Song of the Day 1/4: The Beatles, “Rain”

For many years after its 1966 release, this song was one of the most difficult Beatles songs to find. Though recorded during the sessions for “Revolver,” it didn’t appear on that LP; it was available only as the B-side to “Paperback Writer.” If you didn’t buy the single, you had to wait until 1970’s compilation album “Hey Jude,” which rounded up several singles that hadn’t appeared on an American LP previously.

The song was groundbreaking for the band in several ways. The reversed lyrics at the end marked the first time they experimented with that technique, and the first time anyone used it on a record. They also played around with tape speeds — Lennon’s lead vocal was recorded at a slower speed and then sped up to the key of the song (as was the band’s custom, the song is actually pitched slightly lower than its nominal key). Ringo Starr considers this his best-ever recorded drumming performance, and Paul McCartney’s energetic bass part is also among his most creative. The band also recorded three versions of what would later be termed “music videos” for the song. This is one of them.

The most notable cover of the tune was Todd Rundgren’s remake for his “Faithful” LP in 1976. As nimble as Rundgren is in the studio, his cover lacks the atmospherics of the original.