Other People’s Songs: Come Rain or Come Shine

By Aaron Galbraith and Tony Attwood

Aaron: “Come Rain or Come Shine” was written for the Broadway musical St. Louis Woman, which opened on March 30, 1946, and closed after 113 performances.

Here is the St. Louis Woman – Original Broadway Cast , 1946

Tony: Certainly a song that I know from my childhood.  It is interesting for its lack of melody – so much of each of the opening lines rests on just one note.  Everything is down to the rhythm and the lyrics.

Aaron: Several dozen versions followed until we go to this one from 1961 by Judy Garland from her amazing live album Judy At Carnegie Hall.

Tony: Judy Garland’s version adds more to the melody, and compensates for the lack of melody with the frantic percussion at the start, and then the highly energetic orchestration – in fact I can’t imagine how anything more could be added to this arrangement.  I find it quite overpowering, and not in a good way.  But the song is a major classic of the era, so what do I know?  (The song does finish after around three and a half minutes, but there is some chat thereafter if you are a Judy Garland fan).

Aaron: Jumping forward to the year 2000 B.B. King and Eric Clapton recorded it for their collaborative album Riding with the King.

Tony: It’s one hell of a relief to find a slower version, with a little more melody after the frantic version above.  Very relaxing.

Aaron: Bob’s version comes from Fallen Angels from 2016

Tony: It’s one of those recordings which, I think, if you didn’t know it was Bob, it might take a moment to guess.  More than many of the classics that Bob chose, I think this one really suits his voice.   For me (and as ever this is just a personal view) this version doesn’t give any new insights, and I guess the most I can say is “it’s very nice”.

In saying that what I am trying to put across is that if one takes a song such as “Tell Ol’ Bill”, or indeed “Visions of Johanna” (to take a completely different style of music), these are songs that I must have played 1000 times, and I still get something from each one, and many others.  But this recording… I’ve heard it today, and don’t feel any need to come back to it again.

As I’ve said before, I am sure this is my loss.  But it’s just how I hear it.

Other people’s songs…

The songs are selected by Aaron in the USA and sent to Tony in the UK, whereupon he adds his comments and quite often seems to subvert the whole article, for reasons that by and large rarely become clear.

This has, I think, turned into one of the most in-depth reviews of the songs Bob has played but not composed, and I (Tony) am so grateful to Aaron for coming up with the idea, and then keeping it running.

Here are the previous editions…

1. Other people’s songs. How Dylan covers the work of other composers
2. Other People’s songs: Bob and others perform “Froggie went a courtin”
3. Other people’s songs: They killed him
4. Other people’s songs: Frankie & Albert
5. Other people’s songs: Tomorrow Night where the music is always everything
6. Other people’s songs: from Stack a Lee to Stagger Lee and Hugh Laurie
7. Other people’s songs: Love Henry
8. Other people’s songs: Rank Stranger To Me
9. Other people’s songs: Man of Constant Sorrow
10. Other people’s songs: Satisfied Mind
11. Other people’s songs: See that my grave is kept clean
12. Other people’s songs: Precious moments and some extras
13. Other people’s songs: You go to my head
14. Other people’s songs: What’ll I do?
15. Other people’s songs: Copper Kettle
16. Other people’s songs: Belle Isle
17. Other people’s songs: Fixing to Die
18. Other people’s songs: When did you leave heaven?
19. Other people’s songs: Sally Sue Brown
20. Other people’s songs: Ninety miles an hour down a dead end street
21. Other people’s songs: Step it up and Go
22. Other people’s songs: Canadee-I-O
23. Other people’s songs: Arthur McBride
24. Other people’s songs: Little Sadie
25. Other people’s songs: Blue Moon, and North London Forever
26. Other people’s songs: Hard times come again no more
27. Other people’s songs: You’re no good
28. Other people’s songs: Lone Pilgrim (and more Crooked Still)
29. Other people’s songs: Blood in my eyes
30. Other people’s songs: I forgot more than you’ll ever know
31.  Other people’s songs: Let’s stick (or maybe work) together.
32. Other people’s songs: Highway 51
33. Other people’s songs: Jim Jones
34. Other people’s songs: Let’s stick (or maybe work) together.
35. Other people’s songs: Jim Jones
36. Other people’s songs: Highway 51 Blues
37. Other people’s songs: Freight Train Blues
38. Other People’s Songs: The Little Drummer Boy
39. Other People’s Songs: Must be Santa
40. Other People’s songs: The Christmas Song
41. Other People’s songs: Corina Corina
42. Other People’s Songs: Mr Bojangles
43. Other People’s Songs: It hurts me too
44. Other people’s songs: Take a message to Mary
45. Other people’s songs: House of the Rising Sun
46. Other people’s songs: “Days of 49”
47. Other people’s songs: In my time of dying
48. Other people’s songs: Pretty Peggy O
49. Other people’s songs: Baby Let me Follow You Down
50. Other people’s songs: Gospel Plow
51. Other People’s Songs: Melancholy Mood
52. Other people’s songs: The Boxer and Big Yellow Taxi
53. Other people’s songs: Early morning rain
54. Other people’s Songs: Gotta Travel On
55. Other people’s songs: “Can’t help falling in love”
56. Other people’s songs: Lily of the West
57. Other people’s songs: Alberta
58. Other people’s songs: Little Maggie
59. Other people’s songs: Sitting on top of the world
60. Dylan’s take on “Let it be me”
61. Other people’s songs: From “Take me as I am” all the way to “Baker Street”
62. Other people’s songs: A fool such as I
63. Other people’s songs: Sarah Jane and the rhythmic changes
64. Other people’s songs: Spanish is the loving tongue. Author drawn to tears
65. Other people’s songs: The ballad of Ira Hayes
66. Other people’s songs: The usual
67. Other people’s songs: Blackjack Davey
68. Other people’s songs: You’re gonna quit me
69. Other people’s songs: You belong to me
70. Other people’s songs: Stardust
71. Other people’s songs: Diamond Joe
72. Other people’s songs: The Cuckoo