GREAT SONGS FROM THE JOBETE CATALOGUE

I WISH IT WOULD RAIN
(Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong/Rodger Penzabene)

A piano and bass intro is followed by David Ruffin's aching vocal of a
an unforgettable song of devastating heartbreak ("Sunshine, blue skies,
please go away/My girl has found another and gone away"). The seagull
cries behind Ruffin's voice conjure up the picture of a desperate guy
wandering the seashore and, before the record ends, you also hear the
sound of thunder. <This came out, incidentally, just prior to David
Ruffin leaving The Temptations.>

The record is a fine Norman Whitfield production and one of a slew of
sensational songs which he wrote with Barrett Strong for The Temps.
Third writer on this tune is Roger Penzabene, whose heart & soul were
in the lyric; as Billboard's Adam White quotes Melvin Franklin (of The
Temptations): "Roger's wife, whom he loved very much, was unfaithful to
him - and he committed suicide because of it. He never got to know that
it (I WISH IT WOULD RAIN) was a gold record."

Though released in the same year as The Temptations' original, Gladys
Knight's cover (which was also produced by Norman Whitfield and was
on another Motown subsidiary label, Soul) came out over six months later.

Among the other artists who recorded I WISH IT WOULD RAIN have
been Bobby Womack (United Artists), Ike & Tina Turner (United Artists),
Marvin Gaye (Tamla), Aretha Franklin (Arista), The Chambers Brothers
(Columbia), and Little Caesar (DGC).

HIT VERSIONS IN THE U.S:
The Temptations (Gordy: 1968) #1 R&B, #4 Pop
Gladys Knight & The Pips (Soul: 1968) #15 R&B, #41 Pop
O.B. McClinton (Enterprise: 1973) #67 Country

HIT VERSIONS IN THE U.K:
The Temptations (Tamla Motown: 1968) UK #45
The Faces (with Rod Stewart) (Warner Bros: 1974) UK #8

ROCK ON !
Alan Warner

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