| "I Love a Rainy Night" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byEddie Rabbitt | ||||
| from the albumHorizon | ||||
| B-side | "Short Road to Love" | |||
| Released | November 10, 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1980 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:08 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Songwriters |
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| Producer | David Malloy | |||
| Eddie Rabbitt singles chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Billboard | (unrated)[2] |
"I Love a Rainy Night" is a song co-written and recorded by Americancountry music artistEddie Rabbitt. It was released in November 1980 as the second single from his albumHorizon. It reached number one on theHot Country Singles,[3]Billboard Hot 100, andAdult Contemporary Singles[4] charts in early 1981. It was written by Rabbitt,Even Stevens, andDavid Malloy.
According to music historian Fred Bronson, "I Love a Rainy Night" was 12 years in the making. Rabbitt had a collection of old tapes he kept in the basement of his home. While rummaging through the tapes one day in 1980, he heard a fragment of a song he had recorded one rainy night in the late 1960s.
"It brought back the memory of sitting in a small apartment, staring out the window at one o'clock in the morning, watching the rain come down," wrote Bronson inThe Billboard Book of Number One Hits. "He sang into his tape recorder, 'I love a rainy night, I love a rainy night.'"
Upon rediscovery of the old lyrics, Rabbitt completed the song (with help from frequent songwriting partners Even Stevens andDavid Malloy) and recorded it.
The result included vivid descriptions of a man's fondness for thunderstorms and the peace it brings him ("I love to hear the thunder/watch the lightnin' when it lights up the sky/you know it makes me feel good") and a renewed sense of hope the storms bring ("Showers wash all my cares away/I wake up to a sunny day").
The song's other distinctive feature is its rhythmic pattern of alternatingfinger snaps andhand claps, which was included with the help of percussionist Farrell Morris, who, according toThe Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits, mixed two tracks of each to complete the record.
On February 28, the song succeededDolly Parton's hit film theme song "9 to 5" in the number-one position on theBillboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. On March 14, Parton's song returned to the top spot – the last time that the pop chart featured back-to-back "country" singles in the top position until August 2023, whenJason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" succeeded "Last Night" byMorgan Wallen.[5]
"I Love a Rainy Night" came during Rabbitt's peak popularity as a crossover artist. The follow-up to "Drivin' My Life Away" (number onecountry, number five Hot 100), the song was Rabbitt's only Hot 100 number one. But his crossover success continued with the follow-ups "Step by Step" and "You and I" (the latter a duet withCrystal Gayle).
OnBillboard's Hot Country Singles chart, it was his eighth out of 17 career chart-toppers, spanning from 1976 to 1990.
"I Love a Rainy Night" was certified gold for sales of one million units by theRecording Industry Association of America.[6]
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All-time charts[edit]
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