Song of the day: Rain

Written by Madonna and Shep Pettibone
Produced by Madonna and Shep Pettibone
Sequencing, keyboards and programming by Shep Pettibone
Drum programming by Tony Shimkin

This stunningly beautiful ballad was a break from the controversy surrounding the Erotica album. It was released worldwide in the summer of 1993 as fifth single. Daniel Abraham remixed the song and the more accessible Radio Remix became the main version on radio and the single releases. Though it got a lot of airplay it only went to #14 in the US and #7 in the UK. It charted better in Canada (#1), Japan (#2) and Australia (#5).

I feel it
It's coming

Rain
Feel it on my finger tips
Hear it on my window pane
Your love's coming down like
Rain
Wash away my sorrow
Take away my pain
Your love's coming down like
Rain

When your lips are burning mine
And you take the time to tell me how you feel
When you listen to my words
And I know you've heard
I know it's real
Rain is what this thunder brings
For the first time
I can hear my heart sing
Call me a fool but I know I'm not
I'm gonna stand out here on the mountain top
Til I feel your

Rain
Feel it on my finger tips
Hear it on my window pane
Your love's coming down like
Rain
Wash away my sorrow
Take away my pain
Your love's coming down like
Rain

When you looked into my eyes
And you said goodbye
Could you see my tears
When I turned the other way
Did you hear me say
I'd wait for all the dark clouds bursting in a perfect sky
You promised me when you said goodbye
That you'd return when the storm was done
And now I'll wait for the light
I'll wait for the sun
Till I feel your

Rain
Feel it on my finger tips
Hear it on my window pane
Your love's coming down like
Rain
Wash away my sorrow
Take away my pain
Your love's coming down like

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
And I say
Never go away

Waiting is the hardest thing
It's strange I feel like I've known you before
I tell myself that if I believe in you
And I want to understand you
In the dream of you
More and more and more
With all my heart and all my soul
When I'm with you
That by sheer force of will
I feel like a magical child
I will raise you from the ground
Everything strange
And without a sound you'll appear
Everything wild
And surrender to me
To love

Rain is what the thunder brings
For the first time
I can hear my heart sing
Call me a fool but I know I'm not
I'm gonna stand out here on the mountain top
Till I feel your

Rain
I feel it
It's coming
Your love's coming down like
Rain
I feel it
It's coming
Your love's coming down like

Rain
Feel it on my finger tips
Hear it on my window pane
Your love's coming down like
Rain
Wash away my sorrow
Take away my pain
Your love's coming down like

Rain
I feel it
It's coming
Your love's coming down like
Rain
I feel it
It's coming
Your love's coming down like
Rain
Step out on a mountain top and wait for you to call my name
Rain

A beautiful song deserves a stunning video, and that's what Rain got. Mark Romanek filmed everything in black & white, then had it colored manually in blue, a technique used in the early movie industry. The video shows the making of a video by a group of Asian technicians. Madonna, wearing a short black wig (!), walks around on the set and sings Rain, standing next to glass walls that drip with (fake) rain. The video got two well-deserved awards at the 1993 MTV VMA: 'Best Art Direction' and 'Best Cinematography'.



Beautiful as it might be, Rain was only performed live on the Girlie Show. But it certainly was a performance that did justice to the song. It's one of the best examples of the perfect harmony between the voices of Madonna, Niki and Donna. The heart-warming performance also included some lines of the Temptations' classic hit 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)'. At the end there's a beautiful instrumental outro (based on the Radio Remix) with the classic song 'Singin' In The Rain', while the dancers do a choreography with umbrellas, inspired by Gene Kelly's legendary rendition in the 1952 musical with the same name, with the Pierrot fancying one of the butterfly 'rain girls'.



Rain made a comeback on the Sticky & Sweet Tour as a video interlude between the Old School and Gypsy sections. However, only part of the chorus was used in combination with the Eurythmics hit 'Here Comes The Rain Again' (along with a sample of 'The Wedding Toccata Theme' by German electronic duo Modeselektor). The giant screens portray a CG animation of a fairy witnessing the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly in the rain. Meanwhile, the Hamutsun Serve dancers perform a Japanese choreography, adding to the atmosphere.