"I Can't Stand the Rain" | ||||
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Single by Ann Peebles | ||||
from the album I Can't Stand the Rain | ||||
Released | July 1973 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1973 | |||
Studio | Royal Studios, 1320 South Lauderdale, Memphis, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Soul, Memphis soul | |||
Length | 2:31 | |||
Label | Hi Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Ann Peebles, Don Bryant & Bernard "Bernie" Miller | |||
Producer(s) | Willie Mitchell | |||
Ann Peebles singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"Ann Peebles – I Can't Stand the Rain (Official Audio)" on YouTube |
"I Can't Stand the Rain" is a song originally recorded by Ann Peebles in 1973, and written by Peebles, Don Bryant, and Bernard "Bernie" Miller. Other notable versions were later recorded by Eruption, Graham Central Station, Tina Turner and Lowell George. The original version is ranked at 197 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song was written by Peebles, her partner (and later husband) Don Bryant, and DJ Bernard "Bernie" Miller in 1973:
One evening in Memphis in 1973, soul singer Ann Peebles was meeting friends, including her partner, Hi Records staff writer Don Bryant, to go to a concert. Just as they were about to set off, the heavens opened and Peebles snapped: "I can't stand the rain." As a professional songwriter in constant need of new material, Bryant was used to plucking resonant phrases out of the air and he liked the idea of reacting against recent R&B hits that celebrated bad weather, such as the Dramatics' "In the Rain" and Love Unlimited's "Walkin' in the Rain with the One I Love". So he sat down at the piano and started riffing on the theme, weaving in ideas from Peebles and local DJ Bernie Miller. The song was finished that night and presented the next morning to Hi's studio maestro, Willie Mitchell, who used a brand new gadget, the electric timbale, to create the song's distinctive raindrop riff. It really was that easy. "We didn't go to the concert," Bryant remembers. "We forgot about the concert." [2]
Ann Peebles said: "At first, we had the timbales all the way through the song but as we played the tape, Willie Mitchell said 'what about if the timbales were in front before anything else comes in?'. So we did that and when we listened back I said 'I love it, let's do that'." [3] The organ is played by Charles Hodges, who later said: "We wanted to catch a sound like water dripping. Willie pulled the timbales out and Howard [Grimes] did the low part and Teenie [Hodges] did the high part. It was an overdub." [4] Peebles said: "I have to give Teenie a lot of credit, because he added a lot of licks and details to make it right." [4]
Produced by Willie Mitchell, the song became Peebles' biggest hit when, in 1973, it reached No. 38 on the US Pop Chart and No. 6 on the R&B/Black Chart; it also reached No. 41 on the UK singles chart in April 1974. It was one of John Lennon's favorite songs; he called it "the best song ever". [2] Ian Dury made the song one of his choices when he was the guest for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in December 1996. [5] Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott samples Ann Peebles version of the song on her debut solo single "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)".
Chart (1973–1974) | Peak position |
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Australia (Kent Music Report) [6] | 79 |
U.S. (Billboard Hot 100) | 38 |
"I Can't Stand the Rain" | ||||
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Single by Eruption | ||||
from the album Eruption | ||||
B-side | "Be Yourself" | |||
Released | January 23, 1978 | |||
Recorded | 1977 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:12 | |||
Label | Hansa Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Ann Peebles, Don Bryant & Bernard "Bernie" Miller | |||
Producer(s) | Frank Farian, Rainer M. Ehrhardt | |||
Eruption singles chronology | ||||
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In 1978, Eruption released a disco-oriented remake which became the group's biggest hit. It reached the top 10 in many European charts, hitting the number 1 in Belgium for 2 weeks in March 1978. It was also a number 1 hit in Australia and reached the top 10 in New Zealand and South Africa. In the U.S., it peaked at number six on the disco chart [7] and reached number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Chart (1978) | Peak position |
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U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 18 |
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 30 |
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 6 |
Canadian Singles Chart | 21 |
UK Singles Chart | 5 |
Irish Singles Chart | 6 |
German Singles Chart | 7 |
Austrian Singles Chart | 4 |
Swiss Singles Chart [8] | 8 |
Dutch Top 40 | 4 |
Belgian Singles Chart [9] | 1 |
French Singles Chart | 5 |
Italian Singles Chart | 3 |
Norwegian Singles Chart | 2 |
Swedish Singles Chart | 2 |
Finnish Singles Chart | 15 |
New Zealand Singles Chart | 4 |
Australian Singles Chart | 1 |
South African Singles Chart | 5 |
Chart (1978) | Position |
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Australia (Kent Music Report) [10] | 15 |
U.S. (Billboard Hot 100) | 95 |
"I Can't Stand the Rain" | ||||
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Single by Tina Turner | ||||
from the album Private Dancer | ||||
B-side | "Let's Pretend We're Married" (live) | |||
Released | February 1985 (UK) [11] | |||
Recorded | 1984 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:41 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Songwriter(s) | Ann Peebles, Don Bryant & Bernard "Bernie" Miller | |||
Producer(s) | Terry Britten | |||
Tina Turner singles chronology | ||||
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Licensed audio | ||||
"I Can't Stand the Rain (2015 Remaster)" on YouTube |
In 1984 Tina Turner recorded "I Can't Stand the Rain" for her fifth solo album, Private Dancer , and released it as a single in early 1985 in Europe. Turner's version would find minor success in the UK, but would be a success in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Chart (1985) | Peak position |
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Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [12] | 6 |
Germany (Official German Charts) [13] | 9 |
Ireland (IRMA) [14] | 20 |
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [15] | 15 |
UK Singles (OCC) [16] | 57 |
Chart (1985) | Rank |
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Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [17] | 30 |
Memphis soul, also known as the Memphis sound, is the most prominent strain of Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn lines, organ, guitar, bass, and a driving beat on the drums.
Mabon Lewis "Teenie" Hodges was an American musician known for his work as a rhythm and lead guitarist and songwriter on many of Al Green's soul hits, and those of other artists such as Ann Peebles and Syl Johnson, on Hi Records in the 1970s. His credits as a songwriter include "Take Me to the River", "Love and Happiness", "L-O-V-E (Love)", and "Here I Am ".
The Hi Rhythm Section was the house band for hit soul albums by several artists, including Al Green and Ann Peebles, on Willie Mitchell's Hi Records label in the 1970s. The band included the three Hodges brothers, organist Charles Hodges, bassist Leroy Hodges and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, together with pianist Archie Turner and drummer Howard Grimes. Many recordings also used The Memphis Horns - Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love - of Stax fame, usually with Willie's brother James Mitchell arranging and (Perry) Michael Allen - piano (Alt). The recordings were made at producer Willie Mitchell's Royal Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee.
Ann Lee Peebles is an American retired singer and songwriter who gained popularity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s while signed to Hi Records. Her most successful singles include "I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband Don Bryant and radio broadcaster Bernie Miller, and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down". In 2014, she was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
Eruption were a British disco, R&B and soul recording act in the 1970s and 1980s. They are best known for their covers of Ann Peebles's "I Can't Stand the Rain" and Neil Sedaka's "One Way Ticket", which were big disco hits in 1978 and 1979.
Al Green Explores Your Mind is the eighth album by soul singer Al Green. Unlike previous Al Green albums, this album featured only one major hit, the U.S. No. 7 hit "Sha-La-La ", but did contain the original version of "Take Me to the River", a song which went to No. 26 on the Billboard chart when covered by Talking Heads in 1978. In 2004, the song "Take Me to the River" was ranked number 117 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Al Green Is Love is the ninth album by soul singer Al Green. It was his final of six consecutive albums to hit number 1 on the R&B/Soul Albums chart, and it peaked into the Top 40 on the Pop Albums chart.
"Take Me to the River" is a 1974 song written by singer Al Green and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges. Hit versions were recorded by Syl Johnson, Talking Heads and Delbert McClinton. In 2004, Green's original version was ranked number 117 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Green's 1974 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.
"Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 studio album of same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had limited mainstream success until 1978, after being included on the soundtrack to the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, when a re-release hit number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
I Can't Stand the Rain is the fourth studio album by American Memphis soul singer Ann Peebles. It was released on the Hi label in 1974 and was her highest-charting record on the Billboard 200, where it reached no. 155 and spent 7 weeks. Produced by Willie Mitchell and largely written by Peebles and her husband, Don Bryant, I Can't Stand the Rain included the R&B hits "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" and "I Can't Stand the Rain", the latter of which reached no. 6 on the R&B chart and no. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973.
Donald Maurice Bryant is an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter.
"Love and Happiness" is a song by Al Green from his album I'm Still in Love with You. Green co-wrote the song with Teenie Hodges. It was released as a single in the United Kingdom on London Records in 1973 and in the United States on Hi Records in 1977. It has been covered by Etta James, Al Jarreau, and many other performers.
"When the Heartache Is Over" is a song by American recording artist Tina Turner. Written by Graham Stack and John Reid for her tenth and final solo studio album, Twenty Four Seven (1999), it was released as the album's leading single on October 18, 1999. The song was a moderate hit in late 1999 and early 2000, reaching number 10 in the UK and the top 20 in several other European countries. The song is produced by British producers Brian Rawling and Mark Taylor.
I Can't Stand the Rain may refer to:
"The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" is the debut solo single by American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. It was written and composed by Don Bryant, Bernard "Bernie" Miller, Elliott, and producer Timbaland for her debut album Supa Dupa Fly (1997) and contains a sample of Ann Peebles' 1973 single "I Can't Stand the Rain", whose lyrics serve as the chorus.
Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It is the third album by Graham Central Station. Released in 1975, the album peaked at number four on the Billboard Top Soul Albums. The single, "Your Love", was a number-one hit on the Soul Singles chart.
Royal Studios is a recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1956, it is one of the oldest continuously operated music recording studios in the world.
"One Way Ticket" is a song written by Jack Keller and Hank Hunter. It was originally performed by American singer Neil Sedaka and popularized by British disco band Eruption.
"I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" is a song written by Memphis-based songwriter Earl Randle, and first recorded in 1972 by soul singer Ann Peebles. The song was also a hit in 1984 for English singer Paul Young.
Straight from the Heart is the third studio album by American Memphis soul singer Ann Peebles. It was released on the Hi label in 1972 and included the songs "I Pity the Fool" and "Breaking Up Somebody's Home".