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"Rain King" is a single by the rock band Counting Crows. It was released as the band's fourth single (and third single from their debut album). The title is a reference to Saul Bellow'sHenderson the Rain King. "Rain King" peaked at number 66 on the US BillboardHot 100 Airplay chart, number 18 in Canada, and number four in Iceland. In April 2022, American Songwriter ranked the song at number eight on their list of "The Top 10 Counting Crows Songs".
Adam Duritz said, about this song: "I read this book in college when I was at Berkeley called Henderson, the Rain King. And the main character in the book was kind of this big, open-wound of a person, Eugene Henderson, he just sort of bled all over everyone around him. For better or for worse, full of joy, full of sorrow, he just made a mess of everything. And when I wrote the song years later, it didn't really have anything to do with the book except the book had kind of become a totem for how I felt about creativity and writing–that it was just this thing where you just took everything inside of you and just sort of sprayed it all over everything, and not to worry too much about it. You try and craft it but not to be self-conscious about it, in any case. And, it's sort of a song about everything that goes into writing, all the feelings, everything that makes you want to write, makes you want to maybe pick up a guitar and do it, and express yourself because it's full of all the doubts and the fears about how I felt about my life at that time. And also the feeling that I really deserved something better than what I had accomplished up to that point. I think it *is* sort of a religious song about the sort of undefinable thing inside you or out there somewhere that makes you write, makes you create, makes you do any kind of art form, you know? And makes me the rain king, sort of."
Track listings
UK CD and cassette single; European CD single
"Rain King" (LP version) – 4:13
"Anna Begins" (recorded live for BBC Radio 1 on April 6, 1994) – 5:30
"Round Here" (recorded live for BBC Radio 1 on April 6, 1994) – 6:14
Rain King (UK cassette single sleeve). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GFSC 82.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
Rain King (European CD single liner notes). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GED 21951.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
Rain King (Australian CD single disc notes). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GEFDM-21976.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
"Reginol Market Airplay" (PDF). Music & Media. November 5, 1994. p. 25. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
