Bruce Springsteen Tribute - Lebanese Tribute to Bruce Springsteen

WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN^©

Live 20 Aug 1981 version

One, two, three!

Long as I remember, the rain's been fallin' down
Clouds of mystery pourin', confusion on the ground
Well good men through the ages, they try to find some sun
But still I wonder, yeah I wonder, who'll stop the rain

Well I went down Virginia, seekin' shelter from the storm
But I caught up in the fable, we watched the tower grow
Well five year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains
But still I wonder, yeah I wonder, who'll stop the rain

Heard the singers singin', and how we cheered for more
The crowd had rushed together, just tryin' to keep warm
But still the rain keeps fallin', fallin' through the years
And I wonder, yeah I wonder, who'll stop the rain

Well I wanna know
Well I wanna know
Well I wanna know
Baby I wanna know
Well I wanna know
Girl I wanna know
Well I wanna know

Written by John Fogerty, from Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1970 album Cosmo's Factory.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory

WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN had it's debut performance on 18 Dec 1980 at Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY, during The River tour, and was played at 92 of the 95 remaining shows on the tour, most notably on 20 Aug 1980 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA, when it opened the benefiting the Vietnam Veterans of America.

Bruce Springsteen performning WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN on 23 Jan 1981 at The Forum, Montreal, Canada

Played during 10 shows of the Born In The USA tour:

26 Jul 1984 at Exhibition Stadium, Toronto, Canada
25 Aug 1984 at Capital Center, Largo, MD
22 Sep 1984 at Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA (check out the live 22 Sep 1984 version)
17 Oct 1984 at Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
19 Oct 1984 at Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
21 Oct 1984 at Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA
25 Oct 1984 at Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
28 Oct 1984 at Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
31 Oct 1984 at Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
31 Mar 1985 at Qeii Stadium, Brisbane, Australia

During the 27 July 1984 show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, many of the crowd were allowed in before the show to hear the last soundcheck song, which was WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN -- at which point, from all accounts the rain stopped.

Performed with John Fogerty on 12 Jan 1993 at Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, CA, during the 1993 Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremonies. Creedence Clearwater Revival were inducted, and Bruce Springsteen did the induction speech the following day. That was the only time Bruce performed the song with John Fogerty. Check out the live 12 Jan 1993 version.

Played 19 times during the 1993 European leg of the Human Touch tour. The song was dedicated as "a prayer for Bosnia and Herzegovina," and was always (except once) followed by SOULS OF THE DEPARTED and BORN IN THE USA.

Also played on last two shows of the tour:

24 Jun 1993 at Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, during the Concert To Fight Hunger (check out the live 24 Jun 1993 version)
26 Jun 1993 at Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY, during the Kristen Ann Carr Fund benefit concert

The song was played occasionally during the Reunion and The Rising tours, mostly as a result of poor weather, but it's appearance at two shows in the spring of 2003 and at a political, highly charged show at Shea Stadium in Oct 2003 have shown that Bruce has not forgotten the political message attached to the song:

26 Jun 1999 concert at Idraetsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark, during the Reunion tour (check out the live 26 Jun 1999 version)
28 Mar 2003 at Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand, during The Rising tour
09 Apr 2003 at Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA, during The Rising tour
24 May 2003 at Stade de France, Paris, France, during The Rising tour
28 Jun 2003 at San Siro Stadium, Milan, Italy, during The Rising tour (check out the live 28 Jun 2003 version)
18 Jul 2003 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, during The Rising tour
27 Sep 2003 at Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI, during The Rising tour
01 Oct 2003 at Shea Stadium, Flushing, NY, during The Rising tour

The above lyrics refer to the passionate performance of the song on 20 Aug 1981 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA, during the benefit concert in support of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and organization founded by Bobby Muller, a disabled Vietnam veteran. This is considered to be among the most emotional shows given by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. This benefit show starts with an introduction (read intro below) by Bobby Mueller, and several band members reportedly had tears in their eyes when they started WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN. Find out more about the Vietnam Veterans of America organization at www.vva.org.

Poster for the 20 Aug 1981 benefit concert at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA

Check also Creedence Clearwater Revival's original version and Bruce's other live versions (all very similar): 22 Sep 1984, 12 Jan 1993, 24 Jun 1993, 26 Jun 1999, and 28 Jun 2003.

Thanks Steven Levine for the help.

Spoken intro on 20 Aug 1981 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA:

[Bruce Springsteen:]
Hello. Listen, listen for a second. Tonight we're here for the men and the women that fought the Vietnam war. And, yesterday, yesterday I was lucky enough to have met some of these guys and it was funny because I'm used to coming out in front of a lot of people and I realized that, that I was, I was nervous and I was a little embarrassed about not knowing what to say to 'em. And, it's like when you feel like you're walking down a dark street at night and out of the corner of your eye you see somebody, you see somebody getting hurt or somebody getting hit in the dark alley but you keep walking on because you think it don't have nothing to do with you and you just wanna get home. Well Vietnam turned, turned this whole country into that dark street and unless we, unless we're able to walk down those dark alleys and look into the eyes of the men and the women that are down there and the things that happened, we're never gonna be able to get home and then it's only a chance. You guys, you guys out there that are eighteen and nineteen years old, it happened once and it can happen again. So, I guess all I'm saying is you gotta go down there and you gotta look and we got the easy part, because there's a lot of guys here tonight that had to live it, and live it every day and there's a lot of guys here that made it home to America but died and didn't make it down here tonight. So what I wanna ask you to do, is I wanna ask you to give a few minutes of your attention and listen to a friend of mine, a Vietnam veteran named Bob Muller.

[Bob Muller:]
Bob Muller during his speech at the 20 Aug 1981 concert the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Loas Angeles, CA Thank you. Very exciting to be here tonight. It's a great night for Vietnam veterans. You may have been hearing about Vietnam veterans and not really understand what it's all about. Very simply, there was a lot of controversy and there's a lot of pain surrounding the tragedy of Vietnam, and because of that, a lot of people are trying to forget it and pretend that it never happened. That doesn't do much for the families of the 55,000 Americans that were killed in Vietnam, it doesn't do much for the 300,000 that were wounded fighting that war. But tonight is the first step in ending the silence that has surrounded Vietnam. It is the beginning of thanking all the people that have worked so hard for these years all over the country, people like in LA, the Shad Meshads, the team leaders from the Vet centers, the Center for Veterans Rights, all the Vietnam veterans, and it's bringing us together and by that it'll make sure that the programs are enacted, it'll make sure that the lessons are learned and that the Vietnams aren't allowed to happen again. Last thing I gotta say, it's a little bit ironic after the years that we've been trying, when the businesses haven't come behind us and the political leaders have failed to rally behind us, that when you remember the divisions within our own generation about the war, that it ultimately turns out to be the very symbol of our generation, Rock 'N' Roll, that brings us together... and it is Rock 'N' Roll that is going to provide the healing process that everybody needs. So let's not talk about it, let's get down to it, let's Rock 'N' Roll!

WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN©

Live 20 Aug 1981 version

WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN^©