I Wish It Would Rain
Encyclopedia
"I Wish It Would Rain" is a 1967 song recorded by the Temptations
for the Motown label (under the "Gordy" imprint
) and produced by Norman Whitfield
.
delivering, in a pained voice, the story of a heartbroken man who wants to hide his sorrow. His woman has just left him, and he wishes that it would start raining, to hide the tears falling down his face because "a man ain't supposed to cry". Accompanying Ruffin's mourning vocal are the vocals his bandmates Eddie Kendricks
, Melvin Franklin
, Paul Williams
, and Otis Williams
, the subdued instrumentation of The Funk Brothers
studio band, and, courtesy of Whitfield, sound effect
s depicting the "sunshine and blue skies" and rain described in the song. Producer Norman Whitfield devised much of the musical structure of the song, with former Motown artist Barrett Strong
composing the song's signature piano intro on a piano with only ten working keys. Motown staff writer Roger Penzabene
provided the song's lyrics.
More so than a number of other Motown songs, there is real sentiment and pain behind the song's words. Lyricist Penzabene had just found out his wife was cheating
on him with another man. Unable to deal with the pain and unable to stop loving his wife, Penzabene expressed his pain in the lyrics of this song and its follow-up on the Temptations' release schedule, "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)
". The distraught Penzabene committed suicide
on New Year's Eve
1967, a week after the single's release.
-led "I Truly, Truly Believe" as its B-side
, "I Wish It Would Rain" peaked for three weeks in February and March 1968 at number four on the Billboard Hot 100
pop singles chart and at the number-one position on the Billboard R&B singles
chart. The single was the focal point of the Temptations' 1968 album The Temptations Wish It Would Rain
. "I Wish It Would Rain" has been covered by a number of artists, including Gladys Knight & the Pips
(peaking in the US at number 41 pop and 15 R&B). Marvin Gaye
, Aretha Franklin
from "Get It Right
" (1983), Little Caesar
, have also recorded versions of the song. Overseas, The Faces, recorded a 1973 cover and was a hit in the United Kingdom
. Gaye's version, produced under a funk
sound and featuring just him in vocals, was the B-side to his number-one hit "Let's Get It On
".
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
for the Motown label (under the "Gordy" imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
) and produced by Norman Whitfield
Norman Whitfield
Norman Jesse Whitfield was an American songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Berry Gordy's Motown label during the 1960s...
.
Background
The song is one of the most melancholy in the Temptations repertoire, with lead singer David RuffinDavid Ruffin
Davis Eli "David" Ruffin was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968...
delivering, in a pained voice, the story of a heartbroken man who wants to hide his sorrow. His woman has just left him, and he wishes that it would start raining, to hide the tears falling down his face because "a man ain't supposed to cry". Accompanying Ruffin's mourning vocal are the vocals his bandmates Eddie Kendricks
Eddie Kendricks
Eddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...
, Melvin Franklin
Melvin Franklin
David Melvin English better known by the stage name Melvin Franklin, was an American bass singer. Franklin is best known for his role as a member of Motown singing group The Temptations from 1960 to 1994....
, Paul Williams
Paul Williams (The Temptations)
Paul Williams was an American baritone singer and choreographer. Williams is noted for being one of the founding members and original lead singer of the Motown group The Temptations...
, and Otis Williams
Otis Williams
Otis Williams is an American baritone singer. Nicknamed "Big Daddy", he has also acted as a sporadic songwriter and record producer. Williams co-founded the Motown vocal group The Temptations in early 1960 as The Elgins, a group in which he continues to perform...
, the subdued instrumentation of The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972...
studio band, and, courtesy of Whitfield, sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s depicting the "sunshine and blue skies" and rain described in the song. Producer Norman Whitfield devised much of the musical structure of the song, with former Motown artist Barrett Strong
Barrett Strong
Barrett Strong is an American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown, although he is best remembered for his work as a songwriter, particularly in association with producer Norman Whitfield.-His career:Strong was among the first artists signed to Berry...
composing the song's signature piano intro on a piano with only ten working keys. Motown staff writer Roger Penzabene
Roger Penzabene
Roger Penzabene was a songwriter for the Motown label. Among his most notable compositions are "The End of Our Road" by Gladys Knight & the Pips and Marvin Gaye, and a trilogy of hits for the Temptations: "You're My Everything", "I Wish It Would Rain", and "I Could Never Love Another ".The...
provided the song's lyrics.
More so than a number of other Motown songs, there is real sentiment and pain behind the song's words. Lyricist Penzabene had just found out his wife was cheating
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
on him with another man. Unable to deal with the pain and unable to stop loving his wife, Penzabene expressed his pain in the lyrics of this song and its follow-up on the Temptations' release schedule, "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)
I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)
"I Could Never Love Another " is a single recorded by The Temptations and released on Motown Records' Gordy label during the spring of 1968...
". The distraught Penzabene committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
on New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
1967, a week after the single's release.
Release
Issued with the Melvin FranklinMelvin Franklin
David Melvin English better known by the stage name Melvin Franklin, was an American bass singer. Franklin is best known for his role as a member of Motown singing group The Temptations from 1960 to 1994....
-led "I Truly, Truly Believe" as its B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, "I Wish It Would Rain" peaked for three weeks in February and March 1968 at number four on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
pop singles chart and at the number-one position on the Billboard R&B singles
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart. The single was the focal point of the Temptations' 1968 album The Temptations Wish It Would Rain
The Temptations Wish It Would Rain
The Temptations Wish It Would Rain is a 1968 album by The Temptations for the Gordy label. It was the final release from the group's "Classic-5" era, during which David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams constituted the Temptations' lineup.Wish It Would...
. "I Wish It Would Rain" has been covered by a number of artists, including Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...
(peaking in the US at number 41 pop and 15 R&B). Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
from "Get It Right
Get It Right
Get It Right is a 1983 Aretha Franklin album. It was produced by Luther Vandross. The album's title song became a #1 hit on Billboards R&B singles chart but stalled at a dismal #61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album sold approximately 200,000 US copies...
" (1983), Little Caesar
Little Caesar (band)
-History:The band was founded late in the 1980s by Ron Young, who had previously worked as a nightclub bouncer. The group independently released an EP which led to their signing with DGC Records, a subsidiary of Geffen Records, in 1989. John Kalodner did A&R work for the group, and Bob Rock...
, have also recorded versions of the song. Overseas, The Faces, recorded a 1973 cover and was a hit in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Gaye's version, produced under a funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
sound and featuring just him in vocals, was the B-side to his number-one hit "Let's Get It On
Let's Get It On (song)
"Let's Get It On" is a song and hit single by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released June 15, 1973 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. The song was recorded on March 22, 1973 at Hitsville West in Los Angeles, California. The song features romantic and sexual lyricism and funk instrumentation by...
".
Personnel
- Lead vocals by David RuffinDavid RuffinDavis Eli "David" Ruffin was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968...
- Background vocals by Eddie KendricksEddie KendricksEddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...
, Melvin FranklinMelvin FranklinDavid Melvin English better known by the stage name Melvin Franklin, was an American bass singer. Franklin is best known for his role as a member of Motown singing group The Temptations from 1960 to 1994....
, Paul WilliamsPaul Williams (The Temptations)Paul Williams was an American baritone singer and choreographer. Williams is noted for being one of the founding members and original lead singer of the Motown group The Temptations...
, and Otis WilliamsOtis WilliamsOtis Williams is an American baritone singer. Nicknamed "Big Daddy", he has also acted as a sporadic songwriter and record producer. Williams co-founded the Motown vocal group The Temptations in early 1960 as The Elgins, a group in which he continues to perform... - Written by Norman WhitfieldNorman WhitfieldNorman Jesse Whitfield was an American songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Berry Gordy's Motown label during the 1960s...
, Barrett StrongBarrett StrongBarrett Strong is an American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown, although he is best remembered for his work as a songwriter, particularly in association with producer Norman Whitfield.-His career:Strong was among the first artists signed to Berry...
, and Roger PenzabeneRoger PenzabeneRoger Penzabene was a songwriter for the Motown label. Among his most notable compositions are "The End of Our Road" by Gladys Knight & the Pips and Marvin Gaye, and a trilogy of hits for the Temptations: "You're My Everything", "I Wish It Would Rain", and "I Could Never Love Another ".The... - Produced by Norman Whitfield
- Instrumentation by The Funk BrothersThe Funk BrothersThe Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972...
.