Album: The Temptations Wish It Would Rain
Year: 1968
. . .
One of my favorite album title constructions is the one that leads off with the artist’s name, and then some description of either who that artist is or some kind of action they are taking. You know, like The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, Al Green Explores Your Mind, The Who Sell Out, or The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!. This might be mostly a 60s or 70s phenomenon, as while all of those came off of the top of my head, it’s not exactly a thing that you can google and find out more examples. I know, cos I tried.
Anyways, we can add to that list the 1968 Temptations album, The Temptations Wish It Would Rain, which was obviously named after their most recent hit single, the utterly sublime “I Wish It Would Rain,” all about the aftermath of the girl would found another guy in “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and he was doing everything he could to stop her from going in “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” finally got up and left his ass for good.
Sunshine, blue skies, please go away
My girl has found another, and gone away
With her went my future, my life is filled with gloom
So day after day, I stay locked up in my room
I know to you it might sound strange
But I wish it would rain
Ruffin sings this opening verse accompanied only by Funk Brother James Jamerson’s bass, a tambourine, and — for some reason — seagull noises. What I don’t know is who played the grand and gorgeous piano that opens and periodically stops the song each they get to the title and all of the Temptations sing “Oh how I wish that it would rain” and the entire world gets dusty for a second. Written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong and Rodger Penzabene, the sentiments of “I Wish It Would Rain” are pretty fucking dour and David Ruffin triples down on all of it, especially on the second verse.
‘Cause so badly I wanna go outside
(Such a lovely day)
But everyone knows that a man ain’t supposed to cry
Listen, I got to cry, ’cause crying
Oooooooooooooooohhhh
Eases the pain, oh yeah
At the point, the string and guitars and drums have come in, but the strings aren’t dominating, they’re just commenting, because the only thing that is dominating is David Ruffin, whose “oooooooooooooooh” after “Listen, I got to cry, ’cause crying” is almost beyond human ken, it’s so sad and lonely and lovely, and the way that the rest of the Temptations kinda step on it makes it almost feel like an improvisation, like he’s so caught up in his sadness that words are now failing him, and all he has for the moment is his lament of despair.
And while on the third verse, the rest of the Tempts are now helping him, but things ain’t getting any better.
Day in day out, my tear-stained face
Pressed against the window pane
My eyes search the skies, desperately for rain
(‘Cause rain drops will hide my teardrops)
And no one will ever know
That I’m crying (crying) crying (crying)
When I go outsideTo the world outside
My tears I refuse to explain
Oo, I wish it would rain
(How I wish that it would rain)
Oo, baby
Apparently Roger Penzabene wrote the lyrics after his wife cheated on him, and after “I Wish It Would Rain” was recorded, he killed himself. You don’t need to know that to be utterly gutted by the all-hands-on-deck “Cause rain drops will hide my teardrops” harmonies. But all of that pain permeates the song, not even to be alleviated by the handclaps (!) that pop up in that last verse.
After one last moan from Ruffin, they inspire Eric Clapton’s greatest solo song until the fade.
“Let it Rain” was yet another smash for the Temptations, another #1 R&B and #4 pop single, though somehow it stiffed in the U.K. My guess is because the swinging Englanders were all into that psychedelic hippie shit and had no time for a song that was one of the most gorgeous ballads ever recorded and yet wasn’t even close to the greatest Temptations ballad, which we’ll get to after we watch them master some psychedelic hippie shit.
“I Wish It Would Rain”
“I Wish It Would Rain” performed on TV, 1968
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