An appropriate song for this soggy summer, perhaps, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” was according to its author John Fogerty, a metaphor for impending change – in particular in respect to his, at the time, troubled band, Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The song was released as a single in 1971 and charted No. 1 in Canada – one of only three countries (along with South Africa and Malaysia) where it did so, only reaching No. 8 in the US.

Nevertheless, the song has become a beloved CCR classic, and of course a requisite part of Fogerty’s solo canon, as it was here in this concert in 2005.

Lyrics

Someone told me long ago
There’s a calm before the storm
I know it’s been comin’ for some time
When it’s over so they say
It’ll rain a sunny day
I know, shinin’ down like water

I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?

Yesterday and days before
Sun is cold and rain is hard
I know been that way for all my time
‘Til forever, on it goes
Through the circle, fast and slow,
I know it can’t stop, I wonder

I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?

Yeah

I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know
Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?