Who'll Stop the Rain
by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- 123
- BPM
- G major
- Key
- 9B
- Camelot
- 60
- Danceability
- 5
- Acousticness
John Fogerty wrote "Who'll Stop the Rain" and Creedence Clearwater Revival recorded it for Cosmo's Factory in 1970. Backed with "Travelin' Band", it was one of three double-sided singles from that album to reach the top five. It was also the first of two to peak at number two.
Fogerty said he was talking about Washington when he wrote it. Many heard a veiled protest against the Vietnam War, and the last verse is read as the band's experience at Woodstock in August 1969. In 2007 he told a Vermont crowd that people thought he sang it at Woodstock. He didn't, he said. He went up, watched it rain and get muddy, then went home and wrote this song. When he played the master at home, his four-year-old son Josh said, "Daddy stop the rain."
The sound is acoustic and folk-rock, with a ringing guitar riff. Bruce Springsteen opened shows with it whenever it rained. He played it with Fogerty at the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction of Creedence. The 1978 film Who'll Stop the Rain, starring Nick Nolte, was to be called Dog Soldiers until the producers got the rights to the song.
Who'll Stop the Rain runs at 123 BPM, the tempo of house, disco and most club dance music. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.95 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 488 ms. It is in G major, Camelot 9B, which shares its notes with E minor and mixes cleanly with C major and D major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.