Дождь: Песня The Beatles о погоде и психоделике.

1966 song by the Beatles

"Rain" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 30 May 1966 as the B side of their "Paperback Writer" single. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for Revolver, although neither appear on that album. "Rain" was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. He described it as being "about people moaning about the weather all the time". The song's recording contains a slowed down rhythm track, a droning bass line and backwards vocals. Its release marked one of the first times that reversed sounds appeared in a pop song, although the Beatles used the same technique on the Revolver track "Tomorrow Never Knows", recorded days earlier. Ringo Starr considers "Rain" his best recorded drum performance. Three promotional films were created for the song, and they are considered among the early precursors of music videos.

Commenting on "Rain", Lennon said it addressed "People moaning because they don't like the weather". According to Paul McCartney's recollection in his 1997 authorised biography Many Years from Now, the pair collaborated on it, and the song's authorship was "70–30 to John". In what Beatles biographer Steve Turner deems an oversimplification that ignores the philosophical aspect, McCartney recalled: "Songs have traditionally treated rain as a bad thing and what we got on to was that it's no bad thing. There's no greater feeling than the rain dripping down your back."

"Rain" was released as the B side to "Paperback Writer" in the United States on 30 May 1966 (as Capitol 5651) and in the UK on 10 June. It was the Beatles' first UK single since the "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" double A side in December 1965. The new record showed profound changes in the Beatles' image, after the band had spent the first half of 1966 largely out of the public eye. Music journalist Jon Savage describes the two tracks as "saturated in clanging guitar and Indian textures", and each reflective of a different side of "the psychedelic coin". In author Shawn Levy's description, as a prelude to Revolver, the single offered the first clue of the Beatles' transformation into "the world's first household psychedelics, avatars of something wilder and more revolutionary than anything pop culture had ever delivered before". Cash Box described the song as a "soulful, medium paced, effectively rendered blueser." In the United States, the song peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 9 July 1966, and remained in that position the following week. The "Paperback Writer" single reached number 1 in the UK and the US, as well as Australia and West Germany. Rolling Stone ranked "Rain" 469th in its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2010 and 463rd in 2004. On a similar list compiled by the New York radio station Q104.3, the song appeared at number 382. Both Ian MacDonald and Rolling Stone described Starr's drumming on the track as "superb", while Richie Unterberger of AllMusic praises his "creative drum breaks". In 1984, Starr said: "I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away I know me and I know my playing and then there's 'Rain'." In his article on the band's singles, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian describes the song as "simultaneously thunderous and dreamy psych", and "perhaps the best Beatles B side of all". "Rain" was ranked 20th in Mojos list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs", compiled in 2006 by a panel of critics and musicians. The magazine's editors credited it with launching a "countercultural downpour". Music critic Jim DeRogatis describes the track as "the Beatles' first great psychedelic rock song". Music historian Simon Philo recognises its release as marking "the birth of British psychedelic rock", as well as a forerunner to the unprecedented studio exploration and Indian aesthetic of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Love You To", respectively. It has been noted for its slowed down rhythm track and backwards vocals, anticipating the studio experimentation of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and other songs on Revolver, which was released in August 1966. Musicologist Walter Everett cites its closing section as an example of how the Beatles pioneered the "fade out–fade in coda", a device used again by them on "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Helter Skelter", and by Led Zeppelin on "Thank You". From its introduction in "Rain", the Hindustani gamaka vocal ornamentation was adopted by several bands in the late 1960s, including the Moody Blues (on "The Sun Set"), the Hollies ("King Midas in Reverse") and Crosby, Stills & Nash ("Guinnevere"). "Rain" was first mixed in stereo in December 1969 for its inclusion on the US compilation album Hey Jude early the following year. The track subsequently appeared on Rarities in the UK The band also promoted the single with a rare TV appearance, miming to both songs on the BBC show Top of the Pops on 16 June. The Beatles' Anthology documentary video includes an edit combining the Chiswick House promo for "Rain" with shots from the two black and white EMI clips and unused colour footage from the 20 May filming. The new edit also employs rhythmic fast cuts. Unterberger writes that this creates an impression that the 1966 promos were more technically complex, fast paced and innovative than was the case. For example, the backwards film effects are 1990s creations. Such effects were actually first deployed in the "Strawberry Fields Forever" promotional film of January 1967.