“Who'll Stop The Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival

"Who'll Stop the Rain" rolled off Cosmo's Factory in 1970 paired with "Travelin' Band", one of three two-sided hits from the album to crack the top five, and it went all the way to number 2. John Fogerty wrote it, arranged it, produced it and sang it, and where "Travelin' Band" is vintage rock and roll, this side opens on a ringing acoustic guitar riff and settles into folk-rock with roots-rock muscle underneath, Tom Fogerty adding electric guitar over Stu Cook's bass and Doug Clifford's drums.

The lyric moves through three verses, from history to the recent past to right now, and each one circles the same endless malaise: good men through the ages, grand government schemes, and the Woodstock generation all stuck under the same rain. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 188 among the 500 greatest songs in 2004.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.