Rain songs are a sort of subgenre in pop music all on their own. This one typically begins and ends with the sound of rain and thunder. It also tells the familiar tale of a man whose lover has left him. The rain falling reminds him 'what a fool' he has been. He rhetorically asks the rain for answers, but ultimately wishes it would 'go away' and let him cry alone. The song is employing then what Ruskin called the pathetic fallacy - a literary term for the attribution of human emotion and conduct to inanimate things found in nature. The rain is simply falling but it seems as though it is falling in sympathy. It also tries some onomatopoeia near the end (pitter patter, pitter patter) and so is a relatively sophisticated piece for a throwaway pop song.
It was first released in late 1962 but I was only aware of it in more recent years thanks to radio play. In fact, in 1999 BMI listed the song as the ninth most performed song on radio/TV in the 20th century. It had featured in the Pete Townshend film Quadrophenia in 1979.
Part of the charm of the song is its use of an unusual chiming instrument, the celesta, and the way the lyrics are clearly enunciated by the vocal group. I especially like the pronunciation of start in the line looking for a brand new start.
Once again we are faced with a description of teenage angst that is probably describing mere obsession rather than anything deeper. One can imagine this young man's friends calling in an hour or two and he quite happily joining them for a few hoops of basketball and feeling the better for it. It is the beautiful tune and the vocal skills that keep us coming back for more.
