Music / I Can't Stand the Rain

....against my window, bringing back sweet memories

Oh the joy come over me
When you came into my life
Sweet love that you bring me
Cut through my darkness like a knife

- "Until You Came Into My Life"

I Can't Stand the Rain is the fourth album by American soul singer Ann Peebles released on Hi Records in 1974.

Produced by arranger and labelmate Willie Mitchell, the album would serve as a display of Peebles' powerful, melancholic vocal ability and Hi Records' own strain of refined, sultry soul that had typified the sound which be referred to as "Memphis soul". It would also see Peebles co-write a majority of the songs with her then husband, Don Bryant, including the title track which would be the biggest hit of her career.

The record would receive major commercial success and critical acclaim, with singles such as "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" and the title track ranking high on the R&B Charts and the album itself charting on the Billboard 200 list, with the record (especially the title track) being considered a classic within southern soul music.

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Tracklist

Side A

1. "I Can't Stand the Rain" (2:29)
2. "Do I Need You" (2:32)
3. "Until You Came Into My Life" (3:10)
4. "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On" (2:39)
5. "Run, Run, Run" (2:34)

Side B

1. "If We Can't Trust Each Other" (2:50)
2. "A Love Vibration" (2:45)
3. "You Got to Feed the Fire" (2:20)
4. "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" (2:44)
5. "One Way Street" (2:51)

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Do I Need Tropes

• B-Side: "One Way Street" is one to "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down", "I've Been There Before" (which previously appeared on Straight from the Heart) is one to "I Can't Stand the Rain".
• Break Up Song: The title track is considered a quintessential example, but the record would contain others in the form of "A Love Vibration" and "If We Can't Trust Each Other".
• Record Producer: Willie Mitchell
• Sampling: The title track would be most notably sampled on the Missy Elliott track "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)".
• Silly Love Songs: "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On", "Until You Came Into My Life", "You Got to Feed the Fire".
• Soul: The record would considered a classic within Southern soul music and representative of the Memphis soul genre.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Do I Need You" carries the same chord progression as the title track and even references the previous song in its lyrics. The only thing keeping them from being Siamese Twin Songs is the fact they don't fade into each other.
• Title Track: "I Can't Stand the Rain"

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