My friends and family down in Indiana don’t need any more rain after the recent deluge and associated flooding), but how about a song about rain, instead? That song is “Rain on the Roof” by the Lovin’ Spoonful, and it’s today’s classic song of the day.
“Rain on the Roof” was written and sung by John Sebastian, and it was included on the group’s third studio album, 1966’s Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful. Released as a single in September of 1966, the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the Cash Box Top 100. It was the Spoonful’s sixth-consecutive single to reach Billboard’s top ten.
John Sebastian said he wrote “Rain on the Roof” after he and his wife Lorey Kaye spent a whole evening listening to the rain fall outside their Greenwich Village apartment. Musically, it’s a fairly simple chord progression that sounds more sophisticated due to the sparkling guitar and harp work of Mr. Sebastian and his bandmate Zal Yanovsky. That said, just about any beginning guitarist can strum the basic chords (in the verse, they go D – A – A7 – D, then E – E7 – A – A7, then Em – E7 – A – A7); its pretty basic I – IV – I (but then with a major II – IV bit) progression.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here are the Lovin’ Spoonful lip-synching “Rain on the Roof” and their previous hit, “Summer in the City,” on the September 24, 1966, episode of The Hollywood Palace. They were introduced by the great Phil Silvers, who was hosting that week.
