Singled Out #4: "I Wish It Would Rain" / "I Truly, Truly Believe" -- The Temptations

The purpose of these “Singled Out” entries is to take a close look at some of the 45 r.p.m. singles in my collection, one record at a time. And this is exactly what will happen in this post, though it will be the first of a two-entry series.

Some of the records in my collection are inextricably linked to each other, both in music/pop culture history and in my own history as the owner of these records. I might eventually be proven wrong, but I don’t think any two records that I own have this kind of connection as clearly as my singles of the Temptations’ “I Wish It Would Rain” and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” do.

“(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” has been my all-time favorite song for decades. Not coincidentally, “I Wish It Would Rain” is also among my all-time Top Ten songs, maybe even Top Five.

Coincidence and tragedy bind these songs together. And beauty. Nearly unspeakable, sublime, mysterious beauty.

Let’s talk about what’s in front of us now, “I Wish It Would Rain”. A quick glance at the Wikipedia entry for the song tells the bare bones story. It was apparently recorded in two sessions, April 22, 1967 and a few months later, August 31, at Motown’s renowned Hitsville USA studio in Detroit. The single, backed with “I Truly, Truly Believe”, was released on December 21, 1967 and by early 1968, “I Wish It Would Rain” was ascending Billboard’s Hot 100, where it would peak at #4.

“I Wish It Would Rain” is a ballad, featuring evocative gospel-tinged piano, a gorgeous string arrangement and otherwise understated but crucial backing from some of Motown session geniuses. David Ruffin’s lead vocal is heartbreaking but resilient, even as he’s receiving vocal/emotional support from the other Temptations. The recording features ambient sound effects as well: the sound of seagulls, ocean waves, a rainstorm. The overall effect is one of hypnotic melancholia. It’s a deeply sad song, but a deeply sad song you find yourself wanting to sit with for awhile.

Diving deeper into that Wiki entry leads to the real-life tragedy behind “I Wish It Would Rain”. The song was written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, and Roger Penzabene. Penzabene, just 22 years old, wrote lyrics inspired by the sorrow and pain of his own troubled marriage. One week after the late December release of “I Wish It Would Rain”, Penzabene ended his own life on New Year’s Eve 1967. It has only been in recent years that I learned this story.

I was two years old when “I Wish It Would Rain” was released, and I do not remember a time in my life when I did not know this song. That’s because the single was one of several passed down to me by my aunts. In this case, the masking tape on the label used to reveal that it belonged to “C.F.”, a.k.a. Aunt Cathy. But I have been sole owner of this copy of “I Wish It Would Rain” for more than 50 years.

The scratches you can see if you examine the photo above closely have rendered the record unplayable — it’s not merely scratchy, it’s got some skipping that no amount of cleaning is going to cure — but there is no way I’m ditching this copy of “I Wish It Would Rain.” It is foundational to a lifetime of record collecting and a love of music that has only gotten stronger as I’ve aged.

My memories of this are fuzzy, but I remember this tiny plastic record player that I’d spin the singles on, probably with my mom’s help, maybe Dad’s too, but this feels like a Mom memory. Even at the age of four or five, I had favorites, and for reasons I will never fully understand, “I Wish It Would Rain”, in all of its exquisite sadness, was a favorite of pre-K me. All I know is that “I Wish It Would Rain” nestled deep, deep into my soul at a very young age, and it’s never left.

There are few works of art, in any genre, that move me the way “I Wish It Would Rain” does, but Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” is in that rarefied category. I’ll have plenty to say about that record, and its connections to “I Wish It Would Rain” in my next entry.