WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN^©

Live 12 Jan 1993 version

Well long as I remember, the rain been fallin' down
Clouds of mystery fallin', confusion on the ground
Good men through the ages, tryin' to find the sun
But Lord I wonder, yeah I wonder, who'll stop the rain
Come on!

Well I went down Virginia, seekin' shelter from the storm
Just caught up in the fable, we watched the flower grow
Well five year plan and new deal, yeah wrapped in golden chains
Well I wonder, yeah I wonder, who'll stop the rain

Heard the singers sayin', yeah we ??? for more
Well the crowd they rushed together, just tryin' to keep warm
But still the rain keeps fallin', fallin' through these years
And I wonder, yeah I wonder, who'll stop the rain
Woah!

Well I wanna know
Oh I wanna know
Oh I wanna know
Oh I wanna know
Oh I wanna know
Oh I wanna know
I wanna know

The above lyrics refer to the 12 Jan 1993 performance 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 (read speech below). That was the only time Bruce performed the song with John Fogerty. Springsteen was on lead vocals, and Fogerty was only playing guitar on that song.

Check also Creedence Clearwater Revival's original version and Bruce's other live versions (all very similar): 20 Aug 1981 (more details), 22 Sep 1984, 24 Jun 1993, 26 Jun 1999, and 28 Jun 2003.

Part of Bruce's speech inducting Creedence Clearwater Revival into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame:

In 1970, suburban New Jersey was still filled with the kind of 60's spirit Easy Rider made us all so fond of, I'm referring to the scene where Dennis Hopper gets blown off his motorcycle by some redneck with a shotgun! A weekend outing at the time was still filled with the drama of possibly getting your ass kicked by a total stranger who disagreed with your fashion sense. Me and my band worked on Route 35 outside of Asbury Park, at a club called the Pandemonium. And so it was five 50-minute sets a night and rarely a night without a fight. But into New Jersey came the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival and for three minutes and seven seconds of "Proud Mary", a very strained brotherhood would actually fill the room. It was simply a great song that everybody liked and it literally saved our asses on many occasions. Anyway, I stand here tonight still envious of that music's power and simplicity. And they were hits, and hitsville was reality and poetry and a sense of the darkness of events and history, of an American tradition shot through with pride, fear, paranoia, and they rocked hard. Now, you can't talk about Creedence without talking about John Fogerty. As a songwriter, only a few did as much in three minutes. He was an Old Testament, shaggy-haired prophet, a fatalist. Funny too. He was severe, he was precise, he said what he had to say and he got out of there. He was lyrically spare and beautiful. He created a world of childhood memory and of men and women with their backs to the wall. A landscape of swamps, bayous, endless rivers, gypsy women, backporches, hound dogs chasing ghosts, devils, bad moons rising, straight out of the blues tradition. So let me end by saying that, in their day, Creedence never got the respect they deserved. They played no-frills American music for the people...