B-side "Desperado" Format CD single Label RCA Nashville | Released September 2, 1996 Genre Country | |
Length 4:22 (album version)
3:30 (single version) | ||
"Like the Rain" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Clint Black. It was recorded as one of several new tracks for his 1996 Greatest Hits package. Released in September 1996, the song became his 23rd chart single, and in October of that year, it became his tenth Number One hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. It held that position for three weeks. At the 1997 Grammy Awards, "Like the Rain" was nominated for the Best Male Country Vocal performance. The song was written by Black and Hayden Nicholas.
Contents
Content
"Like the Rain" is a country ballad, backed mainly by acoustic guitar and piano, with heavy snare drum accents. The narrator tells of how he "never liked the rain" until he walked through it with his lover. In the chorus, he adds that he "can't believe [he] never liked the rain", and then elaborates that he is "falling for [her] now, just like the rain". The album version features the sounds of rain and thunder at the beginning and end. These sound effects were lacked from the single edit.
Black also re-recorded the song, at a slightly slower tempo, for his 2007 compilation The Love Songs.
Critical reception
Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably by saying that the song is a "moody offering with a driving melody and strong lyric." She goes on to say that Black "turns in his reliably potent vocal performance."
Chart positions
"Like the Rain" debuted at number 42 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of September 7, 1996.