Format CD
7"
12" Genre Alternative rock Label Capitol | Recorded 1992 Length 3:37 | |
Released June 8, 1993 (1993-06-08) | ||
"No Rain" is a song by American alternative rock group Blind Melon, which was written by the bass player Brad Smith. It was released in September 1992 as the second single from the band's debut album Blind Melon. The song is well known for its accompanying music video, which features the "Bee Girl" character. The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, received heavy airplay on MTV at the time of its release. It subsequently helped propel Blind Melon to a multi-platinum level.
Contents
The song is the band's highest-charting song, reaching number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number-one on both the Album Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. The single proved successful internationally, hitting number-one in Canada and number 8 in Australia.
Track listing
The following tracks appeared on the original 1992 release:
- "No Rain" 3:37
- "No Rain (Live)" 4:07
- "Drive (Live)" 4:40
- "Soak The Sin (Live)" 5:30
The following tracks appeared on the original 1992 French release:
- "No Rain (Live)" 5:23
- "Candy says (Country Jellyfish version)" 3:30
- "Paper scratcher (Acoustic version)" 3:12
- "tones of home (Remix)" 4:26
The following tracks appeared on the original 1992 Netherlands release:
- "No Rain (Live)" 5:23
- "Paper Scratcher (Board Mix)" 3:13
The following tracks appeared on the later 1993 CD/Vinyl re-release:
- "No Rain" 3:37
- "Soak The Sin (Board Mix)" 4:00
- "Paper Scratcher (Board Mix)" 3:13
- "Deserted (Board Mix)" 4:20
The following tracks appeared 1993 UK Vinyl release:
- "No Rain" 3:34
- "No Bidness" (Triple Vision Version) 2:23
- recorded live at Bogarts, Cincinnati, Ohio, August 11, 1993.
- "I Wonder" 5:29
A live version of the song appears on radio station KMTT's Live From The Mountain Music Lounge Volume 14, released in 2008.
Music video
The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, stars Heather DeLoach as the "Bee Girl" — a young tap dancer wearing a homemade bee costume and large glasses, modeled after the Blind Melon album's cover: a family picture of Georgia Graham, younger sister of drummer Glen Graham. The Bee Girl's story is intercut with footage of Blind Melon performing in a field against a clear blue sky.
It opens on the girl's tap routine; the audience responds with laughter, and the girl runs off stage in tears. As the song plays, she wanders through a city, stopping to perform her dance for whoever will watch. Ultimately — at the point in the song where the word "escape" is repeated — she peeks through a gate, astonished, then runs through it to join a group of "bee people" of all shapes and sizes dancing joyfully in a green field.
As a result of the video, DeLoach appeared on the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, and reprised her Bee Girl dance (in full costume) in the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Bedrock Anthem".
VH1 ranked the "No Rain" video 83rd on its "100 Greatest Videos of All Time" list; One-Hit Wonders" list and No. 15 of its "40 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 1990s."
In popular culture
The song was played in several episodes of The O.C., and has featured in the TV commercials of Sahne Nuss. The song was used in the trailer for the film Sideways. It was covered by John Craigie on his 1990s cover album, Leave the Fire Behind. American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter Josh Rouse performed a version of the song in August 2015 for The A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series. The song was heard briefly in season 1 episode 2 of the television show New Girl and in the short-lived U.S. TV show Surviving Jack in episode three "How Do You Talk To An Angel". It was also the opening track for episode 5 of Season 2 of My Mad Fat Diary. A Dave Lichens cover version of the song appeared in the season 1 finale of the TV show Preacher.