Album This song officially appears on the Driving Rain Official album.
Timeline This song was officially released in 2001
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
Feb 19, 2001
November 2001 • From paulmccartney.com
One of the longest track (just over 10 minutes) ever released by Paul McCartney, “Rinse The Raindrops” is a track from Paul McCartney’s 2001 album “Driving Rain“.
Recorded 19th February 2001 onto 16-track analogue tape then loaded into Logic Audio for overdubs. Paul played Hofner bass and sang a lead vocal then overdubbed Spanish guitar and further vocals. Abe played Paul’s Ludwig drum kit then overdubbed an accordion. Rusty played Gibson 335 electric guitar then overdubbed ‘strat’ electric guitar. Gabe played Wurlitzer electric piano then overdubbed piano and Hammond organ.
From the liner notes of the album, and from paulmccartney.com
‘Rinse The Raindrops’ – I’ve only ever written a couple of songs where the lyrics came first. ‘All My Loving’ with The Beatles was the first one of those. We were on a tour bus and I didn’t have a guitar or, obviously, a piano with me. So I wrote the words on the bus and finished the song when I found a piano at the gig. This was a similar thing – I was sailing and some words came to me that I wasn’t sure whether they were a poem or a song. I liked them and sort of wrote a rough melody for them in my head. But then we were in the studio one day and I fancied doing something different with the guys. We’d come to the end of my more prepared tunes, so I thought I’d do something crazy with this. I took the two verses, it’s only got two verses, and very hastily wrote a bridge and an instrumental bridge for it. I showed them the bits on an acoustic and then got onto bass and we just jammed the song for half an hour or so. David reckoned I sang the verse about 48 times. Because I was doing just the same lyric, I jus t sang it every way I could think of so that hopefully he could get something out of that. We went home and left him to stay up until four in the morning to work on it. We came in the next day and David said ‘I couldn’t get it down any shorter than this’, he’d collaged together all the bits he liked, and it’s like a ten-minute song. It reminds me of festivals in summer, hippies and bands jamming. There’s a good energy to it.
Paul McCartney – From “The Driving Rain interview” published on paulmccartney.com, November 2001
“Rinse The Raindrops” was shortened to 5 minutes, as a “single remix” for U.S. jukeboxes only. It then got a “Twin Freaks” treatment in 2005.
Rinse the raindrops
From your head
Wipe your eyes
Go back to bed
In the morning
Skies'll clear
And I'll be here
See the sunlight
Break the ice
For the birds of paradise
Listen to the song they sing
Awakening
Official album • Released in 2001
10:13 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Spanish guitar, Vocals Rusty Anderson : Electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Accordion, Drums Gabe Dixon : Electric piano, Hammond organ, Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 19, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Official album • Released in 2005
3:14 • Studio version • B
Session Recording: Circa 2004 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Driving Rain... In The New Century
Unofficial album • Released in 2002
5:03 • Studio version • A1 • Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles, Paul on Hofner bass, Spanish guitar and vocals, Abe Laboriel Jnr. on Paul's Ludwig drums and accordion, Rusty Anderson on Gibson 335 electric guitar, and Gibson Stratocaster electric guitar, Gabe Dixon on Wurlitzer electric piano, piano and Hammond organ. This is a shortened "single remix" for U.S. jukeboxes only. By the way, who puts money in a jukebox for "Rinse The Raindrops?"
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Spanish guitar, Vocals Rusty Anderson : Electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Accordion, Drums Gabe Dixon : Electric piano, Hammond organ, Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 19, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Twin Freaks - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2015
3:16 • Studio version • B
Session Recording: Circa 2004 • Studio Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Driving Rain - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2015
10:13 • Studio version • A
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Spanish guitar, Vocals Rusty Anderson : Electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Accordion, Drums Gabe Dixon : Electric piano, Hammond organ, Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 19, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Give Us That Knowing Wink - Official Rarities - Ultimate Archive Collection
Unofficial album • Released in 2016
5:03 • Studio version • A1 • Promo edit
Paul McCartney : Bass, Executive producer, Spanish guitar, Vocals Rusty Anderson : Electric guitar Abe Laboriel Jr. : Accordion, Drums Gabe Dixon : Electric piano, Hammond organ, Piano David Kahne : Mixing engineer, Producer Mark Dearnley : Mixing engineer, Recording engineer Jaime Sickora : Assistant engineer Kevin Mills : Second assistant engineer
Session Recording: Feb 19, 2001 • Studio Henson Recording Studio, Los Angeles
Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 2) 1990-2012
This new book by Luca Perasi traces Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1990 to 2012 in the form of 250 song entries, filled with details about the recordings, stories behind the sessions and musical analysis. His pop albums, his forays into classical and avant-garde music, his penchant for covering old standards: a complete book to discover how these languages cross-pollinate and influence each other.
The second volume in a series that has established itself as a unique guide to take the reader on a journey into the astonishing creativity of Paul McCartney.
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