It's Raining Men

Single infobox
Name = It's Raining Men


Artist = Weather Girls
from Album = Success
B-side = "It's Raining Men" (long version)
Released = 10 September 1982
Format = 7-inch single, 12-inch single
Recorded = 1982
Written by = Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer
Genre = Disco, dance
Length = 3:31 (7" Single) 4:06 (Album Version); 5:24 (12" Single)
Label = Columbia Records
Last single =
This single =
Next single =

"It's Raining Men" is a song written by Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer in 1979, and originally recorded by The Weather Girls in 1982. The song had been offered to a who's-who of female singing legends including Donna Summer, Grace Jones, Diana Ross, Cher, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Teena Marie, Gloria Gaynor, and even Barbra Streisand before being accepted by Martha Wash and Izora Armstead of The Weather Girls, with their version becoming an international hit, selling over 6 million copies worldwide.

It was covered by Martha Wash (of The Weather Girls) as a duet with RuPaul in 1997, Geri Halliwell in 2001 and by Young Divas in 2006. The song is hailed as a camp classic and more recently as a dance anthem, and as a classic female anthem.

Original and RuPaul versions

The Weather Girls' version went number one on the U.S. Disco Chart, debuting in October 1982. It made number 34 on the U.S. U.S. R&B chart and number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was released from their album "Success". This version also made it to number two in the UK Singles Chart, #2 in Australia, and #1 on the Euro Hot 100.

RuPaul and Martha Wash duetted on "It's Raining Men... The Sequel", which was included on the 1998 Rhino Records compilation CD "RuPaul's Go-Go Box Classics".

* ¹ "It's Raining Men... The Sequel" by Martha Wash featuring RuPaul

Geri Halliwell version

Single infobox
Name = It's Raining Men


Artist = Geri Halliwell
from Album = Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
B-side = "Brave New World"
"I Was Made That Way"
Released = April 30, 2001
Format = CD Single, Vinyl, Cassette, Airplay
Recorded = 2001
Written by = Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer
Genre = Pop, dance
Length = 4:18
Label = EMI
Certification = Gold (BPI)
Reviews =
Last single = "Bag It Up"
(2000)
This single = "It's Raining Men"
(2001)
Next single = "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster"
(2001)Extra album cover
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Background = khaki


Lower caption = UK CD2 cover
Misc = Audiosample
Upper caption = Audio sample
Name = It's Raining Men
Audio file= ItsRainingMenSample.ogg

"It's Raining Men" was the first single of Geri Halliwell's second solo album and was also on the soundtrack to the film "Bridget Jones's Diary". It was released in April, 2001.

It debuted at number-one in UK Singles Chart and stayed there for two weeks. It became Geri's fourth consecutive number-one single in United Kingdom, selling 155,000 units in its first week and 80,000 in its second week. Overall the single went on to sell 421,670 copies in Britain alone, becoming the 12th best seller of 2001 and Geri Halliwell's most successful single worldwide. [ [http://foreverspice.com/spicediscography/gerihalliwell-irm.htm "It's Raining Men" UK Sales] ]

The song became a huge hit, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Look_at_Me_%28Geri_Halliwell_song%29&action=edit "It's Raining Men" Sales and Certifications] ] in the United World Chart it hit number-two (oddly enough, behind another cover of a 70's song - "Lady Marmalade" by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink) based on Sales, Airplay and Votes, [ [http://www.mediatraffic.de/week27-2001.htm United World Chart, "It's Raining Men" at number-two on July 7th, 2001] ] it became the second best selling single of 2001. [ [http://www.spicediscography.co.uk Spice Discography] ] [Mediabase] The song had been added to the album at the last minute; another song, "Feels Like Sex", had already been slated as the lead single. So far, of all the solo single releases of the Spice Girls members, this is still the most successful and best-selling. With this song, Geri Halliwell won the "International Song of the Year" award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards in France. A remix of the song, The Almighty Mix from the Toshiba-EMI series "Dance Mania", volume 20 was also featured in the 2002 Japanese video game, DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7th MIX and the 2002 Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME. This version of the song was used as the theme song in the advertisements for New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition 2003. In July 2006 the song entered at seventy-nine on the Mexican Digital Sales Chart, spending two weeks inside the Top 100.

Charts

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell.

UK & Europe CD1/International CD Maxi
(Released April 30, 2001)

# "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
# "I Was Made That Way" - 4:45
# "Brave New World" - 4:10
# "It's Raining Men" Enhanced Video

UK & Europe CD2/Australian CD Maxi
(Released April 30, 2001)

# "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
# "It's Raining Men" [Bold And Beautiful Glamour Mix Edit] - 4:46
# "It's Raining Men" [Almighty Mix Edit] - 3:46
# "It's Raining Men" [D-Bop Tall And Blonde Mix Edit] - 6:55

European 2-Track CD Single
(Released April 30, 2001)

# "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
# "Brave New World" - 4:10

Italian 12" Single
(Released July 18, 2001)

Side A
# "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
# "It's Raining Men" [Bold And Beautiful Glamour Mix Edit] - 4:46Side B
# "It's Raining Men" [Almighty Mix Edit] - 3:46
# "It's Raining Men" [D-Bop Tall And Blonde Mix Edit] - 6:55

Cases of unlicensed use

In 2001 a Bollywood movie, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham used the song without acknowledgment or permission. The producers were taken to court and were ordered to pay compensation. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248126/trivia]

Cultural references

*Theme song for the "Men on..." skits on the TV show "In Living Color",

*Featured in the bonus round of the slot machine "Money Storm", produced by IGT.

*A sketch from the BBC comedy series "The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer" includes a performance of the song, supposedly included on the album "Pancake Day" by folk singers Mulligan and O'Hare.

*"It's Raining Men" is Homer Simpson's favorite song [cite web |url=http://snpp.com/episodes/2F08.html|title=2F08 Fear of Flying|accessdate=2008-02-25|work=The Simpsons Archive] . Moe pulls the record out of the jukebox and tosses it onto the street when he banishes Homer from his bar.

*"It's Raining Men" is used as the theme song for the Steve Czaban sports segment on the Bob and Brian morning show in Wisconsin.

*Theme song for "The Michael Irvin Show" on KESN 103.3 FM in Dallas, TX.

*"It's Raining Men" was performed by Geri Halliwell on the Spice Girls 2007/08 tour as her solo section of the show.

*The popular Canadian teen drama "", which is known for named each episode after an '80s hit song, named an episode after this song. The episode faced the issue of gay dating.

*This song is played during the fight scene between Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver in the film "Bridget Jones' Diary".

*This song was performed by Bill Kaulitz on the German version of "Star Search".

*This song is "Gay Steve's" theme song on WVKS in Toledo, Ohio. [ [http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/TOLEDO-OH/WVKS-FM/GaySteveIdolAndGayWalking.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=TOLEDO-OH&NG_FORMAT=chr&SITE_ID=2065&STATION_ID=WVKS-FM&PCAST_AUTHOR=ANDREW_Z_IN_THE_MORNING&PCAST_CAT=Comedy&PCAST_TITLE=Andrew_Z_in_the_Morning_] "Andrew Z In the Morning," Retrieved on 2008-04-28.]

*In 2008, The McCain Girls produced a parody song "It's Raining McCain," and posted an accompanying video on YouTube, which became popular after being reported on in The Huffington Post. [ [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/24/mccain_girls_are_your_new_jalo.html McCain Girls Are Your New Jalopy] . "The Washington Post". March 24, 2008.]

*The Top Ten list for May 5 2008, "Top Ten Signs There's Trouble at The Weather Channel" closed with a short rendition by Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra. [ [http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/search/index/php/2008/05.phtml CBS | Late Show with David Letterman : ] ]

* [http://www.rainhamsheds.co.uk | Rainham Sheds] use a parody to advertise their sheds.

*Lisa Landry-Sims frequently sings this song on the show Sister, Sister, usually in short bursts, but in one episode, she sings almost the entire song.

References