The Rain

This week at Song Lyric Sunday, Jim has given us the prompt of listen/hear/talk/speak. I’ve chosen Rhythm of the Rain, by The Cascades from 1963.

Song Facts:

This was written by The Cascades lead singer John Gummoe, who told us the story in October 2008: “I wrote ‘Rhythm of the Rain’ over a period of time, but the lyrics began while I was serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the U.S.S. Jason AR8. I was standing a mid watch on the bridge while we were underway to Japan. We were sailing up in the north pacific and it was raining heavily and the seas were tossing.

The title came to me first and I liked the ‘ring’ of it, the way it flowed, and that night I wrote down most of the lyrics. It was like the rain was talking. It was later on that I sat down at a piano and was fooling around with the black keys and started playing a sequence from E flat down to F sharp, well, if you do it you’ll see it’s the melody that is now stuck in the heads of millions of people around the world. Later on, when we did a demo on the song, that great little ding-ding thing that goes FC-FC, DA, DA came to be. The great arranger Perry Botkin Jr. enhanced that little hook and it was producer Barry De Vorzon who came up with the idea of opening the song with that famous burst of thunder.”

This was recorded at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, which is where Phil Spector produced many of his hits. Some of the elite west coast studio musicians played on this song, including the legendary session drummer Hal Blaine and guitarist Glen Campbell.

Lyrics:

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
Telling me just what a fool I’ve been
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain
And let me be alone again

The only girl I care about has gone away
Looking for a brand new start
But little does she know
That when she left that day
Along with her she took my heart

Rain please tell me now does that seem fair
For her to steal my heart away when she don’t care
I can’t love another when my hearts somewhere far away

The only girl I care about has gone away
Looking for a brand new start
But little does she know that when she left that day
Along with her she took my heart

[Instrumental Interlude]

Rain won’t you tell her that I love her so
Please ask the sun to set her heart aglow
Rain in her heart and let the love we knew start to grow

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
Telling me just what a fool I’ve been
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain

And let me be alone again

Oh, listen to the falling rain
Pitter pater, pitter pater
Oh, oh, oh, listen to the falling rain
Pitter patter, pitter patter…