"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (or "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today") is a song by American singer-songwriter

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

. It appears on

Julius La Rosa Julius La Rosa (January 2, 1930 – May 12, 2016) was an American traditional popular music singer, who worked in both radio and television beginning in the 1950s. Early years La Rosa was born of Italian-immigrant parents in Brooklyn. He attende ...

's 1966 album ''You're Gonna Hear from Me'',

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer and songwriter. He was previously the lead vocalist of the rhythm and blues, R&B and Rock music, rock band The Animals and the funk band War (band), War. He is regarded as one of the Br ...

's 1967 album '' Eric Is Here'', on Newman's 1968 debut album ''

'', in '' The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1'' (2003), and in Newman's official and bootleg live albums. It is one of his most covered songs. Also covered by jazz/adult contemporary singer Curtis Stigers in 2005 on his album "I Think It's Going to Rain Today". Stigers has covered other Newman songs in his career and credits him respectfully as an influence to his own song writing.

Background

Newman told ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' that he wrote the song around 1963 or 1964. He went on to say that the "music is emotional – even beautiful – and the lyrics are not." Newman also said that the song bothered him due to the darkness and that the song felt "sophomoric" and "too maudlin". Newman stated in 2017 that he had signed away the publishing rights on his first album and as a result, does not see any money from people doing covers of those songs.

Tom Northcott version

The song was covered by Canadian folk-rock artist Tom Northcott in 1970. It was released in 1971 as the second single from his debut album, ''Upside Downside''. The song reached number 46 in Canada and number 17 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart.

Charts

UB40 version

The song was covered by British

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

band

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy ...

in 1980. It was released in June 1980 as the second and final single from their debut album, '' Signing Off''. The song reached number 6 in the UK. The UB40 single was a double A-side with " My Way of Thinking", which was the first-named track and received most of the radio airplay. However, the German single (which appeared later) had "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" as the A-side. The group covered the song for bandmembers Robin and

Ali Campbell Alistair Ian Campbell (born 15 February 1959) is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer and co-founder of the British reggae band UB40. UB40 sold more than 70 million records worldwide and toured for 30 years with the original l ...

's father, folksinger Ian Campbell, who was a fan of Newman and who had recorded his own version of the song in the 1960s.

Charts

Other cover versions

The song was covered numerous times by a variety of artists, especially during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In popular culture

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

included the song in her film ''

Beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

'' (1988) and it appears in the soundtrack recording. A portion of Claudine Longet's version of the song is played in the Episode 22, Season Five of the ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...

'', "A House is Not a Home." The song is also featured in the TV series ''

Designated Survivor In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a person in the presidential line of succession who is kept distant from others in the line when they are gathered together, to reduce the chance that everyone in the line ...

'' in the episode, "Two Ships". Nina Simone's version of the song's first verse was the opening theme for the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

series '' Broken''. Simone's version also appears in the "Spies Like Us" episode from season two and “The Decision” from season six of the TV series ''Scandal''. A short excerpt of the song is played in the final episode of the ''

Childhood's End ''Childhood's End'' is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indi ...

'' miniseries. The song is also played in the movie "Mr. Monk's Last Case: The Monk Movie" released in 2023 sung by Randy Newman.

References

{{authority control Songs about weather 1966 songs 1968 singles 1971 singles Randy Newman songs Songs written by Randy Newman 1980 singles UB40 songs Song recordings produced by Lenny Waronker Reprise Records singles Uni Records singles