Ann Peebles

I Can’t Stand The Rain

byAnnPeebles

Bad weather nixes a night out in Memphis, inspiring the title of a distinctive, much-covered R&B hit. “T ank the Lord for that storm!”

JOHNLennononcetoldBillboard thatAnnPeebles’1973R&Bhit “ICan’tStandTheRain”was“the bestsongever”.Hisappreciation didn’tstopthere.Peebleswas awareshehadadiehardfanonherhands whenLennonturnedupathershowatthe TroubadourinLosAngelesinFebruary 1974.Inthethroesofhis‘LostWeekend’, ittranspiredthatLennonvoicedhis approvalalittletooenthusiastically.

“Igotupthere,lookeddownandsaw JohnLennon,”Peeblesrecalls,laughing. “He’dhadalittletoomuchtodrink, andhestartedholleringmynameout. Hehadasanitarynapkintiedoverhis headandhewas screaming,‘Ann, Iloveyou!’Hewas fying!Hewasjust expressinghimself, Ithink.Hewas reallysomething. Iappreciatehim sayingthesong wasgreat.Hereally lovedit.” It’snotsohard tohearwhatgot Lennonallshook up.Aperfect145 secondsofSouthern soul,“ICan’tStand TheRain”isthe quintessentialsound ofWillieMitchell’s HiRecordsschoolof excellence,housed attheoldRoyal MovieTheatrein Memphis.Inspired byachanceremark madeamongfriends onastormynight, thesongwaswritten byPeeblesandher futurehusband,Don Bryant,Hi’sin-house songwriter,withhelp fromfriendandlocal DJBernardMiller. KEY PLAYERS

Ann Peebles (vocals, co-writer)

Don Bryant (co-writer)

Howard Grimes (drums and percussion)

Charles Hodges (Hammond organ) Recorded the following day, its dramatic atmosphere of throbbing heartache and humid heat is teased out by the Hi Rhythm Section and Memphis Horns, the goldstandard team that graced the work of everyone from OV Wright to Al Green.

Overdubbing the high, haunting peal of the percussive timbales as a f nal production f ourish, the late Mitchell set the scene with all the precision of a master auteur. “That was what really made the record,” says Don Bryant, still married to Peebles almost 50 years later. “Those ‘raindrop’ sounds on the front of it got your attention. I think that’s what made the song as strong as it was. It was something dif erent and gave it a whole other f avour.”

“It was easy for me to record it,” adds Peebles. Though she suf ered a stroke in 2012 that curtailed her performing career, speaking on the phone from Memphis – with Bryant by her side – she remains a lively, alert presence. “I knew how I wanted to sing it. When I was writing it, I was thinking about someone who broke up on a rainy, rainy night, and really needs to talk about it. That’s what was in my mind.” Bryant chuckles. “She nailed it,

man!” GRAEME THOMSON

DON BRYANT (co-writer): I started working with Willie Mitchell when I was coming out of high school. We started playing with him in the Memphis clubs, and it worked out pretty good. My group was breaking up. I told Willie I would like to go solo, so we tried that.

CHARLES HODGES (hammondorgan):

Don was a lead vocalist, he worked with Willie Mitchell for years. He was a fantastic tenor, one of the best I ever heard, but we never could get a big record on him.

HOWARD GRIMES (drums/

percussion): Don was the main artist at that time, plus we had OV Wright, Syl Johnson and Otis Clay. Willie was looking for other artists. A local bandleader, Gene “Bowlegs” Miller, brought Ann from St Louis. That’s how it started. He brought her over to Hi Records. HODGES: When Ann walked in the studio for the f rst time, we were recording. While Willie and Bowlegs were in the control room talking, Ann came back out and stood behind me while I was playing the organ. I invited her to sit down beside me and our relationship really started from that point. We dated for a while. She’s a special person, and a beautiful person to record with. GRIMES: She’s such a great singer, man! So soulful. Her f rst record was “Walk Away”, written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes. When I f rst heard it I knew this lady was on her way, but we had to work on her timing. Around that same time she started writing with Don. ANN PEEBLES (vocals): To write together with Don was easy. We got along together, we had so much in common. We both came from large families. BRYANT: We were writing songs all the time. It just happened that this night we had a lot of friends together in our home in Memphis. We were getting ready to see a show, an artist [called Johnnie Taylor] was performing. While we were waiting, getting ready to leave, a storm broke out. It disappointed everybody, because we knew it was so bad we weren’t going to be able to go to the show. It cut of our whole night. Somebody said, “Oh, I just can’t stand this rain!” PEEBLES: I said it! Someone said, “Oh, what a great title.” That’s when we started writing. That’s how the song got started. BRYANT: Because we were writing together all the time, any line that struck somebody, we would get started on it. That’s the way we wrote. Most of the people there that night were artists or writers and all of a sudden a song came out. I went to the piano and just started playing a melody and before we knew it we had the f rst part of it, the start of it. We knew we weren’t going anywhere, so we just concentrated on writing it and the song began to materialise. PEEBLES: Bernard Miller wrote the song with us. He was a DJ, and he came up with some lyrics. BRYANT: Everyone had a little input. It was something we did all the time. At Hi Records, three or four of us would generally come together if you had an idea and try to f nish a song. With “I Can’t Stand The Rain”, the title was there, and the story had to be formed. Telling the story was always exciting to me. I thought that this [protagonist] could be anybody. There were a lot of people who might have gone through that situation before. We just began to tell the story of the rain against the window pane bringing back memories. I would go one way, Ann would put in something, then Bernie… That’s how we would write songs, everybody would put in a little something. Af er the ideas were in we had to lay the whole thing down. PEEBLES: Af er we had laid it all out, I thought, ‘This is really great!’ The next day, Don and I decided to take it to the studio. When Willie heard it, he fell in love with the song. BRYANT: We got it down by midnight. We f nished writing it that night, and we f nally got a rough thing we could bring to Willie the next day. We didn’t record it, we kept the idea in our heads and then we played it out at the piano the next day. He could tell what we were trying to do. GRIMES: The song come up by surprise. We had no idea what was in progress. The f rst time I heard it, they brought the song to the piano in the studio and played it for us to hear. [Guitarist Mabon] “Teenie” [Hodges] was always the one who would write out the charts, the chord changes, for the band. PEEBLES: I have to give Teenie a lot of credit, because he added a lot of licks and details to make it right. It was like a big family at Hi back then. BRYANT: The Hi Rhythm Section was great. They knew Ann, they knew how she performed. Everybody knew what was going on, and all of them had a unique thought on how the music was going.Theykneweach

“Everyone had a little input… I’d go one way, Ann would put in something”

DON BRYANT

“I liked all the versions”: Ann Peebles in 1977 and (inset) the 1974 LP of the same name

“Youcangoatit inawholelotof directionswith asonglikethat”

ANNPEEBLES

othersowell.Itwasn’taproblemforthem tocomeupwiththemusicforthesong. HODGES:Ialwaysliketoreallylearn asong,hearthelyrics,seeifIcan’tput alittlechurchontheorgan.Istartedof playingchordpatterns,butitwasn’t doingitforme.IsaidtoWillie,“Count itofagain.”Iwasthinkingaboutthe raindrops.Sotheorganstartedofwith thechords,andthenthereis[singsthe high,two-noteorganpart]–theraindrops! Williecountedusinagainandaferthe frst10or12barsweknewhadit.Theway wealltiedeverythingin,itwaslikemagic. Wealllistenedtoeachother.Wetried nottogetineachother’sway.Everyone learnedtheirpartsandmadeithappen. BRYANT:Ithinkitwasdoneinadayas farasthebackingtrackandvocalswent. Annjustgotrightintoit,asfarassinging thesongwasconcerned.Oncewegotthe lyricstogether,itjustcamenaturaltoher. HODGES:WhenAnnsungit,man,I’m FACT FILE

Released:July 1973 Written:Don Bryant,Ann Peebles,Bernard Miller Produced:Willie Mitchell Recorded:Royal Recording Studios,1320 SouthLauderdale, Memphis,TN Personnel:Ann Peebles(vocals), HowardGrimes (drumsand percussion), CharlesHodges (organ),Leroy Hodges(bass), Mabon‘Teenie’ Hodges(guitar andpercussion), ArchieTurner (piano),The MemphisHorns: JamesMitchell, AndrewLove EdLogan (saxophones), WayneJackson (trumpet) Highestchart positions:UK41; US38 tellingyou–thiswasapersonwho hadbeenthroughsomethingwithher boyfriendandwetriedtocapturethe feelofthat.Butstill,wefelttherewas somethingmissing. GRIMES:Aferwecutthetrack,Williewas veryexcitedaboutit.Hesaiditwasahit record,butitwaswhathecalled“nekkid”. Itneededsomeotherpartsoverdubbed toit.Iwasgoingtoputcongasonit,but hedidn’twantcongas.Onthisparticular songhewaslookingforsomethingelse. Hesaid,“Getthosetimbalesoverthere.” Theyweresittinginthecorner.Williehad boughtthemacoupleofyearsagoand neverusedthem.Theywereinsomething thatlookedlikeaguitarcase.Ididn’t knowwhattheywere!Itwaslikeheadsof bongos,withaspeakeronit.Itwasnew soundtome,Ihadnevertouchedthem. HODGES:Wewantedtocatchasound likewaterdripping.Williepulledthe timbalesout andHowarddidthelow part,andTeeniedidthehighpart.Itwas anoverdub. GRIMES:Istartedmessingaroundwith themtryingtofndasound.Ithought aboutacommercialthatusedtocomeon televisionfora[cofee]percolator.Itwas thisstrange,funnylittlesound.Ihadthis ideainmyhead,Ikeptitinmymindand Willieheardmeplayingthemandstarted laughing.Hesaid,“Yeahman,that’swhat Iwant!”Icameupwiththefrontpartof itandIcouldn’tplaythepartontheend, so Teenie, the guitar player, he played the high “boop-boop” part. Willie taped it and put it on the start of the track. PEEBLES: Willie put them on the very front and I think that helped make the song. They were his idea. Once he accepted it and added all the other parts to it, it was a joy. GRIMES: I’ve worked with all the great band leaders, but Willie was the one. I came to Willie’s band in 1968 and I learned a lot from him. He taught me timing. He was laid back, man, he was so relaxed. HODGES: Willie was one of a kind: engineer, producer, composer, musician. He did it all. He used to call me “Do Funny”,becauseIdidallthesefunny littlelicksontheorganwhichheliked. Hebroughtthebestoutofyou,hewasn’t goingtosettleforanythingless.Hehadan earlikeno-oneIeverknew. BRYANT:Songslikethatdon’tcomeevery day.Weknewthiswasagoodoneand thatitwouldstrikeeverybodyright.John Lennonhelped!AsfarasI’mconcerned, hiscommentsandencouragementmade thesongevenmorepopular.Aferthatwe begantoputmoreemphasisonwriting. Itgaveusmoreenergytocreatesongsfor Annandotherpeople. GRIMES:Intheend,itwasbiggestsong Anneverhad. PEEBLES:Thatwastheheightofmycareer. WhereverandwheneverIperformed,I alwayshadtoplayit.Youcangoatitin awholelotofdirectionswithasonglike that.Itwasenjoyabletoseeotherartists recordingit;thatmadeitevenbetter.They hadtheirdiferentapproachestothesong, butitwasgreattohearthem.Ilikedallthe versions,butespeciallyTina[Turner]’s. Tome,“ICan’tStandTheRain”wasthe greatestpartofmycareer.Thatsongtook meplacesIhadneverbeen.Thankthe Lordforthatstorm!

DonBryant’slatestalbum,YouMake MeFeel,isoutnowonFatPossum.My Story:CharlesEdwardHodgesSrby DeloisJacksonispublishedbyXlibris US.TimekeeperbyHowardGrimes andPrestonLauterbachispublished July1byDevaultGraceBooks

1968:WillieMitchellsigns 21-year-oldsingerAnn PeeblestoHiRecords aftersheisrecommended bybandleaderGene “Bowlegs”Miller 1969:Peebles’firstrecord, “Walk Away”, is a hit on the R&B charts 1971: She begins working with Don Bryant, who released a solo album on Hi in 1969. They later start dating and marry in 1974 1973: The couple write “I Can’t Stand The Rain” with input from local DJ Bernard Miller July 1973: “I Can’t Stand The Rain” is released as a single on Hi, giving Peebles her only Top 40 US pop hit July 1974: The album of the same name is released, including Peebles classics such as “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” 1984: Tina Turner has a global hit with the song 2006: A live version of “I Can’t Stand…” appears on Peebles’ album of reinterpretations,

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