The Rain Song

"The Rain Song"
Song by Led Zeppelin from the album Houses of the Holy
Released	28 March 1973
Recorded	1972
Genre	Folk rock[1] progressive rock[1][2]
Length	7:39
Label	Atlantic
Writer	Jimmy Page Robert Plant
Producer	Jimmy Page
Houses of the Holy track listing
"The Song Remains the Same" (1) "The Rain Song" (2) "Over the Hills and Far Away" (3)
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"The Rain Song" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, and the second track from their fifth album Houses of the Holy, released in 1973.

Recording

"The Rain Song" is a ballad of over seven minutes in length. Guitarist Jimmy Page originally constructed the melody of this song at his home in Plumpton, England, where he had recently installed a studio console. A new Vista model, it was partly made up from the Pye Mobile Studio which had been used to record the group's 1970 Royal Albert Hall performance and The Who's Live at Leeds album.^[3]

Page was able to bring in a completed arrangement of the melody, for which singer Robert Plant composed the words. This song is considered by Plant to be his best overall vocal performance.^[4] The song also features a mellotron played by John Paul Jones to add to the orchestral effect, while Page plays a Danelectro guitar.^[3]

The working title for this track was "Slush," a reference to its easy listening simulated orchestral arrangement.^[3]

George Harrison was reportedly the inspiration for "The Rain Song" when he made a comment to Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, about the fact that the group never wrote any ballads.^[5][6]

Live history

During Led Zeppelin concerts from late 1972 until 1975, the band played this song immediately following "The Song Remains the Same", presenting the songs in the same order as they appeared on the album. They organized their setlist in this manner because Page used a Gibson EDS-1275 double-necked guitar for both songs: the top, 12-string neck for "The Song Remains the Same" and then switching to the bottom, 6-string neck for "The Rain Song". The song was dropped from the 1977 U.S. tour, but returned for Led Zeppelin's 1979 concerts in Copenhagen, Denmark and at the Knebworth Music Festival, as well as their European tour in 1980.^[3] "The Rain Song" was the only song from Houses of the Holy performed on the 1980 European tour. In this incarnation, Page again utilized the double-neck, the only known time he used that guitar solely for the 6-string portion without using the 12-string portion on a preceding song. For all live versions of the song, the orchestral string sounds were played by Jones on either the mellotron (1972–1975) or a Yamaha synthesizer (1979–1980), as Led Zeppelin never utilised a string section on-stage.

When played live, Page used the 6-string neck of the EDS-1275 for "The Rain Song" in order to have two different tunings on the same guitar. The 12-string neck was tuned to Standard tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E) for his use on "The Song Remains the Same". The alternate tuning used for "The Rain Song" on the 6-string neck was Asus4 (E-A-D-A-D-E) - a step higher than the album cut, which was tuned to "Open page" alternative guitar tuning Gsus4 (D-G-C-G-C-D). This is quite an uncommon modal tuning and makes for a very rich sounding accompaniment, led by John Paul Jones. The likely reason the alternate tuning was used in live performances is that while it required Plant to sing in a higher key, it necessitated a tuning change of only two strings (the B and G) on the EDS-1275, whereas the song's original key would have required the tuning of five strings. As this same guitar would later be used in the show for "Stairway to Heaven", the six-string neck would then need to be returned to standard tuning—the alternate "Rain Song" tuning allowed this to be achieved with relative ease.

Page and Plant recorded a version of the song in 1994 but it was not originally released on their album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. It was, however, released on the special tenth anniversary reissue of that album in 2004.

Other versions

A different version of this song, which is almost exactly like the original but without the piano, is featured on the second disc of the remastered 2CD deluxe edition of Houses of the Holy. Titled "The Rain Song (Mix Minus Piano)", it was recorded on May 18, 1972, at the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio at Stargroves with engineer Eddie Kramer and mix engineer Keith Harwood. This version runs 7:45, while the original runs 7:39.

Legacy and usage in other media

Record producer Rick Rubin says, "I don't even know what kind of music this is ["The Rain Song"]. It defies classification. There's such tasteful, beautiful detail in the guitar, and a triumphant feel when the drums come in — it's sad and moody and strong, all at the same time. I could listen to this song all day. That would be a good day."^[7]

"The Rain Song" has appeared in four films: The ending of Cemetery Junction, Almost Famous, directed by Cameron Crowe (who, as a teen reporter for Rolling Stone magazine, covered Led Zeppelin), It Might Get Loud, a documentary by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, and Led Zeppelin's own 1976 concert film, The Song Remains the Same (and accompanying soundtrack), as part of lead singer Robert Plant's fantasy sequence.

Personnel

• Robert Plant - vocals
• Jimmy Page - guitars
• John Paul Jones - bass guitar, mellotron, piano
• John Bonham - drums

Cover versions

Sources

• Lewis, Dave (2004) The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
• Welch, Chris (1998) Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, ISBN 1-56025-818-7

References