What John Lennon Wanted to Accomplish With The Beatles’ ‘Rain’ — But Didn’t
TL;DR:
- John Lennon wanted The Beatles’ “Rain” to be even more experimental.
- John said some of his songs were “big scenes.”
- The singer’s vision for the track could have ruined it.
The Beatles‘ “Rain” doesn’t reflect John Lennon’s original vision. During an interview, he said he wanted the song’s lyrics to be unintelligible. If John got his wish, “Rain” would have been much worse.
John Lennon wanted The Beatles’ ‘Rain’ to be almost entirely backward
During a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, John discussed the backward section of The Beatles’ “Rain.” “It was the first time I discovered [backward music],” he said. “On the end of ‘Rain’ you hear me singing it backwards. We’d done the main thing at EMI and the habit was then to take the songs home and see what you thought a little extra gimmick or what the guitar piece would be.”
John discussed hearing the song while stoned. “So I got home about five in the morning, stoned out of me head, I staggered up to me tape recorder and I put it on, but it came out backwards, and I was in a trance in the earphones, what is it — what is it?” he said.
“It’s too much, you know, and I really wanted the whole song backwards almost, and that was it,” he added. “So we tagged it on the end. I just happened to have the tape the wrong way round, it just came out backwards, it just blew me mind.” John said the backwards voice sounded elderly.
Why John Lennon felt the song was similar to The Beatles’ ‘Ticket to Ride’
In the same interview, John said some of his songs were “big scenes.” He put “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Ticket to Ride” in that category. John said “Rain” was perhaps a “big scene” just because of its backward section.
The reversed vocals on “Rain” were certainly a big deal. They were a part of the 1960s psychedelic rock movement that encouraged musicians to forgo conventional music styles. However, the song wouldn’t be nearly as good if its lyrics were entirely obscured.
What makes ‘Rain,’ ‘A Day in the Life,’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ such great songs
The lyrics of “Rain” are some of the best in the Fab Four’s catalog. Listening to the song without looking up the band’s interpretation of it, it’s unclear if the lyrics contain social commentary or if they’re just about rain. That’s what makes the song so great — a sense of mystery.
Other great Beatles songs have that same quality. Tunes such as “A Day in the Life” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” might have the depth of an ancient scripture or they might be psychedelic nonsense. That’s one of the great tricks Oasis learned from The Beatles. In addition, the ambiguity is part of why “Rain” is superior to most other great songs about rain, such as Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” or Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”
John wanted most of “Rain” to be backward and it’s good he never got his wish.
