I Love a Rainy Night is a country song by Eddie Rabbitt. It
reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country
Singles, and Adult Contemporary Singles charts in 1981. The
song succeeded Dolly Parton's song "9 To 5" at the #1 position
on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart - the last time that
pop chart featured back to back country singles in the number
one position.
According to music historian Fred Bronson, "I Love a Rainy
Night" was 12 years in the making. Rabbitt had a collection of
old tapes he kept in the basement of his home. While rummaging
through the tapes one day in 1980, he heard a fragment of a
song he had recorded one rainy night in the late 1960s.
"It brought back the memory of sitting in a small apartment,
staring out the window at one o'clock in the morning, watching
the rain come down," wrote Bronson in
The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. "He sang into his
tape recorder, 'I love a rainy night, I love a rainy
night.'"
Upon rediscovery of the old lyrics, Rabbitt completed the
song (with help from frequent songwriting partners Even Stevens
and David Malloy) and recorded it.
The end result included vivid descriptions of a man's
fondness for thunderstorms and the peace it brings him ("
I love to hear the thunder/watch the lightnin' as it lights
up the sky/you know it makes me feel good") and a renewed
sense of hope the storms bring ("
Showers wash all my cares away/I wake up to a sunny
day").
The song's other mark of distinction is its rhythm pattern
of alternating finger snaps and hand claps, which was included
with the help of percussionist Farrell Morris. Morris —
according to "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" —
mixed two tracks of each to complete the record.
"I Love a Rainy Night" came in the midst of Rabbitt's peak
popularity as a crossover artist. The follow-up to "Drivin' My
Life Away" (No. 1 country, No. 5 Hot 100), the song was
Rabbitt's only Hot 100 No. 1. However, he would continue having
crossover success with the follow-ups "Step by Step" and "You
and I" (the latter a duet with Crystal Gayle).
On
Billboard'sHot Country Singles chart, it was his eighth
out of 17 career chart toppers, spanning from 1976 through
1990.
"I Love a Rainy Night" was certified gold for sales of 1
million units by the Recording Industry Association of America
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