When It Rains

Album: Born Free (2010)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Kid Rock explained the meaning of this melancholic ballad to Billboard magazine: "It's about losing your best friend, somebody really important in your life. I was channeling Joe C. [a member of Rock's Twisted Brown Trucker band who died in 2000] a little bit, which I've never really addressed a lot in songs. It's a weird feeling to get into, very dark, very sad. I just tried to take that and flip it around a little bit. When it rains, when you cry and you can't stop, you really start thinking about some of those things."
  • Rock told Billboard magazine how producer Rick Rubin helped channel the passionate vocal with which he closes this song. Said Kid: "Rick had me singing up there, I was like 'I can't get that high,' he said 'yes you can, I've heard you do it when you're sitting around drunk at your house screamin'. I've heard you do it, right in key, many nights. Now just do it here on the mike.' I'm like, 'can I get drunk first?' He was really building that confidence in me with my singing, 'you're a great singer.' I wouldn't say great. I get by, I do alright, but that's never been my thing. I've gotten very powerful over the years from singing so much, so I know I'm better than I've ever been, but doing stuff like that, in those type of keys, I don't know."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Strange Magnetics

Strange MagneticsSong Writing

How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty

Rob Thomas of Matchbox TwentySongwriter Interviews

Rob Thomas on his Social Distance Sessions, co-starring with a camel, and his friendship with Carlos Santana.

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?Song Writing

Katy Perry mentions McDonald's, Beyoncé calls out Red Lobster, and Supertramp shouts out Taco Bell - we found the 10 restaurants most often mentioned in songs.

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.