Lizzie and the Rainman
{{Infobox song
| name = Lizzie and the Rainman
| cover = Lizzie and the Rainman.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Tanya Tucker
| album = Tanya Tucker
| B-side = Traveling Salesman
| released = April 14, 1975
| recorded = March 19, 1975
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Pop, soft rock, country
| length = 3:05
| label = MCA
| writer = Larry Henley, Kenny O'Dell
| producer = Snuff Garrett
| prev_title = I Believe the South Is Gonna Rise Again
| prev_year = 1974
| next_title = Spring
| next_year = 1975
}}
"Lizzie and the Rainman" is a song written by Kenny O'Dell and Larry Henley. The song was first recorded in 1972, being that year a single release for its co-writer Kenny O'Dell and an album cut for Bobby Goldsboro (California Wine) and the Hollies (Romany, under the slightly different title "Lizzy and the Rain Man").
Background
"Lizzie and the Rainman" relates how a rainmaker visiting a drought-stricken West Texas town offers to make it rain for $100. Using Native American rain dance techniques (and, similar to prosperity gospel preachers, tells the people that the rain won't come if they don't believe), he is called out by a skeptical local woman named Lizzie Cooper, who he then tries to woo.
The idea for the song came from the film The Rainmaker whose heroine is named Lizzie Curry.{{cite web |url=http://www.ronhoysted.bigpondhosting.com/Lizzie%20And%20The%20Rainman.htm |title=Ron Hoysted/ Big Pond Hosting | accessdate=26 June 2010}}
Tanya Tucker recording
In 1975, the song was recorded by American country music artist Tanya Tucker. A narrative song as was typical for the first phase of Tucker's career. She recorded her vocal for "Lizzie and the Rainman" in a 19 March 1975 session [http://countrydiscography.blogspot.com/search/label/Tucker%20Tanya] in Los Angeles produced by Snuff Garrett; Tucker would recall: "the recording was so impersonal. I was used to recording live with all the musicians in the studio, and I just sang to the tracks on this one." Released as the lead single from the album Tanya Tucker - which marked Tucker's MCA Records debut - "Lizzie and the Rainman" was Tucker's fourth Hot Country Songs #1{{cite book |title= The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=357}} and was also her first single to make the Pop Top 40, reaching #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1975. A #7 A/C hit, "Lizzie and the Rainman" would prove to be Tucker's only Top 40 hit despite her later recording material more specifically aimed at the Pop market; her one subsequent Hot 100 item "Here's Some Love" peaked at #82.{{cite book |title= The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=644}}
Chart performance
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| align="left"|Chart (1975)
! style="text-align:center;"|Peak |
|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=314}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 85 |
| {{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|1|artist=Tanya Tucker}} |
| {{singlechart|Billboardhot100|37|artist=Tanya Tucker}} |
| {{singlechart|Billboardadultcontemporary|7|artist=Tanya Tucker}} |
| align="left"|Canadian RPM Country Tracks
| style="text-align:center;"|1 |
| align="left"|Canadian RPM Top Singles
| style="text-align:center;"|66 |
| align="left"|Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks
| style="text-align:center;"|2 |
Other recordings
- In 1973, Alex Taylor had a single release of the song.
References
{{reflist}}
{{Tanya Tucker singles}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Songs about occupations
Category:Bobby Goldsboro songs
Category:Songs written by Kenny O'Dell
Category:Songs written by Larry Henley
Category:Song recordings produced by Snuff Garrett
{{1970s-country-song-stub}}