Martin told Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn in 1987:

Lennon repeated his version of events in a 1968 interview with Jonathan Cott of Rolling Stone. In a 1980 interview, Lennon recalled:

Regardless of who is credited for the technique, "from that point on", Emerick wrote, "almost every overdub we did on Revolver had to be tried backwards as well as forwards."

Release and reception

"Rain" was released as the B-side to "Paperback Writer" in the United States on 30 May 1966 (as Capitol 5651) and in the UK on 10 June. It was the Beatles' first UK single since the "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" double A-side in December 1965. The new record showed profound changes in the Beatles' image, after the band had spent the first half of 1966 largely out of the public eye. Music journalist Jon Savage describes the two tracks as "saturated in clanging guitar and Indian textures", and each reflective of a different side of "the psychedelic coin". In author Shawn Levy's description, as a prelude to Revolver, the single offered the first clue of the Beatles' transformation into "the world's first household psychedelics, avatars of something wilder and more revolutionary than anything pop culture had ever delivered before". Cash Box described the song as a "soulful, medium-paced, effectively-rendered blueser."

In the United States, the song peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 9 July 1966, and remained in that position the following week. The "Paperback Writer" single reached number 1 in the UK and the US, as well as Australia and West Germany.

Rolling Stone ranked "Rain" 469th in its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2010 and 463rd in 2004. On a similar list compiled by the New York radio station Q104.3, the song appeared at number 382. Both Ian MacDonald and Rolling Stone described Starr's drumming on the track as "superb", while Richie Unterberger of AllMusic praises his "creative drum breaks". In 1984, Starr said: "I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away … I know me and I know my playing … and then there's 'Rain'." In his article on the band's singles, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian describes the song as "simultaneously thunderous and dreamy psych", and "perhaps the best Beatles B-side of all". "Rain" was ranked 20th in Mojos list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs", compiled in 2006 by a panel of critics and musicians. The magazine's editors credited it with launching a "countercultural downpour".

Music critic Jim DeRogatis describes the track as "the Beatles' first great psychedelic rock song". Music historian Simon Philo recognises its release as marking "the birth of British psychedelic rock", as well as a forerunner to the unprecedented studio exploration and Indian aesthetic of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Love You To", respectively. It has been noted for its slowed-down rhythm track and backwards vocals, anticipating the studio experimentation of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and other songs on Revolver, which was released in August 1966. Musicologist Walter Everett cites its closing section as an example of how the Beatles pioneered the "fade-out–fade-in coda", a device used again by them on "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Helter Skelter", and by Led Zeppelin on "Thank You". From its introduction in "Rain", the Hindustani gamaka vocal ornamentation was adopted by several bands in the late 1960s, including the Moody Blues (on "The Sun Set"), the Hollies ("King Midas in Reverse") and Crosby, Stills & Nash ("Guinnevere").

"Rain" was first mixed in stereo in December 1969 for its inclusion on the US compilation album Hey Jude early the following year. The track subsequently appeared on Rarities in the UK The band also promoted the single with a rare TV appearance, miming to both songs on the BBC show Top of the Pops on 16 June.

The Beatles' Anthology documentary video includes an edit combining the Chiswick House promo for "Rain" with shots from the two black-and-white EMI clips and unused colour footage from the 20 May filming. The new edit also employs rhythmic fast cuts. Unterberger writes that this creates an impression that the 1966 promos were more technically complex, fast-paced and innovative than was the case. For example, the backwards film effects are 1990s creations. Such effects were actually first deployed in the "Strawberry Fields Forever" promotional film of January 1967.

Years later, when speaking about the films' impact in the documentary series The Beatles Anthology, Harrison said, "So I suppose, in a way, we invented MTV."

Covers, samples and media references

Petula Clark covered "Rain" on her 1966 album I Couldn't Live Without Your Love. Dan Ar Braz covered "Rain" on his 1979 album The Earth's Lament, and later performed it with Fairport Convention at the Cropredy Festival in 1997. Polyrock covered the song on their second album Changing Hearts (1981). Todd Rundgren has also covered the song, In his commentary with Mojos selection of the best Beatles songs, Partridge recalled that on the night after Lennon was murdered in December 1980, the band played a gig at Liverpool, where they incorporated "Rain" in the coda to "Towers of London"; Partridge added, "I felt torn apart and had tears rolling down my face."

Oasis first named themselves the Rain after the Beatles track.

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Notes

References

Sources

  • Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website