Pop Song 424 of 500 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain?' Creedence Clearwater Revival 1971

Pop Song 424 of 500 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain?' Creedence Clearwater Revival 1971

In his review for AllMusic, Mark Deming suggests that the song is about the idealism of the 1960s and about how it faded in the wake of events such as the Altamont Free Concert and the Kent State shootings, and that Fogerty is saying that the same issues of the 1960s still existed in the 1970s but that people were no longer fighting for them. However, Fogerty himself has said in interviews and prior to playing the song in concert that it is about rising tension within CCR and the imminent departure of his brother Tom from the band. In an interview, Fogerty stated that the song was written about the fact that they were on the top of the charts, and had surpassed all of their wildest expectations of fame and fortune. They were rich and famous, but somehow all of the members of the band at the time were depressed and unhappy; thus the line "Have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day?". The band split up in October the following year after the release of the album Mardi Gras.

In a literal sense, the song describes a sunshower, such as in the lyric "It'll rain a sunny day" and the chorus, "Have you ever seen the rain, comin' down on a sunny day?" These events are particularly common in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama, but less common in other parts of the United States, due to localized atmospheric wind shear effects.

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 on a sunny day
I know, shining down like water
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna 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 wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?
Yeah!
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?