B-side "The Red Plains" Genre Soft rock | Released January 1987 Label RCA | |
Length 5:19 (Album version)
3:50 (Single version) Writer(s) Bruce Hornsby
John Hornsby | ||
"Mandolin Rain" is the third track from The Way It Is, the debut album for Bruce Hornsby and the Range. The song, released in late 1986, was a #4 hit single for the band in March 1987, following on the success of their previous single, the #1 hit and title track of their debut album, "The Way It Is". It also reached #1 on the adult contemporary chart for three weeks, and #2 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for two weeks, also in early 1987. The song even reached the Top 40 on the Country chart, hitting number 38.
The song was co-written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother John and featured Range member David Mansfield on the title instrument. It appears to be partly inspired by the song "You Don't Miss Your Water" by William Bell due to it employing the same hook (heard at the beginning of both songs), and by a remarkably similar swing feel (albeit with different chords).
In popular culture
The song was used in the 2009 movie World's Greatest Dad, with Robin Williams. Hornsby made a cameo appearance in the film and played an alternate acoustic version of the song, which had been previously arranged but never released until the film's soundtrack.