Crying in the Rain

"Crying in the Rain" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Carole King and was originally recorded by The Everly Brothers. The single peaked at #6 on the U.S. pop charts in 1962.

The song was the only collaboration between successful songwriters Greenfield (lyrics) and King (music), both of whom worked for Aldon Music at the time of the song's composition. On a whim, two Aldon songwriting partnerships decided to switch partners for a day -- Gerry Goffin (who normally worked with King) partnered with Greenfield's frequent writing partner Jack Keller, leaving King and Greenfield to pair up for the day. Despite the commercial success of their collaboration, King and Greenfield never wrote another song together.

The song was recorded shortly before Don and Phil Everly were inducted into the Marine Corps Reserves on November 25, 1961. On February 18, 1962, the duo performed the song in full uniform on The Ed Sullivan show, and on March 3, the song reached its peak of #6 on the US charts. Don and Phil got out of the Corps on May 24, after 6 months of service. It was the only Everly Brothers song released during their time in the military.

This was the Everly's first Top-10 hit song in a year.

Everly Brothers - Crying in the rain

Words & Music: Howard Greenfield & Carole King

I'll never let you see

 The way my broken heart is hurting me

 I've got my pride

 And I know how to hide

 All my sorrow and pain

 I'll do my crying in the rain

If I wait for cloudy skies

 You won't know the rain from the tears in my eyes

 You'll never know

 That I still love you so

 Though the heartaches remain

 I'll do my crying in the rain

Raindrops falling from heaven

 Could never wash away my misery

 But since we're not together

 I look for stormy weather

 To hide these tears I hope you'll never see

Someday when my crying's done

 I'm gonna wear a smile and walk in the sun

 I may be a fool

 But 'til then darling, you'll

 Never see me complain

 I'll do my crying in the rain

 I'll do my crying in the rain

 I'll do my crying in the rain

Shortly after this song came out, the performance rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc., held their annual awards to honor the most-played songs of the year. Out of the 90 awards handed out that night, Aldon Music took home 12, four times more than any other music publisher. So this song comes from a golden age of the Brill Building music era.

What does "Crying in the Rain" mean?

When crying in the rain, one can't see your tears because your face is wet from the rain.

So it implies that no one knows how hurt you are.

It is just a way of expressing that nobody knows what you going through.

“I love walking in the rain cause no one can see me crying.” - Rowan Atkinson aka Mr. Bean.

The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers, Phil (left) en Don.

The Everly Brothers were American country-influenced rock and roll singers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing. The duo, consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (born February 1, 1937) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 – January 3, 2014), were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

The Everly Brothers were not only among the most important and best early rock & roll stars, but also among the most influential rockers of any era. They set unmatched standards for close, two-part harmonies and infused early rock & roll with some of the best elements of country and pop music. Their legacy was and is felt enormously in all rock acts that employ harmonies as prime features, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to legions of country-rockers as well as roots rockers like Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe (who once recorded an EP of Everlys songs together).

Don and Phil were professionals way before their teens, schooled by their accomplished guitarist father Ike, and singing with their family on radio broadcasts in Iowa. In the mid-'50s, they made a brief stab at conventional Nashville country with Columbia. When their single flopped, they were cast adrift for quite a while until they latched onto Cadence. Don invested their first single for the label, "Bye Bye Love," with a Bo Diddley beat that helped lift the song to number two in 1957.

Don and Phil's personal lives came under a lot of stress in the early '60s: they enlisted into the Marine Corps Reserves (together), and studied acting for six months but never made a motion picture. More seriously, Don developed an addiction to speed and almost died of an overdose in late 1962. By that time, their career as chart titans in the U.S. had ended; "That's Old Fashioned" (1962) was their last Top Ten hit.

The decades of enforced professional togetherness finally took their toll on the pair in the early '70s, which saw a few dispirited albums and, finally, an acrimonious breakup in 1973. They spent the next decade performing solo, which only proved -- as is so often the case in close-knit artistic partnerships -- how much each brother needed the other to sound his best. In 1983, enough water had flowed under the bridge for the two to resume performing and recording together. The tours, with a backup band led by guitarist Albert Lee, proved they could still sing well. The records (both live and studio) were fair efforts that, in the final estimation, were not in nearly the same league as their '50s and '60s classics, although Paul McCartney penned a small hit single for them ("On the Wings of a Nightingale"). One of the more successful and dignified reunions in the rock annals, The Everlys continued to perform live, although they didn't release albums together after the late '80s. Phil Everly died on January 3, 2014 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; he was 74 years old.