It’s Raining All Over The World

Never have I ever thought of this song in the winter. Always when it looks like rain or it is raining or even when we need rain, like right now. Since I have been writing though I think more about the impact of music, in general, on me.

How healing music is for us. All of the music we listen to and what it does for us. From bringing back memories to dancing and so much more.

In my adult life when asked if I have a favorite song, it is almost always Rainy Night in Georgia” When it first came out, I was in Jr. high or high school. It was the 60s. I feel like I have always known it.

I love spending time in the rain. I like that it cleans up the environment and things smell fresh. When it goes into “It’s raining all over the world,” I move into more of a summertime blues experience.

I was in a relationship with the father of my children when I played this song the most. I was married at age 17, in 1971. It was the party scene and free love was all around me. We had friends that had open marriages. Then they didn’t because they both got VD.

With the war and being married young, only wearing pants was allowed in school for females. Short, short skirts. It felt like a time when it was raining all over the world!

“Rainy Night in Georgia” is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1967 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. It was originally released by White on his 1969 album, Continued, on Monument Records, shortly before Benton’s hit single was issued.

Song writing[edit]

In a January 17, 2014, interview with music journalist Ray Shasho, Tony Joe White explained the thought process behind the making of “Rainy Night in Georgia” and “Polk Salad Annie”.

… But after I heard Bobbie Gentry I sat down and thought … well I know about Polk because I had ate a bunch of it and I knew about rainy nights because I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia. So I was real lucky with my first tries to write something that was not only real and hit pretty close to the bone, but lasted that long. So it was kind of a guide for me then on through life to always try to write what I know about.[2]

Brook Benton version[edit]

In 1969, Benton signed to a new record label, Cotillion Records. Benton recorded the song in November 1969. Included on his “come-back” album Brook Benton Today, the melancholy song became an instant hit. In the spring of 1970, the song had topped the Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles chart. It also reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100,[5] and number two on the Adult Contemporary chart.

My point in adding the information about Rainy Night in Georgia is that it wasn’t only me that enjoyed “the melancholy song”! How many others will put it on their funeral playlist besides me is another question. I already included Brook Benton singing it in another story about music.

Below is the writer of the song, with a short explanation of the song and singing Rainy Night in Georgia.

The inspiration for a summer song came from Poet In The Arctic. The invitation was to write a short story about a favorite summer song. See below.

The others are people I like to read that are tagged as possible writers for a summer song story.

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First published in Mercury Press on Medium. Unsure about the tags above? They are on the original story.