About The Song
On October 24, 1980, Eddie Rabbitt’s “Horizon” album became his first LP to land at #1 on Billboard’s country album chart. Bolstered by “Drivin’ My Life Away” (which had reached the top on August 23rd) and the forthcoming single, “I Love A Rainy Night,” the album was hailed as a modern-day throwback to rockabilly, with some justification.
Prior to launching the “Horizon” project, producer David Malloy had been working on an album for the British rock group Badfinger. During those sessions, band member Tom Evans told Malloy of England’s growing fascination with rockabilly. Two weeks later, David caught an article in Billboard Magazine explaining just what Evans was talking about. A few days before Malloy, Even Stevens and Eddie Rabbitt began composing the music for “Horizon,” David purchased the Sun Records collection, played it for his two buddies, then they started writing.
At the time, Rabbitt had an old Army foot locker which contained tapes of old songs and fragments of ideas. One day he was digging through it and at the end of one of the tapes, he discovered a repetitive melody with the phrase, “I love a rainy night.” Eddie suggested that they try to form a song around it.
Two weeks earlier, Malloy had gotten an idea for a rhythm pattern using alternating finger snaps and handclaps, and that concept became the centerpiece for the record. The “snaps and claps,” however, proved to be a nightmare in the recording studio. Malloy, Rabbitt and Stevens all tried to do the pattern in various combinations with little success. They even tried a tape loop, but that didn’t work. The main problem was that they weren’t consistent enough to get the correct sound every time. The handclaps would sound different each time when they would alternate back and forth. Finally, producer Malloy hired percussionist Farrell Morris to handle it. In about three hours, Morris laid down two tracks of snaps and two tracks of claps which solved the problem.
“I Love A Rainy Night” received a boost when Rabbitt signed a deal with Miller Beer. He filmed a commercial with the song on November 29, 1980 in Tucson, Arizona. On New Year’s Day, the ad premiered at halftime during the Rose Bowl telecast and the additional exposure helped propel “I Love A Rainy Night” to the top of both Billboard’s country singles chart (on January 17, 1981) and Billboard’s Hot 100 pop chart. In March, Rabbitt received official designations from the RIAA certifying “Drivin’ My Life Away” and “I Love A Rainy Night” as million-selling singles, the only ones of his career.
Video
Lyrics
Well, I love a rainy night
I love a rainy night
I love to hear the thunder
Watch the lightnin’ when it lights up the skies
You know it makes me feel good
Well, I love a rainy night
It’s such a beautiful sight
I love to feel the rain on my face
Taste the rain on my lips
In the moonlight shadows
Showers wash all of my cares away
I wake up to a sunny day
‘Cause I love a rainy night
Yeah, I love a rainy night
Well, I love a rainy night
Well, I love a rainy night
Ooh, ooh
I love a rainy night
I love a rainy night
I love to hear the thunder
Watch the lightnin’ when it lights up the skies
You know it makes me feel good
Well, I love a rainy night
It’s such a beautiful sight
I love to feel the rain on my face
Taste the rain on my lips
In the moonlight shadows
Puts a song in this heart of mine
Puts a smile on my face every time
‘Cause I love a rainy night
Yeah, I love a rainy night
Ooh, I love a rainy night
Yeah, I love a rainy night
Ooh, ooh
Showers wash all of my cares away
I wake up to a sunny day
‘Cause I love a rainy night
Yeah, I love a rainy night
Well, I love a rainy night
I love a rainy night
Well, I love a rainy night
You can see it in my eyes
Yeah, I love a rainy night
Well, it makes me high
Ooh, I love a rainy night
You know I do
Yeah, yeah, I love a rainy night
I love a rainy night
You can see it in my eyes
I love a rainy night
Makes me high
Well, I love a rainy night
And I love you too
Yeah, I love a rainy night
Well, I love a rainy night
Well, I love a rainy night
I love a rainy night
I love a-
