Rain on the Roof (song)

1966 song by the Lovin' Spoonful

"Rain on the Roof"

US picture sleeve

Single by the Lovin' Spoonful
from the album  Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful
B-side|

* "Pow (Theme from 'What's Up, Tiger Lily?')" (US)
* "Warm Baby" (UK)

Released| September 1966 (1966-09)
Genre|

* Soft rock
* baroque rock

Length| 2:11
Label| Kama Sutra
Songwriter(s)| John Sebastian
Producer(s)| Erik Jacobsen
The Lovin' Spoonful singles chronology
| "Summer in the City"
(1966)  | "Rain on the Roof"
(1966)  | "Nashville Cats"
(1966)

|
|

Licensed audio
"Rain on the Roof" on YouTube

"Rain on the Roof" (sometimes titled "You and Me and Rain on the Roof") is a song by the Canadian-American folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful. Written by John Sebastian, the song was released as a single in September 1966,[nb 1] and it was included on the album Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful in November. The song reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it the Lovin' Spoonful's sixth-consecutive single to reach the top ten in the United States.

"Rain on the Roof" features several guitars played by Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky, as well as an Irish harp. Released three months after the harder-rock styled single "Summer in the City", "Rain on the Roof" represented a return to the softer sound for which the Lovin' Spoonful had become known. Contemporary reviewers noted the difference between the singles, while still positively reviewing "Rain on the Roof".

## Composition and recording

[edit]

John Sebastian composed "Rain on the Roof" after a night spent listening to the rain with his wife Loretta "Lorey" Kaye in their Greenwich Village apartment.[1][2] The song similarly describes two lovers listening to the rain,[2] while featuring a melody suggestive of the Greek Mixolydian mode.[3] Produced and arranged by the Lovin' Spoonful's regular producer Erik Jacobsen,[2] the recording features an interplay of guitars between Zal Yanovsky and Sebastian,[1] including a Ditson acoustic twelve-string and a pedal steel guitar.[1][2] In addition, Sebastian played an Irish harp,[4] a stringed instrument he acquired when the band visited Dublin in April 1966.[1][5] Yanovsky added further elements with his Guild Thunderbird electric guitar.[6][7] To generate a French horn-like sound,[1][2] he turned the treble off on his guitar but turned up the amplifier's treble and gain, resulting in distortion and the beginning of feedback.[6] Yanovksy used his standard amplifier, a Fender Super Reverb, which he later said added extra bottom end while also being loud.[8]

Steve Boone, the band's bassist, later reflected being "mesmerized" by each of his bandmates' guitar work, characterizing it as "like music from heaven".[1][2] The author Bernard Gendron considers the guitars reminiscent of harpsichords, leading him to place the song in the contemporary baroque rock trend.[9] The author Maury Dean instead considers the song soft rock, due to its twelve-string guitar melody.[10]

After recording the backing track, the band's earliest attempts at recording vocals featured a round sung by Sebastian, Yanovsky and drummer Joe Butler,[2] similar in style to their 1965 song "Didn't Want to Have to Do It".[1] They abandoned this format for the final recording, instead opting for a solo vocal from Sebastian.[2] The recording fades out on a dominant seventh chord, which according to musicologist Walter Everett means the song "never [achieves a] full-cadence closure", leaving it feeling unresolved.[11]

## Release and reception

[edit]

The possibility of releasing "Rain on the Roof" as a single generated disagreement among the members of the Spoonful.[1][12] The band's previous single, "Summer in the City", had featured a harder sound than their previous output,[13][14] and it had attracted new fans to the group after it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in August 1966.[15][16] Both Boone and Butler worried that returning to a softer sound with "Rain on the Roof" would potentially alienate the band's new fans.[15][17] Sebastian countered that the band ought to avoid releasing consecutive singles which sounded too similar, further contending that "Rain on the Roof" would add another dimension to their sound.[15][nb 2]

Kama Sutra Records issued "Rain on the Roof" as a single in the last week of September 1966.[nb 1] In their promotion of the single, the band performed it on the ABC variety show The Hollywood Palace, aired September 24.[21] In the October 8 issue of Billboard, the magazine's review panel highlighted the song as likely to reach the top 20 of the Hot 100,[22] and the single debuted on the chart the following week at number 76.[23] It remained on the chart for ten weeks and peaked at number ten, making it the Lovin' Spoonful's sixth consecutive single to reach the top ten.[16] The song was later included on the band's November 1966 album Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful,[24] where it appeared as the opening track of side two.[1] Because the song shared its name with a 1931 composition by songwriter Ann Ronell,[25] Kama Sutra altered its title on Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful to "You and Me and Rain on the Roof".[26]

Billboard's reviewer counted "Rain on the Roof" as a continuation of the band's "unpredictable, fresh, original material", writing that the "clever rhythm ballad with [a] baroque feel" was a likely blockbuster.[22] Reviewers in both Cash Box and Record World magazines highlighted the song's difference from "Summer in the City",[27][28] Cash Box's reviewer calling it a return to the band's "soft-rock stylings".[27] In the UK, Jonathan King of Disc and Music Echo wrote that, while everyone else was "raving" about the single, he "detest[ed]" it.[29] In an interview with Melody Maker magazine in December 1966, Bruce Woodley of the Australian pop group the Seekers praised the song's guitar work as beautiful while questioning why the song was not popular in the United Kingdom.[30] Writing about the song decades later, author Charles Winick considers "Rain on the Roof"'s melody and lyrics as having more in common with the music of decades earlier than contemporary rock music.[31]

## Charts

[edit]

Weekly chart performance  Chart (1966)  | Peak
position

|

Australia National Top 40 (Go-Set)[32] | 31
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[33] | 12
Finland (Soumen Virallinen)[34] | 28
Netherlands (Veronica Top 40)[35] | 11
Netherlands (Hilversum 3 Top 30)[36] | 13
Sweden (Kvällstoppen)[37] | 11
Sweden (Tio i Topp)[38] | 3
UK (Disc and Music Echo)[39] | 48
UK (Melody Maker)[40] | 47
US Billboard Hot 100[16] | 10
US Cash Box Top 100[41] | 9
US Record World 100 Top Pops[42] | 6

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Later sources identify the release date as October 1966,[18][19] but the October 7 issue of The Herald Statesman says the record came out "[l]ast week", indicating the week of September 26–30.[20]
2. ^ Reflecting on the situation decades later, Boone questioned why Kama Sutra did not demand a more natural follow-up to "Summer in the City" while expecting that the label were inclined to show deference to Sebastian after he had achieved a number one single.[15]

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diken 2003.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Boone & Moss 2014, p. 148.
3. ^ Levitin 2008, p. 28.
4. ^ Everett 2009, p. 45.
5. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, pp. 116, 148.
6. ^ a b Everett 2009, p. 48.
7. ^ Simons 2004, pp. 100–101.
8. ^ Simons 2004, p. 100.
9. ^ Gendron 2002, p. 343n59.
10. ^ Dean 2003, p. 191.
11. ^ Everett 2009, p. 138.
12. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, pp. 148–149.
13. ^ Savage 2015, p. 284.
14. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Summer in the City – The Lovin' Spoonful". AllMusic. Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
15. ^ a b c d Boone & Moss 2014, p. 149.
16. ^ a b c "The Lovin' Spoonful Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
17. ^ Richards, Sam (September 2021). Bonner, Michael (ed.). "The Making of ... Summer in the City by The Lovin' Spoonful". UNCUT. No. 292\. pp. 92–94 – via the Internet Archive.+...+Summer+in+the+City+by+The+Lovin'+Spoonful&rft.issue=292&rft.pages=92-94&rft.date=2021-09&rft.aulast=Richards&rft.aufirst=Sam&rft_id=https://archive.org/details/uncut-september-2021/page/92/&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Rain+on+the+Roof+(song)" class="Z3988">
18. ^ Savage 2015, p. 561.
19. ^ Rodriguez 2012, p. 252.
20. ^ Anon. (October 7, 1966). "Lovin' Spoonful Coming". The Herald Statesman. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com. "Last week, they issued their latest record, 'Rain on the Roof.'"
21. ^ Jones, Paul (September 24, 1966). "As I See It: Silvers to Romp All Over Palace When He's Host". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 3A – via Newspapers.com.
22. ^ a b Anon. (October 8, 1966). "Spotlight Singles". Billboard. p. 16.
23. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 (for the week ending October 15, 1966)". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
24. ^ Zimmerman & Zimmerman 2004, p. 113.
25. ^ Zimmers 2009, pp. 14–15.
26. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful – The Lovin' Spoonful". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
27. ^ a b Anon. (October 8, 1966). "Record Reviews". Cash Box. p. 10.
28. ^ Anon. (October 8, 1966). "Single Picks of the Week". Record World. p. 1.
29. ^ King, Jonathan (October 29, 1966). "Jonathan King Column". Disc and Music Echo. p. 14.
30. ^ Woodley, Bruce (December 10, 1966). "Blind Date: Bruce Woodley of the Seekers". Melody Maker. p. 10.
31. ^ Winick 2018, p. 46.
32. ^ "Go-Set's National Top 40". Go-Set. December 21, 1966. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
33. ^ "RPM 100". RPM. December 6, 1966. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
34. ^ Nyman 2005, p. 199.
35. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – The Lovin' Spoonful" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
36. ^ "The Lovin' Spoonful – Rain on the Roof" (in Dutch). Dutch Single Top 100. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
37. ^ Hallberg 1993, p. 260.
38. ^ Hallberg & Henningsson 1998, p. 225.
39. ^ "Chart Topper Top 50". Disc. October 29, 1966. p. 3.
40. ^ "Melody Maker Pop 50". Melody Maker. November 5, 1966. p. 2.
41. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 – Week of November 19, 1966". Cash Box. November 19, 1966. p. 4.
42. ^ "Record World 100 Top Pops – Week of November 26, 1966". Record World. November 26, 1966. p. 25.

### Sources

[edit]

* Boone, Steve; Moss, Tony (2014). Hotter Than a Match Head: My Life on the Run with The Lovin' Spoonful. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-77041-193-7 – via Google Books.
* Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N Roll Gold Rush: A Singles Un-Cyclopedia. New York City: Algora Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87586-207-1 – via Google Books.
* Diken, Dennis (2003). Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful (Liner notes). The Lovin' Spoonful. Buddha, BMG Heritage. 74465 99732 2.
* Everett, Walter (2009). The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes". Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531024-5 – via Google Books.
* Gendron, Bernard (2002). Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-28737-9 – via Google Books.
* Hallberg, Eric (1993). Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P3: Sveriges Radios topplista över veckans 20 mest sålda skivor. Drift Musik. ISBN 9163021404.
* Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (1998). Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961–74. Premium Publishing. ISBN 919727125X.
* Levitin, Daniel J. (2008). The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature. New York City: Dutton. ISBN 978-0-525-95073-8 – via the Internet Archive.
* Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
* Rodriguez, Robert (2012). Revolver: How the Beatles Re-Imagined Rock 'n' Roll. Montclair: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1-61713-009-0.
* Savage, Jon (2015). 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-27762-9 – via the Internet Archive.
* Simons, David (2004). Studio Stories: How the Great New York Records Were Made: From Miles to Madonna, Sinatra to The Ramones. San Francisco, California: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-817-9 – via the Internet Archive.
* Winick, Charles (2018). Desexualization in American Life. New York City: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-31279-0 – via Google Books.
* Zimmerman, Keith; Zimmerman, Kent (2004). Sing My Way Home: Voices of the New American Roots Rock. San Francisco, California: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-790-5 – via the Internet Archive.
* Zimmers, Tighe E. (2009). Tin Pan Alley Girl: A Biography of Ann Ronell. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3905-8 – via Google Books.

## External links

[edit]

* "Rain on the Roof" at Discogs (list of releases)

* v
* t
* e

The Lovin' Spoonful

* John Sebastian
* Zal Yanovsky
* Steve Boone
* Joe Butler

* Jan Carl
* Jerry Yester

Studio albums|

* Do You Believe in Magic
* Daydream
* Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful
* Everything Playing
* Revelation: Revolution '69

Soundtracks|

* What's Up, Tiger Lily?
* You're A Big Boy Now

Compilations|

* What's Shakin'
* The Best of the Lovin' Spoonful
* The Very Best of the Lovin' Spoonful
* The Best... Lovin' Spoonful
* Anthology
* Greatest Hits

Live albums|

* Live at the Hotel Seville

Singles|

* "Do You Believe In Magic"
* "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice"
* "Daydream"
* "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?"
* "Summer in the City"
* "Rain on the Roof"
* "Nashville Cats"
* "Darling Be Home Soon"

Other songs|

* "Good Time Music"
* "Younger Girl"

Related|

* Discography
* Drug bust
* The Mugwumps

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