Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 14, 16 April 1966
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 10 June 1966 (UK), 30 May 1966 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass
George Harrison: backing vocals, guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine
Available on:
Past Masters
Released on the Paperback Writer single, Rain is considered by many Beatles fans to be their finest b-side.
Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines
It's just a state of mind?
Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
Much like Revolver's I'm Only Sleeping, Rain found The Beatles exploring LSD-influenced feelings of detachment from the real world, and the belief that heightened consciousness can be found within the self.
The song is generally credited to John Lennon, although Paul McCartney claimed it was co-written.
I don't think he brought the original idea, just when we sat down to write, he kicked it off. Songs have traditionally treated rain as a bad thing and what we got on to was that it's no bad thing. There's no greater feeling than the rain dripping down your back. The most interesting thing about it wasn't the writing, which was tilted 70-30 to John, but the recording of it.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
The Beatles had discovered during the Tomorrow Never Knows sessions that slowing down the speed of their recordings revealed hidden depths. They recorded the rhythm track of Rain at a fast tempo, then slowed the tape down so the song was a tone lower.
The Beatles played the rhythm track really fast so that when the tape was played back at normal speed everything would be so much slower, changing the texture. If we'd recorded it at normal speed and then had to slow the tape down whenever we wanted to hear a playback it would have been much more work.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
Ringo Starr's drums, locked in to McCartney's high bass notes, were a key feature of the song.
The drums became a giant drum kit... We got a big, ponderous, thunderous backing and then we worked on top of that as normal, so that it didn't sound like a slowed-down thing, it just had a big ominous noise to it. It was nice, I really enjoyed that one.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Ringo Starr later said Rain was among his favourite performances on a Beatles recording. "I feel as though that was someone else playing - I was possessed!"
I think I just played amazing. I was into the snare and the hi-hat. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
The other key feature of Rain was John Lennon's backwards vocals, heard during the coda at the song's end. Lennon claimed that the discovery was the result of a stoned accident, when he threaded his rough mix tape of the song into his reel-to-reel player the wrong way round.
I got home from the studio and I was stoned out of my mind on marijuana and, as I usually do, I listened to what I'd recorded that day. Somehow I got it on backwards and I sat there, transfixed, with the earphones on, with a big hash joint. I ran in the next day and said, 'I know what to do with it, I know... Listen to this!' So I made them all play it backwards. The fade is me actually singing backwards with the gutars going backwards. [Singing backwards] Sharethsmnowthsmeaness... [Laughter] That one was the gift of God, of Ja, actually, the god of marijuana, right? So Ja gave me that one.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Lennon's version of events was backed up by George Harrison and Geoff Emerick. George Martin, meanwhile, recalled the discovery as being his.
I was always playing around with tapes and I thought it might be fun to do something extra with John's voice. So I lifted a bit of his main vocal off the four-track, put it onto another spool, turned it around and then slid it back and forth until it fitted. John was out at the time but when he came back he was amazed. Again, it was backwards forever after that.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
Listen to the released song's coda reversed, to hear the backwards vocals in their correct form:
In the studio
The Beatles recorded Rain over two sessions. On 14 April 1966, the same day Paul McCartney taped his bass part for Paperback Writer, the group taped five takes of Rain's rhythm track, performed quickly and later slowed down.
They finished the song on 16 April, adding overdubs including tambourine, bass and extra vocals. It is likely that the backwards vocals were added on this day, when they also carried out the mono mixes that appeared on the Paperback Writer single.
i just listened to rain for the first time in a while. i’ve been on a beatles kick lately. i was hanging out with some friends talking about the beatles, and i remembered that Ringo said it was his favorite drum track. i came home and listened to it with that in mind. it is mindblowingly good and it doesn’t hurt that Paul’s bass part is particularly amazing as well.
Have any of your more enlightened listeners/viewers cottoned on to the fact that this song is probably about heroin use ? After all, ‘rain’ is an euphemism for heroin itself – cf Dylan’s own song ‘Visions of Johanna’ – ‘and Louise holds a handful of rain tempting you to defy it ‘ ? After all, the Beatles themselves weren’t averse to heavy drug use – and singing about it in other songs, too – ‘Doctor Robert’, ‘Fixing a Hole’, ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’, ‘Yer Blues’ et al.
“more enlightened”? Get over yourself. This was ’66. I’m not aware of any evidence that the boys had dabbled in heroin at that time. But have fun speculating.
Heroin? You really don’t know much about The Beatles if you think this song is about heroin. This is an acid song.
AMEN my fav Ringo drumming as well. what sort of amazes me is that Ringo said he could never duplicate any of his drumming techiques on a song, so what he played was what you got, no over dubs of his playing. maye it has something to do with him being left handed i don;t know, but he has stated that fact. and yes Pauls Rick sound wonderful
favorite song.
definitely in my top 5 favorites
😀
Paul’s bass is amazingly good, as usual … Rain and Paperback Writer are two examples of the Beatles using the bass guitar as THE lead instrument of a song, opening up the possibilities to the rest of the eagerly-listening Rock bands. Paul’s innovations mapped the avenue for all Bass players of the era and all those that followed.
Paul’s bass line IS the song.
Cant agree with you. Pauls base line is phantastic, but in my ears, its the heavy guitar sound, which make this one so special. They have slowed the guitars down and so it sounds so cool, so raised, like a post card from a drug-trip.
Note how at the end of the 1st verse the band falls behind almost a half a bar——–before reaching the RAIN refrain. IMHO, a great moment in the song. This great fla is likely exaggerated because the song was slowed down.
Without Paul’s bass playing the song is nothing special.
An underated song that features outstanding drums, guitar and bass.
By the way, what is “great fla”?
I saw that too – taken in context, I assumed he meant “great flaw” as in a mistake that comes up smelling like a rose.
Either way, this song is definitely in my top 5.
Imagine this released as a B-side now…just incredible. It’s really a shame that more people don’t know about this incredible track!
I continue to marvel at the idea of a “Revolver” that included this song and “Paperback Writer” – making the best LP in the world even better! (Not to mention one of the alltime great GUITAR albums.) As a North American, the British custom of keeping singles and LPs separate never made a lot of sense to me.
it is unbelievable that these tracks were never released on a ‘real’ beatle album … when we were kids we made beatle tapes that included these songs along with other favorites from revolver & rubber soul … a stellar period for them …
Yeah they weren’t bad.
I agree 100% Rain and Paperback Writer on Revolver wow !
O
I couldn’t agree more. All these “singles” were the result of money hungry execs at capitol. Everyone wanted a piece of the cash cow aka the Beatles. Both Rain & Writer SHOULD’VE been on Revolver.
Paul continued to release non-LP singles in his post-Beatles career. He was hardly “money hungry” … Was he?
No, album collections like “Beatles VI” and “Yesterday And Today” were the result of Capitol records insatiable appetite for Beatles product. Roughly three to four singles per year was a template in place before Capitol execs even caught on to the lads. However, if I were to create my own unique “Revolver” sixteen track mix cd, I’d probably place “Rain” right after “Good Day Sunshine”.
The reason they didn’t release most of their singles on albums as well is that in the UK they didn’t like the idea of ripping fans off. That’s why mostly Beatles singles were not on albums, Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane not being on Sgt. Pepper is another good example. They thought that if fans buy singles they shouldn’t get those singles on an album later as they were effectively paying for the same song/s twice. Having Paperback Writer and Rain on Revolver would certainly have made what is already a fantastic album even better. Also in those days, 14 songs was pretty much the maximum you could put on an album to maintain good sound quality, so you’d have to remove 2 songs from Revolver to add Paperback and Rain on. And at a push I can only think of one song that I’d not miss if it were removed and that is Love You To.
Revolver already had a single on it…”Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby” so they weren’t very consistent in their idea that albums shouldn’t have singles on them. As did “Abbey Road” of course.
I don’t know how old some of you guys are, but I’m 52 with an older sister who loved and saw the Beatles live – so my house was a mini fan club.
I mention to say that when Rain came out in early 66 the whole neighborhood exploded. Even though Paperback Writer was the A side – all we could talk about was Rain.
Take a look at the Billboard 100 for 1966 and you’ll realize how out of the box this song was.
Groundbreaking
I’m 7 years younger than you are, and didn’t have an older sibling :), so I actually discovered The Beatles in the mid Seventies. And even in 1978, discovering “Rain” was like stepping into a time warp. It was so ahead of its time, it blew the Top 100 out of the water 12 years after it was recorded.
Underrated song. Ok, Ringo’s best drumming, an amazing bass by Paul – but that quasi-raga playing and the sound of the guitars is just amazing to me. That guitar sound is something else. Put all that together, mix it up…what have you got?
This is a fantastic song. The group Oasis was originally named “Rain” because of this song.
Paul, at the time, wanted a bigger rhythm sound on record. A sound like what was coming from Motown. If you listen carefully one of the changes Paul made was switching to a Fender Precision Bass.
Sorry wrong bass. Paul had switched to the Rickenbacker bass not Fender.
John was busy taking LSD by the time, and didn’t care his selfish (Rain, shine, I don’t mind), so Paul took advantage and started to play BOSSY, that’s the only reason I can find to understand why this GIANT song is a b-side, I’m clear that it’s very very very superior to Paul’s Paperback Writer.
Superior in some ways for sure, but not the hit maker George Martin & McCartney decided when they made it the B-side much to Lennon’s dismay. Obviously hits are the reasons for singles. But I totally agree, it is a great song!
Well, I have to agree with my friend here Rain is the superior song. This is my second favorite song. Being a bass player, that bass line is one of the best bass lines in a song ever. I use pieces of it today…. in Gospel too! The song is underrated and should have been side A.
Rain(because it’s fantastic song) is suppose to be in Revolver,but unfortunately it doesn’t suit to Revolver’s songs.It’s quite obvious that Rain is better than any Lennon’s songs in Revolver.Every instrument they are using in the song are phenomenal.It’s Top 5 The Beatles song.Remarkable
Rain and Paperback Writer fit perfectly on Revolver. Should have taken the place of Good Day Sushine
So sunshine and rain don’t belong together? 🙂
Yeah it would be Rainbow
What, you egg ! Young fry of treachery ! ‘Good Day Sunshine’ is one of the best and most pivotal tracks on ‘Revolver’ – my personal favourite is ‘Doctor Robert’. If any one track mars the album, it’s ‘Yellow Submarine’ – a dirge.
I think rain(as great as it is) sounds a bit to similar to she said she said in terms of sonic production, they probably left it off the album to break up any uniformity.
Pretty obvious that Rain is better than Tomorrow Never Knows? Not for me though I certainly think it’s a pity Rain isn’t on Revolver.
One possible subtle flaw: The comment reads, ‘Ringo Starr’s drums, locked in to McCartney’s high bass notes..’ gives me the impression that Ringo purposely played into Paul’s bass rather than Paul playing into Ringo’s drumming. It’s a fantastic bit of work on both parts nevertheless.
Everyone’s rightfully raving about Paul’s bass and Ringo’s drums – but what about the vocal-arrangement?!
The way the backing vocals dissonate with the guitar is just amazing.
I still think it was rightfully the b-side.
It’s definitely not as “well” produced as Paperback writer, it sounds more “underground” than anything they ever did.
They always made the right choices for the singles, at least commercially.
I have learned from the days of the Beatles that “A” side vs “B” side makes no difference. A song that is on what’s called the “A” side does not mean the song is better or worst. It is all subjective. I understand it means something to the general buying public. but to us Beatles Fans, we know a “B” side can be great!
paulsbass, right on. The thing that grabbed me when I first heard this track was, in fact, the vocals: Lennon’s beautiful, dreamy voice and Paul and George with the sweet backing (and Paul’s perfect high harmony). Of course the instrumentation is so very cool… and let’s not forget George’s simple yet tasty and effective guitar!
First heard Rain on the American Hey Jude album and for years thought it was recorded in 68 or 69. It sounds a few years ahead of it’s time.
In terms of A side B side – in 1966 Paperback Writer was the much more commercial song and the A side signified the side DJs were supposed to play first.
Remember The Beatles liked selling records, they made no bones about wanting commercial success and for that reason Paperback Writer was the logical A side.
‘Rain’ got mucho airplay when the single was released.
It was a great BEATLES track, and Paul’s bass stands out because Emerick was experimenting with new ways to record his Rickenbacker at this time.
This cut, as much as any, demonstrates the vast difference betwixt a solo vocalist and a band, blended instrumental skill versus singular vocal presentation, Led Zeppelin as compared to Barry Manilow.
Often lost to the purchasing pressure exerted by twelve year old girls with bumps on their chests and their distracted fathers, rock and roll depends on skill much more than show.
The song “Rain” is actually a philosophic discussion about the idea that “every coin has two sides”. John Lennon explained that “Rain” was “about people moaning about the weather all the time” and thats how the song starts. later in the song, Lennon trys to explain that the weather=the coin, the two sides are rain and sunshine. then he sings “I can show you”=i? can prove it to you. the reverse singing is the proof: the song=the coin, the two sides=straight and reverse singing…
Guitar work from George is what makes this song along with the drums.
For me this song hits a nerve and I could just play it over and over. Its a very underrated song as it didn’t get the live performances that the earlier work got. The tones however are just sublime and never being one to condone drugs you can certainly hear that influence kicking here. Its a song that takes what they have done before and really notches it up a couple of gears. Its as if the music itself is maturing like themselves and becoming slower, more serious and wiser.
everything about this song is perfect. the bass just hits you first. that’s why people think the bassline is the song. it’s a great bassline by all means
Is that John double-tracked singing the high part in the second “Ra-a-ain I don’t mind…”?
Also love the falling bass notes there, like falling raindrops.
Yep. Certainly.
I’ve never understood the open tuning in this song. Any guitar players out there? Assuming the song is slowed down to the key of G, what would the tuning be?
The 6th string is probably tuned down to A. (That’s before it got slowed down to G.)
Jakc and Julian – if you want to play John’s part then tune your guitar as follows: G D G G B D
Always sounded to me like the guitars were tuned to a drone tuning: eg E-B-E-E-B-E; there’s no third. Same principle if the tonic is A or G or whatever. Harrison would have been well familiar with drone tunings from his sitar studies.
Islander’s right about the tuning G D G G B D, but that’s actually Paul’s part, not John’s. John maintains a tuning in fourths but drops by a tone (whole step, for the benefit of Americans here), so he’s tuned to D,G,C,F,A,D. He plays the rhythm part using E, A and B chord shapes, but because the guitar’s downtuned, he’s actually producing G, C and D chords. Play both detuned guitar parts together with a bit a overdrive and it’s just fantastic. Brilliant, dense psychedelia, and without a doubt the richest guitar texture in the Beatles’ canon – and they had a lot of those!
Are you sure? It was recorded with the tape machine running fast and slowed down on playback, so I always assumed the tuning was standard.
I hear one guitar. Probably tuned A,E,A,A,C#,E but sounding G,D,G,G,B,D due to the tape speed. I am still not sure if it’s George’s SG or John’s Paperback Writer Gretsch, which he did use on the first day of the Rain recording (which was the second day of the Paperback Writer recording sessions).
definitely 3 guitarist on here with Paul overdubbin bass. all 3 played guitars on rhythm track
Great track. Truley underrated and underplayed. Anyone who is new to the beatles should give this song a listen. A great single from a great album from the most important era of the greatest band. Best of the best.i never tire of rubber sole thru revolver era recordings.
Like one of the other people on this site, I first heard this song on The Beatles Hey Jude US album. Obviously mainly a John Lennon song, but it is a great effort by the whole group. A real step forward. Brilliant Lennon lyrics and Ringo’s drumming is something else.
Rain always reminds me of The Byrds “Turn Turn Turn” — “To everything turn turn turn” “When the rain comes” so similar
I thought this song was about how nothing is good or bad, it is only in our mind, in what we tell ourselves
If Rain and Paperback Writer both had made it on Revolver, Revolver would unquestionably be the best Beatles album top to bottom. It’s already right there now…For consensus top 50 Beatles songs, wouldn’t MMT be considered #1? Fool on the Hill, Strawberry Fields Forever, I am the Walrus, Hello Goodbye, Penny Lane, All you need is Love?!?! 6 songs from one album making the top 50 list of best and most influential tracks? crazy.
I bought the U.K. Single, and like it just as it was! 2 great songs on 1 fantastic Single by Parlophone! Really brings you back listening to it this way. You just don’t get the same feeling listening to Past Masters.
This has always been one of my favourite tracks.
I’m curious though as to who played what guitar part on this track.
I’d assumed that John played the more chord like rhythm and George the quasi-indian like part. However I’ve recently seen some discussion that suggested John and Paul played the guitar parts.
Does any one know for sure?
As to the Revolver track list, I reckon Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine (both fine songs) could have been the non-album single release and then add Rain and Paperback Writer as album tracks. So many great songs on one album
This song has showed me the way.
Interesting how Lennon and Martin’s stories of the backward vocal differ… I wonder if the truth is somewhere in between RIP to them both
Great song and cool picture sleeve for the Paperback Writer/Rain 45. Two pics are reversed and John and George individually are playing their guitars left handed. Don’t know if that was the only sleeve issued for this 45.
I first heard this song when a friend of mine lip synched it at an elementary school talent show after it came out in ’66. Even at 7 I knew there was something different about it.
I think the Paperback/Rain single was perhaps the first songs where Macca used the Ric bass? I think they also ran it direct into the console for the first time here, either with or without also micing the amp. In any case it was much more defined and present in the mix compared to the Hofner, and is one reason it sounds like “lead bass”on this song. The Ric has a lot more high end so it cuts though.
I love the eighth note triplets in 4 that Macca does over the big guitar power chords in the bridge; the drums drop out and it kind of floats at that point! Very trippy.
The way the bass locks in with the drums was unusual and really made a lot of non-musicians aware of the bass at the time & really helped bring bass to the forefront, along with The Who’s My Generation, IMHO.
The way they slowed down the tape makes the low strings on the gtrs sound almost bass-like on the outro–a huge great sound which was innovative at the time. I wasn’t aware they tuned down also on this song but that would account for some of the huge gtrs too. Another innovative aspect of this song, if they did indeed tune down. Heavy rock bands still tune down to this day for the same reasons.