11 December 1964
‘Down Came The Rain’ is, after ‘Rhythm Of The Rain’ by The Cascades in 1963, our second Irish number one single about rain – and Butch Moore will be back in 1965 with another Irish number one about rain. It won’t be until 1966 that Ireland has a number one single about fine weather.
Almost as dreary as the weather on ‘Down Came The Rain’ is the song itself. Another feature of ’60s Ireland besides rain were showbands stuck in a ’50s time warp or even a ’40s one: Butch and co. here give us a vocal-group country-pop piano ballad which continues that retrograde trend. Moore’s thin voice is flexible enough to cover the nearly-falsetto pre-chorus and the sonorous chorus, but it all adds to the impression of a record that’d be washed away with the first heavy shower.
