I Wish It Would Rain

Infobox Single
Name = I Wish It Would Rain
Artist = The Temptations
from Album = The Temptations Wish It Would Rain
B-side = "I Truly, Truly Believe"
Released = December 21, 1967
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Hitsville USA (Studio A); April 22 & August 31, 1967
Genre = Soul
Length = 2:49
Label = Gordy
G 7068
Writer = Norman Whitfield
Barrett Strong
Roger Penzabene
Producer = Norman Whitfield
Chart position =
*#4 (US Pop Singles)
**#1 (US R&B Singles)
Last single = "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need"
(1967)
This single = "I Wish It Would Rain"
(1967)
Next single = "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)"
(1968)"I Wish It Would Rain", released December 21, 1967, is a 1968 hit single recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label and produced by Norman Whitfield.

Overview

The song is one of the most melancholy in the Temptations repertoire, with lead singer David Ruffin 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." Accompaning 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 effects 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. [Bowman, Rob (2006). Liner Notes for "Get Ready: Definative Performances". Reelin' in the Years Productions/Universal Music.] 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.

Issued with the Melvin Franklin-led "I Truly, Truly Believe" as its b-side, "I Wish It Would Rain" peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached 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(Their version went to Number 41 Pop and 15 R&B in the Fall of 1968), Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Little Caesar, and The Faces, whose 1973 cover was a hit in the United Kingdom. The song was the b-side to Marvin's number-one hit, "Let's Get It On".

Credits

* Lead vocals by David Ruffin
* Background vocals by Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, and Otis Williams
* Written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, and Roger Penzabene
* Produced by Norman Whitfield
* Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers.

Notes