Rain In The Summertime was first released as the a single on 5th October 1987 and then appeared on the Eye Of The Hurricane album released in November 1987
“Rain” was one the The Alarm’s biggest hits and co-written by the band. It started as a jam one day at a rehearsal studio in Elephant & Castle. I was playing with a drum machine and had the basic drum riff going. Dave was jamming along to it and ended up with the guitar riff you hear on the track. Mike and Eddie arrived at rehearsals and the track was born. When we recorded it at Linford Manor, I wrote the bass and drums lines using “Pro 24,” a very early music sequencing software that was designed for the Atari 1040ST computer (which I still have). I recorded live drums over the samples triggered by the Atari. All the cymbals, Tom-Tom riffs, Timbale and percussion were live in the studio – Nigel Twist 2011
We were basing our production ideas on tapes of the new songs recorded on tour and a rough demo tape called “The Gaslight Compilation” which we had recorded “live” on Nigel Twist’s professional Song Walkman. The last track on the tape was a rough recording of the Rain In The Summertime jam session and John Porter was really excited about this track. John had set up an Atari computer in the room above the studio and Nigel Twist and Eddie Macdonald would join him as they worked up a “Summertime” backing track of electronic beats, bass guitar samples and sweeping synthesiser lines. It was the first time I had ever seen an entire backing track created on a computer – Mike Peters – Alarm 2000 liner notes
At first none of us were very sure about the direction the track was going but John Porter kept reassuring us that the outcome would prove to be spectacular. On Monday 22nd June 1987, John had Tony Platt put the backing track onto the 2” tape recorder and then I sang a rough guide vocal of scat lyrics. Next, they got Dave Sharp in to play guitar. Dave had not played guitar on the track since that one time only jam session at Gaslight back in early April. We were all in the control and played back the demo tape to remind Dave of the riff he and Eddie had worked out. Once Dave had a rough idea he asked Tony Platt to roll tape. John Porter also asked Tony to record “just in case”. At first Dave was fooling around over the long intro playing a few harmonics and getting a feel of the riff again. By the first chorus, he sort of had the part under control, by the second chorus he had it down pat and as it dropped in to the solo, he improvised the cutting blues break that preempts the middle eight, brilliant. During the outro he had perfected the song’s signature guitar riff and as the last notes faded away we all knew we had a hit record on our hands. It was an amazing moment. After the euphoria had died down and we had all finished congratulating John for his vision and Dave for his guitar playing, John said to Dave, “Right Dave, let’s go back to the top of the song and repair the mistakes and play the correct riff before the vocals come in”. Dave replied “No way man, that’s a piece of rock n roll history right there, the fact that I’m tuning up at the start is all part of it dude”. None of us could believe it, we all knew that if we could tidy up the track we would have a hit single on our hands. Dave was having none of it, he just put down his guitar and walked out of the control room and headed for the pub. I went ballistic, I stormed after him and tried to get him to come back and finish off the track, he refused again. That’s when the red mist descended. I picked Dave up by the scruff of the neck, held him up against a wall outside the studio and I had to totally restrain myself from hitting him. I couldn’t make Dave come back and so I went back in the studio. In the control room I found John Porter unperturbed by what had gone on, he said he had “techniques” for moments like this. What he did was record Dave Sharp’s “correct” riff from the end of the song on to a piece of ¼” tape on another recorder and “fly” it into the beginning of the song. It took a lot of attempts and required a lot of patience but by the time Dave Sharp came back from the pub Rain In The Summertime, sounded like rain In the Summertime – Mike Peters – Alarm 2000 liner notes
Running length 5:16
Written by The Alarm
Musiciaans & Credits
Mike Peters – Lead vocals & electro-acoustic guitar
Dave Sharp – Electric guitar
Eddie Macdonald – Bass guitar, programming & backing vocals
Nigel Twist – Drums, programming & backing vocals
Mark Taylor – Keyboards
John Porter – Slide Guitar & programming
Backing track recorded 22nd June 1987 at Great Linford Manor Studios, Milton Keynes, England.
Produced by John Porter. Recording Engineer Tony Platt. Mixed by David Leonard.
Other Studio Versions of the Song
Album Appearances and discography
Single Appearances and discography
Officially released live recordings – Audio
All are Worldwide Releases on Twenty First Century Recording Company
(Except where stated)
15th January 2000. Recorded at The Gathering 8, The North Wales Conference Centre, Llandudno, Wales. Running Length 3:42
Band Line up : Mike Peters, James Stevenson, Craig Adams, Steve Grantley.
4th December 2000. Recorded at The Garage, Glasgow, Scotland.
5th December 2000. Recorded at University, Newcastle, England. Running Length 6:50
7th December 2000. Recorded at The Cockpit, Leeds, England. Running Length 6:41
8th December 2000. Recorded at Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, England.
9th December 2000. Recorded at The Lomax, Liverpool, England. Running Length 6:49
13th December 2000. Recorded at Rock City, Nottingham, England.
15th December 2000. Recorded at Shepherds Bush Empire (W12), London, England. Running Length 6:44
Also Released in USA on Beyond and Japan on Imperial Records in 2001, reissued in UK, Europe Australia & New Zealand on Select Records and USA on Beyond in 2005 as The Alarm – Greatest Hits Live
16th December 2000. Recorded at University, Cardiff, Wales. Running Length 6:42
17th December 2000. Recorded at University, Manchester, England. Running Length 3:35
The band line up for all of the December live shows were : Mike Peters, James Stevenson, Richard Llewellyn, Steve Grantley. These December dates were part of the tour to promote The Alarm 2000 collection and were billed as The Alarm MM.
6th February 2001. Recorded at Logo, Hamburg, Germany.
10th February 2001. Recorded at Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany. Running Length 6:20
9th April 2001. Recorded at Elbo Room, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
12th April 2001. Recorded at T.T. The Bear’s Place, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
13th April 2001. Recorded at The Vanderbilt, Plainview, New York, USA.
(Band Line up : tbc for the Feb and April dates)
1st February 2003. Recorded at The Garage, Glasgow, Scotland. Running Length 6:339
6th February 2003. Recorded at Masque Theatre, Liverpool, England.
7th February 2003. Recorded at The Mean Fiddler, Harlesden, London NW10, England. Running Length 5:47
(Band Line up : tbc)
24th August 2003. Recorded at William Aston Hall, NEWI, Wrexham, Wales.
Running Length 4:29. Mike Peters Solo acoustic.
Released in 2003 on Alarmstock vol 8 – Rock And Roll International.
3rd November 2003. Recorded at The Knitting Factory, New York, USA.
5th November 2003. Recorded at The Middle East, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
10th November 2003. Recorded at The Knitting Factory (East), New York, USA.
Running Length 6:44
17th November 2003. Recorded at The Knitting Factory (East), New York, USA.
Running Length 7:26
19th November 2003. Recorded at The Middle East, Boston, Massachusetts,USA.
20th November 2003. Recorded at Elbo Room, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Running Length 6:36
21st November 2003. Recorded at The Knitting Factory (West), Los Angeles, California, USA.
Running Length 7:10
(Band Line up : tbc)
26th February 2004. Recorded at Municipal Arts Centre, Pontypridd, Wales.
Running Length 6:35
1st March 2004. Recorded at La Scala, London N1, England.
Released in 2005 on CD/DVD Live In The Poppy Fields, on Snapper Records SMASDVD026
Running Length 5:59
7th March 2004. Recorded at The Garage, Glasgow, Scotland. Running Length 6:31
Band line-up for Feb/March : Mike Peters, James Stevenson, Craig Adams, Steve Grantley
28th August 2004. Recorded at William Aston Hall, NEWI, Wrexham, Wales.
Running Length 4:24. Mike Peters Solo acoustic.
Released in 2004 on Alarmstock 2 vol 4 – Rock And Roll International Part 2
6th August 2005. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London NW8, England.
Running Length 3:17. Mike Peters Solo acoustic.
Released in 2005 on Alarmstock III vol 1 – London
13th August 2005. Recorded at Electric Lady Studio A, New York, USA
Running Length 3:25 Mike Peters Solo acoustic.
Released in 2005 on Alarmstock III vol 2 – New York
20th August 2005. Recorded at Capitol Records Studio A, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Running Length 3:19 Mike Peters Solo acoustic.
Released in 2005 on Alarmstock III vol 3 – Los Angeles
28th February 2009. Recorded at Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wales.
Running Length 3:56. Mike Peters Solo acoustic
Released on CD in 2009 Mike Peters of The Alarm Live Acoustic (Catalogue number 21C049)
22nd October 2010. Record at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Scotland.
Running Length 3:26. Mike Peters Solo acoustic
Released on CD in 2010 Mike Peters // The Alarm – Direct Acoustic MMX live in Glasgow (Catalogue number 21C054)
29th January 2011. Recorded at The Gathering 19, Pontins Prestatyn Sands, Holiday Park, Wales. Running length : 4:20
Band Line Up : Mike Peters, James Stevenson, Craig Adams and Steve Grantley
Released in 2011 – The Alarm – Live At The Gathering 2011 (audio disc) (Cat. No. 21CDVD015)
26th January 2013. Recorded at The Gathering 21, Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wales.
Running length : 2:45. Band line-up : Mike Peters, James Stevenson, Craig Adams, Steve “Smiley” Barnard and Mark Taylor
Released in 2013 – The Alarm – Abide With Us – Live at The Gathering 2013 (Cat. No. 21C063)
18th April 2014. Recorded at McCabe’s, Santa Monica, USA.
Running Length 3:36. Mike Peters Solo acoustic
Released on CD in 2014 Mike Peters In Concert at McCabe’s (Catalogue number 21C069)
Acoustic Recordings
Lyrics
Under the anvil of the sun
Sweat, like a train, I come, I come
My body to dust, scorched by the might of the sun
Burning light, burning white heat
Like wildfire, I sweat a fever
My body screams, disintegrates in the heat
Our love is the faith that keeps on burning
I love to feel the rain in the summertime
I love to feel the rain on my face
I love to feel the rain in the summertime
Burnt at the stake, on a bed of fire
My body rises, taking me higher
My love’s desire, is pure ascension fire
And love is the faith that keeps on burning
I love to feel the rain in the summertime
I love to feel the rain on my face
I love to feel the rain in the summertime
And then I run ’til the breath tears my throat
‘Til the pain hits my side
As if I run fast enough
I can leave all the pain and the sadness behind
I love to feel the rain in the summertime
I love to feel the rain on my face
I love to feel the rain in the summertime
Alternative Lyrics
Audio & Visual Sources
(Page updated 24/06/2021)