Dakota

Stupid things shatter my world.

"I Can't Stand the Rain" was one of my favourite songs by Janis Joplin. I am now learning that it actually wasn't Janis Joplin.

When searching for new WinMX mp3s, I saw Tina Turner did a cover of it, and thought it'd be interesting to hear. Yeah, interesting is right... it's a little overproduced, but I thought it was all right. But it's the same version I have, which I got maybe a year and a half ago after hearing Missy Elliot's "The Rain," which sampled someone I thought sounded like Janis Joplin.

So, I use Audiogalaxy (which has since faded into obscurity) to search for "janis joplin rain" and sure enough, I got a match. It sounded like Janis, really. A lot.

Well, I looked up "I can't stand the rain" in WinMx a few days ago and got a bunch of versions I'm just now listening to. This was sparked by me looking allmusic.com and seeing that "I Can't Stand the Rain" wasn't on any Joplin albums. So, I did a song search and found that the track I downloaded by 'the Commitments' was not a band name, but the same version I downloaded - and a movie title. This movie, coincidentally was a film I was aware of, directed by Alan Parker (Evita).

The soundtrack to said movie is a collection of covers of R&B songs, like "Mustang Sally" and "Chain of Fools." The singer of this version of "I Can't Stand the Rain" is Angeline Ball. She sings the version I already had, not Janis Joplin -- and not the version that Missy Elliot sampled for "The Rain." But, Angeline Ball was an additional vocalist for Evita, so there's an interesting connection. Also, this version heavily reproduces the original's sound.

The original is by Ann Peebles, who co-wrote the track in 1974. I have her version, too. This is definately not Janis Joplin. But since "The Rain" only samples one line, it's an easy mistake. However, the fact that I know other people who think Janis Joplin sang "I Can't Stand the Rain" (since the Commitments version sounds a lot like Janis)... hurts my head. I've seen Livejournal icons with the text and Janis' face. We are all living in a sham.

But, you heard it here... probably fifth or sixth... it's not Janis Joplin. It's either Ann Peebles or Angeline Ball. Or Tina Turner. Or maybe Cassandra Wilson. Or Eruption, the group that made it into a disco track. I have that one, too. La Bouche followed suit and remade that version into a more modern dance song, too.

It's a good song, though, y'know.

"Welcome to Verizon Wireless. Your phone does not allow the use of this feature..." - James Earl Jones.

This is after I dial a number. I think that of all the features I could have, making a phone call would really be one I'd consider a necessity.