Let's Sing The Rain Out Of The Sky

In the Netherlands it has never been as dry in springtime as this year, which is a disaster for farmers. Just like my grandfather who was a farmer, I like some heavy rain after a sunny day! Rain, rainbows and the lack of sunshine are the themes of these soul songs. Some are classics, others are relatively unknown. A rare one is the song from Marv Johnson. He recorded the first single on Tamla from Berry Gordy, called 'Come to me', in 1959. He had some success in the early 60s and stopped recording for Motown in 1968, but continued working for them in sales. He recorded ‘Save my love for a rainy day’ (a big Northern Soul tune for The Van Dykes later on and also recorded by Undisputed Truth) in October 1967. For some mysterious reasons it stayed on the shelves until 2002 when it was included on ‘A cellarful of Motown’. In 1993 Marv Johnson died of a stroke at the age of only 54.

‘Ain’t no sunshine’ is performed by the Emotions ('Boogie wonderland', 'Best of my love') in this mix, but it was written by Bill Withers, of course. Tonight there will be a Bill Withers tribute with the man himself as a special guest at the Carré in Amsterdam.

Check out the new album from the beautiful Canadian soul singer Marie-Christine (picture), called ‘Walk in beauty’ that officially came out a few days ago. It contains nice reworks of ‘Sunglasses at night’ (originally from her producer Corey Hart), ‘Tempted’ (Squeeze) and ‘I wanna be your lover’ (Prince). Her rainy contribute is her self-penned ‘A little grey on a sunny day’, which is really nice. Enjoy this track from her debut album and all the other songs that hopefully bring us some rain!

Tracklist:

Silvetti – Spring Rain (1976)
Talib Kweli – After The Rain (2011)
Smoke – Rainy Night (1976)
Alain Clark – Rain Will Fall (2007)
Black – Ravel In The Rain (1987)
Al Green – Rainin’ In My Heart (2003)
Marv Johnson - Save My Love For A Rainy Day (1967)
Stargard – Blue Rain (1978)
The Emotions – Ain’t No Sunshine (1977)
Mayer Hawthorne – I Wish It Would Rain (2009)
Brenda Russell – Rainbow (1981)
Scott Walker – It’s Raining Today (1969)
Calvin Harris – The Rain (2009)
The Carpenters – Rainy Days And Mondays (1971)
Love Unlimited – Walkin' In The Rain With The One I Love (1973)
Peabo Bryson – Can You Stop The Rain (1991)
The Temptations – I Wish It Would Rain (1967)
Brook Benton – Rainy Night In Georgia (1969)
Marie-Christine – A Little Grey On A Sunny Day (2011)
Oran ‘Juice’ Jones – The Rain (1986)
Professor Eddy – Space Rain [Dub Edit] (2011)

Let's Sing The Rain Out Of The Sky by Professor Eddy on Mixcloud