"Crying in the Rain" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Carole King and originally recorded by The Everly Brothers. The single peaked at #6 on the U.S. pop charts in 1962. The song was the only collaboration between successful songwriters Greenfield and King, both of whom worked for Aldon Music at the time of the song's composition. On a whim, two Aldon songwriting partnerships decided to switch partners for a day – Gerry Goffin partnered with Greenfield's frequent writing partner, Jack Keller, leaving King and Greenfield to pair up for the day. Despite the commercial success of their collaboration, King and Greenfield never wrote another song together.
In 1981, "Crying in the Rain" was notably covered by American country artist Tammy Wynette. It became a major hit after being released as a single that year. Wynette's version was produced by Chips Moman at the Moman Recording Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. The recording session also included nine additional tracks that would appear on Wynette's 1981 studio album. The song was released as a single in July 1981. It reached number 18 on the BillboardHot Country Singles chart that same year. "Crying in the Rain" became Wynette's third single to reach the country songs top 20 in the 1980s decade. The song was issued on Wynette's 1981 studio album entitled You Brought Me Back. Additionally, "Crying in the Rain" peaked at number 11 on the RPMCountry Tracks chart in Canada around the same time. It was her highest-charting solo song on the RPM survey since 1979.
In 1989, the Norwegianpop band a-ha covered the song. It was the first single taken from their 1990 East of the Sun, West of the Moon album. Following its success, a-ha became closer to the Everly Brothers, who had originally recorded the song. The band members were presented a set of guitars by the Everly Brothers that a-ha continues to use. This is one of the few commercially available songs that a-ha have covered, the only others being "Velvet", first released by Savoy, and "Dragonfly", first released by Magne Furuholmen.
Music video
The video was directed by Steve Barron. The theme of the video is a robbery gone wrong. It is actually the second version of this video. The first version did not feature any of the scenes of Morten Harket singing alone. The video was filmed entirely with a specific technique of mobile cameras, and it was filmed in Big Timber, Montana.
Chart performance
"Crying in the Rain" was a-ha's last single to go top 40 on a Billboard chart in the U.S. to date, peaking at #26 on the BillboardAdult Contemporary chart during the week ending April 6, 1991. It was more popular internationally, topping the charts in the band's native Norway, and peaking at #13 in the UK Singles Chart, where the band had found previous success as well. It was the 32nd most successful song of the year 2010 in Romanian Top 100, although it peaked outside the top 20.
"Crying in the Rain" was covered by many other artists. In 1969, The Sweet Inspirations recorded a rendition which reached #38 on the U.S. R&B chart. It was their second Everly Brothers cover hit, having charted two years earlier with "Let It Be Me." In 1972, Penny DeHaven in duet with Del Reeves released a Country version on a single only. In 1989 it was covered by Blessings in Disguise, a bandcomposed ofDave Hill and Noddy Holder of British hard rock band, Slade. The song was released as a single, backed with the Dave Hill written track, "Wild Nites". The song was also covered by Crystal Gayle on her 1981 album Hollywood, Tennessee and by the British duo Peter and Gordon. Singer Art Garfunkel, of Simon and Garfunkel fame, covered the song in his album Up 'til Now in a duet with James Taylor. It was released in 2010 on Micky DolenzKing For a Day album. The song was also covered by the Eurovision Song Contest winnerJohnny Logan. German band Gregorian covered the song on their album Masters of ChantChapter VI. The song was covered by Marty Kristian of the New Seekers in 1973 "Crying In The Rain"/"A Woman Grows" Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds released a version of the song on their 1980 EP, Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds Sing The Everly Brothers. Carole King covered the song she co-wrote on her 1983 album Speeding Time and in a rare live performance with the group The Wallflowers in a televised performance. Danzig covered the song on the 2015 album Skeletons.
