"Singin' in the Rain" is a song with lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown. Doris Eaton Travis introduced the song on Broadway in The Hollywood Music Box Revue in 1929. It was then widely popularized by Cliff Edwards and the Brox Sisters in The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Many contemporary artists had hit records with "Singin' in the Rain" since its release, including Cliff Edwards (number 1 for 12 weeks), Earl Burtnett (number 4 for 10 weeks) and Gus Arnheim (number 9 for 7 weeks) in 1929 alone. The song is famously associated with the history of cinema, as it reached popularity during the transition from silent films to "talkies". Years later, the lyricist of "Singin' in the Rain", Arthur Freed conceived the idea of the film based on the back catalogs of songs written during the era by himself and Nacio Herb Brown. This resulted in a musical film of the same name, Singin' in the Rain (1952), which serves a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s. The performance by Gene Kelly dancing through puddles in a rainstorm garnered the song the third spot on the American Film Institute ranking of 100 Years...100 Songs.

Song form

The song has an unusual form: the 32-bar chorus, rather than being preceded by a verse and containing an internal bridge as was becoming standard at the time, opens the song and then is followed by a 24-bar verse that has the feeling of a bridge before the chorus repeats.

Covers

B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra recorded the song possibly as early as 1928 but perhaps 1929. The song was recorded by Annette Hanshaw (reissued on the 1999 CD Annette Hanshaw, Volume 6, 1929). It is performed on film by a nightclub band as dance music and sung in a Chinese dialect in The Ship from Shanghai (1930), by Jimmy Durante in Speak Easily (1932), by Judy Garland in Little Nellie Kelly (1940), and as background music at the beginning of MGM's The Divorcee (1930) starring Norma Shearer.

Mint Royale version

"Singin' in the Rain" was remixed in 2005 by Mint Royale. It was released as a single in August 2005 after being featured in an advert for the VW Golf GTI, peaking at No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart. Three years later in 2008, due to the exposure of the song via the performance of then-unknown dancer George Sampson on the reality TV series Britain's Got Talent, the track went to No. 1 on the iTunes Top 100 in the UK in 2008. It re-entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 28 on June 1, 2008, and climbed to No. 1 the next week, selling 45,987 copies, knocking Rihanna's "Take a Bow" down to the Number 2 spot. Charts

Sheila B. Devotion version

A 1978 disco version of Singin' in the Rain by the French pop singer Sheila B. Devotion made No. 3 in the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles and the Netherlands Top 100, No. 4 on the Nationale Hitparade, No. 11 on the German and UK Singles Chart, No. 2 on the Swedish Singles Chart, and No. 30 on the Hot Dance Club Songs.

Taco version

In 1982, Dutch pop singer Taco released a version of it as his second single from After Eight, which peaked at No. 49 in Germany, No. 46 in Canada and No. 98 in the UK.

In popular culture

Other appearances in film and on TV