“Men are falling from the sky! Hallelujah!" - the history of the legendary song
"It's Raining Men" is one of the most popular songs of the 20th century! It was first recorded by The Weather Girls. Subsequently, the track was re-recorded dozens of times, but the version of the British singer Geri Halliwell received the greatest success.
Recorded by the duet of Martha Wash and Idzora Armstead, the song became a worldwide hit (over 6 million copies sold in total)! And to this day, "It's Raining Men" remains the main personification of the bygone era of disco ...
History of creation
The song was written back in 1979! But it took the authors several years to find someone who would agree to perform it ...
Initially, Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer offered their creation to Donna Summer, but the singer rejected it ... Moreover! Summer stated that "the lyrics are just disgusting!":
Paul Jabara: Donna called me and said it was the worst song she had ever seen! And shortly after that, she sent me a Bible…”
The song was also offered to Diana Ross, Cher and Barbra Streisand, but they all refused ... And only Martha Wash and Idzora Armstead from The Weather Girls agreed to perform the song.
Martha Wash: "When we read the lyrics to this song, we thought, 'God! This is some kind of madness ... Rain of men? Really? Is anyone going to buy…”
According to Jabar himself, it took him about two hours to persuade them ... And he succeeded!
Achievements
As a result, "It's Raining Men" became the main dance hit of the 80s! The song brought The Weather Girls two Grammys at once! She spent a total of eleven weeks on the Billboard Hot 100!
VH1 called "It's Raining Men" one of the greatest songs of the 80s and also included it in the list of the Greatest Songs of the 20th century!
Clip
A video was filmed in 1982. And as it turned out - it deserves special attention! Here is what Martha Wash said in her interview:
“There was very little money allocated for the filming of the video ... No wonder the video turned out to be so crappy! Filming took place in some abandoned building in New York, in the dead of winter! We were all wearing winter coats because it was very cold…”
“…At the moment when we fall from the sky… Oh my God… We landed on some old mattresses. As it turned out, they were infested with bedbugs! As a result, Izora and I walked and scratched for a whole week ... It was just some kind of horror!
Popular versions by other artists
It is difficult to say exactly how many times this track has been covered... Therefore, we will discuss the two most successful and popular versions of "It's Raining Men".
Martha Wash and RuPaul
In 1997, Martha Wash re-recorded the song with artist RuPaul! The song once again blew up the world's top charts, becoming a landmark hit of the outgoing century...
A video was shot, this time more professional and modern (at that time):
Jeri Halliwell
Four years later, British singer Geri Halliwell released her own version of the track, which was recorded as the soundtrack to the film Bridget Jones's Diary.
It is noteworthy that "It's Raining Men" remains the singer's most successful hit to this day!
