Rain King
| "Rain King" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Counting Crows | ||||
| from the album August and Everything After | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Format | CD single | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, jangle pop, roots rock | |||
| Length | 4:16 | |||
| Label | Geffen | |||
| Writer(s) | Steve Bowman, David Bryson, Adam Duritz, Charlie Gillingham, Matt Malley | |||
| Producer(s) | T-Bone Burnett | |||
| Counting Crows singles chronology | ||||
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"Rain King" is a single by the rock band Counting Crows. It was released as the band's fourth single (and third single of their debut album). The title is a reference to Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King. The song is featured in season 2 of the sitcom "Scrubs," in the episode titled "My First Step." It is also featured in season 1 episode 9 of One Tree Hill in which Brooke and Lucas have their first date.
Adam Duritz said, about this song: "I read this book in college when I was at Berkeley called “Henderson, the Rain King.” And the main character in the book was kind of this big, open-wound of a person, Eugene Henderson, he just sort of bled all over everyone around him. For better or for worse, full of joy, full of sorrow, he just made a mess of everything. And when I wrote the song years later, it didn’t really have anything to do with the book except the book had kind of become a totem for how I felt about creativity and writing–that it was just this thing where you just took everything inside of you and just sort of [funny noise] sprayed it all over everything, and not to worry too much about it. You try and craft it but not to be self-conscious about it, in any case. And, it’s sort of a song about everything that goes into writing, all the feelings, everything that makes you want to write, makes you want to maybe pick up a guitar and do it, and express yourself because it’s full of all the doubts and the fears about how I felt about my life at that time. And also the feeling that I really deserved something better than what I had accomplished up to that point. I think it *is* sort of a religious song about the sort of undefinable thing inside you or out there somewhere that makes you write, makes you create, makes you do any kind of art form, you know? And makes me the rain king, sort of."
Track listing
- "Rain King" - 4:16
- "Anna Begins" (BBC Radio 1 Session 6 Apr 1994) - 5:30
- "Round Here" (BBC Radio 1 Session 6 Apr 1994) - 6:14
Charts
| Chart (1994-1995) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart | 18 |
| UK Singles Chart | 49 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 66 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 31 |