I Think It's Going to Rain Today by Randy Newman

Album: Randy Newman (1968)

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Songfacts®:

Filled with Broken windows, frozen smiles and a pale dead moon, this is one of the more dispiriting Randy Newman songs. Newman can conjure up just about any feeling for a song, so they don't reflect his mental or emotional state. Looking back on the track in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, he expressed some regrets over the lyric.

"The music is emotional - even beautiful - and the lyrics are not," he said. "The honest truth is the song bothered me because of the darkness - it felt sophomoric, too maudlin."
Newman included this on his self-titled debut album. He had made a name for himself as a songwriter, placing tracks with Jerry Butler ("I Don't Want To Hear Anymore"), Gene Pitney ("Just One Smile") and many others. He seemed primed for success as a solo artist, but the album tanked. He remained a successful songwriter, but didn't have a solo hit until "Short People" in 1977.
Judy Collins, Bobby Darin, Rick Nelson, Dusty Springfield, Claudine Longet, Peggy Lee, Neil Diamond and Nina Simone are among the many artists to cover this song. Barbra Streisand recorded it in 1970 for her album Stoney End, but it didn't make the cut. This outtake, with Newman on piano, was finally released in 2012 on Streisand's album Release Me.

Comments: 4

D from MauiSo, Randy, who kicked you to the ground, who else couldn't get through to you in your pain, with their cavalier dismissive attitude? Unkempt broken places, fancy jazzed up people in gray. Cities, right? No place to be broken hearted.
So why did you reject such a beautiful expression? Because you needed to cut free to heal?
Yep. I get that
Sam Powell from Kaneohe, HiI'm sad to read that Newman retrospectively dislikes these lyrics. I disagree with him. It portrays exactly how I feel about homelessness. There is nothing darker than the attitudes and behaviors shown toward the most impoverished and down on their luck among us, and Randy Newman has captured that perfectly here.This song rips my heart out of my chest and scars it each time I hear it.
Anna from AustraliaPlayed at my mothers funeral 37 years ago
Gw from Los AngelesRe: I think it’s going to rain today. Discovered and intrigued by the Neil Diamond cut. I’ve always wanted to know what the reference was? Love the song!

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