A Lotta Rain is Fallin'

A LOTTA RAIN IS FALLIN’

Written June 1970 by Trev Teasdel (Originally the music to this was written by Pete Waterman long before he was world famous!) - Story below. These audio versions are set to my own music much later though - I don't have a copy of Pete's Version - not sure if has even  - it was so long ago!)

 

A lotta rain is fallin’, but the earth has moved aside

There’s a lotta bullets flying but the victim’s found somewhere to hide 

ALottaRainisFallin84

There’s a lotta rivers flowin’ but the seas learned how to fly.

There’s a lotta clouds a wondering which rockets knicked the sky

‘cos the roads are moving fast but the cars are standing still

and so much is happening yet nothing’s ever done

Oh we want to see the light but we’re dazzled by the sun.

 

(Bridge)

And some people's only sunshine

Is their Cornflakes in the morning time

And the age of instant sunshine

In packets of bright display

I know will be dawning,

In some future day.

 

There’s a lotta tears a fallin’, and more are being cried

There’s a lotta people trampled on as man takes another stride

A Lotta Rain is Fallin 81

There’s a lotta smoke a rising but the sky’s learned how to swim

There’s a lotta faces smiling but their hearts are feeling grim

Cos a lotta tension’s forming and the bags about to burst

There’s gotta be an answer cos the world is getting worse.

A lotta help is needed to get that truck back on the road

Cos too many people are pullin’ too heavier a load.

 

(BACK TO BRIDGE)

A Lotta Rain is Fallin Trev Teasdel

The story behind the song - I was about 18 / 19 when I wrote this - working in the Telecommunications dept. of the GEC Stoke works in Cov. At weekends I was organising bands at the Coventry Arts Umbrella and writing song lyrics (I didn't play guitar until a year later - beyond some preliminary chords). I was an Electrical inspector - testing huge telephone racks - somewhat mind-numbing - so often used to have a 'write break' when everyone else was having a 'smoke break' in the factory - shutting myself in a cubicle and sketching out lyrical ideas or even whole lyrics. One day the boss was out and I sat at my telephone rack writing a song idea that occured to me on the way to work (in the rain!). My work mates had no idea that I wrote and one of them came up and said "What are you doing?" "Writing a song" I replied. "You should have a word with Pete (Waterman)" he said. "Pete who?" I said. Next thing I knew - the guy I recognised as the loud shop steward on the next section was standing over me.Incredible as it may seem now, I had no idea who he was but was quickly informed by my mate that Pete was the top DJ at the Coventry Locarno and a leading light on the Coventry music scene. Pete's Soul Hole Article . Pete like the lyric - I had only completed the first verse and bridge). He took the song away to write some music to it and asked me to complete the lyric. He liked the line "There's a lotta Rivers flowin' but the sea's learned how to fly" so much that he repeated that line in his version and I wrote the mirror image in the second verse "There's a lotta smoke arising but the sky's learned how to swim' - I was about that feeling when a lot of things are happening but you somehow feel nothing is coming to fruition in a positive way in both in a personal way (in the first verse) and in a gobal way in the second verse. I liked having fun using personification in my lyrics at this time. Musically I'd been listening to Epitaph by King Crimson and of course there's will be a Dylan influence in there too. Pete's version, on acoustic guitar, sounded vocally to me like a cross between McCartney with the R & B grit of Dylan. Follow the link to Hobo site read more

Background to the lyric and Pete's version

Notes on the audio - The audio versions here are not Pete's music - I don't have a copy of his version. These are versions I did later on Teesside with my own music. Pete's version was better I think  - I would probably vary the chords more now. My version is in minors - Pete used 7ths. I changed the word 'gay' to 'bright display' later on. I'm surprised I used such a cliche in what is a very imagistic lyric but 'gay' didn't have the sexual connotations it later gained back then! The word occurs in the audio version but not the lyric version here.

First is a version recorded on in 1984 before we had more advanced keyboards with Steve Gillgallon on bass guitar and acoustic lead, Ian Digby on keyboards and myself on vocals and acoustic.

The second audio is an earlier acoustic practice run with Steve Gillgallon playing acoustic lead.

 

Comments

[Float My Boat]

just think Trev you could of been the Rick Astley of the 70s... perhaps you had a lucky escape lol

[Trev Teasdel - Songwriter]

Thanks boat - Damn! I should've been so lucky - lucky lucky lucky!!! The chords to lucky are very Cohen -ish played on acoustic. I used to do the Cohen version at parties! They stopped inviting me lol!