The Beatles, with their iconic songs, often had members of the band recalling different versions of how these tunes came to be.
Most of their music was penned by Paul McCartney and John Lennon (credited jointly as Lennon – McCartney), and the two sometimes disagreed on who contributed more to a particular song. Eleanor Rigby was one such song that John and Paul couldn’t agree on who the main writer was. Similarly, they disputed over the origins of parts of In My Life and And I Love Her.
Another Beatles track where John’s memories didn’t align with others was ‘Rain’. This 1966 song was the B-side to the ‘Paperback Writer’ single and was recorded during the ‘Revolver’ album sessions.
Seen as an early instance of the innovative techniques and musical style that marked the band’s work in the latter half of the 1960s, it notably includes a slowed-down rhythm track and reversed vocals.
John claimed this was his brainchild, inspired when he was under the influence. In a 1980 chat with Playboy, he shared: “I got home from the studio and I was stoned out of my mind on marijuana and, as I usually do, I listened to what I’d recorded that day.”
“Somehow I got it on backwards and I sat there, transfixed, with the earphones on, with a big hash joint.
“I ran in the next day and said, ‘I know what to do with it, I know… Listen to this!’ So I made them all play it backwards. The fade is me actually singing backwards with the guitars going backwards.
“[Singing backwards] Sharethsmnowthsmeaness… [Laughter] That one was the gift of God, of Ja, actually, the god of marijuana, right? So Ja gave me that one.”
John had claimed he had written the song alone but Paul saw it differently and said it was collaborative. In the book Many Years From Now, he said: “I don’t think he brought the original idea, just when we sat down to write, he kicked it off.
“Songs have traditionally treated rain as a bad thing and what we got on to was that it’s no bad thing. There’s no greater feeling than the rain dripping down your back.
“The most interesting thing about it wasn’t the writing, which was tilted 70-30 to John, but the recording of it.”
Producer George Martin said he, rather than John, came up with the idea of backward vocals for the recording, which took place at Abbey Road in April 1966.
In the book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mr Martin said: “I was always playing around with tapes and I thought it might be fun to do something extra with John’s voice. So I lifted a bit of his main vocal off the four-track, put it onto another spool, turned it around and then slid it back and forth until it fitted.
“John was out at the time but when he came back he was amazed. Again, it was backwards forever after that.”
Ringo Starr’s beats on Rain earned accolades following its release in May 1966, with Rolling Stone heralding his performance as “superb”. Ringo himself reflected in 1984, “I think it’s the best out of all the records I’ve ever made. ‘Rain’ blows me away … I know me and I know my playing … and then there’s ‘Rain’.”
Paul McCartney was effusive in his compliments for Ringo, stating: “The drums became a giant drum kit… We got a big, ponderous, thunderous backing and then we worked on top of that as normal, so that it didn’t sound like a slowed-down thing, it just had a big ominous noise to it. It was nice, I really enjoyed that one.”
The Guardian lauded ‘Rain’ as “perhaps the best Beatles B-side of all.” Meanwhile critic Jim DeRogatis labeled it “The Beatles’ first great psychedelic rock song”.