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req: Sadie Thompson 'The Rain came down'

20 Jan 18 - 11:12 PM (#3900795)
Subject: Sadie Thompson
From: Betsy720

Okay...I know this is a long shot, but I'm bedeviled by a novelty number from maybe the fifties? Based on the story of Sadie Thompson, adapted from a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. NOT the song from the movie, NOT the theme song from any of the various movies, but a sprightly little ditty that goes something like this (as much as I can remember):

On a far-off island way down in the tropics, I can't recall the name
Lived (came?) a girl named Sadie Thompson, and the island was never the same.
She had brought along a stack of jazz records to play 'neath the tropical moon;
?the island never had/heard that jazz before, but they both got acquainted real soon.

CHORUS: And the rain(s) came down, It came down through the trees
Yes, the rain came down, it reached above your knees
But inside her shack, Sadie would entertain -
Drank coca-cola, played her Victrola
While she enjoyed the rain.

There are at least two more verses, in the first of which the feckless minister on the other side of the island determines to "save" her:

"he followed the sound of the music and the laughter
and it led him to Sadie's front door." (CHORUS)

I think she corrupts him in verse three (or as corrupt as the Code would permit)and in the last verse, she's back in the States:

"...Back from the tropics, leadin' a good life
Keeps herself busy, being a good wife
But in a drizzle, she starts to sizzle,
and she enjoys/The Rain"

I know the song exists - I actually found a reference to it from the UK:
Jerry

Advanced Member (I'm not sure of what - but it was from ten years ago)

Jerry Members 0 866 posts

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Posted February 7, 2011
Mary, this piece of a lyric comes to mind: While inside her hut, Sadie would entertain
Played her Victrola, sipped Coca-Cola
While she enjoyed.........the rain. From the Somerset Maugham story set in the South Pacific.

SO....I'm going to go look for "Jerry", but wondered if anyone here could help! Thanks for reading all this obsessive palaver!!!


21 Jan 18 - 12:34 AM (#3900798)
Subject: RE: req: Sadie Thompson 'The Rain came down'
From: Joe Offer

refresh


21 Jan 18 - 01:09 AM (#3900799)
Subject: RE: req: Sadie Thompson 'The Rain came down'
From: Stilly River Sage

Cher's take on Sadie Thompson (the song is interspersed between various set comedy sketches) is as close as I come to a "sprightly little ditty" and Thompson is the subject. From the early 1970s.


08 Jul 19 - 02:00 PM (#3999840)
Subject: RE: req: Sadie Thompson 'The Rain came down'
From: GUEST

I vividly remember this song from the early 50s and have tried unsuccessfully to track it down on the Internet. I don't know the title or the female artist who made the recording, but remember the words of the chorus exactly as you do, and even recall the tune. It was popular about the same time as Rosemary Clooney's "Come Onna My House".


23 May 21 - 01:28 PM (#4107235)
Subject: RE: req: Sadie Thompson 'The Rain came down'
From: GUEST,Another Guest

Check out "The Rain Came Down" recorded by Patty Andrews in 1955 on capitol records.


28 Sep 21 - 11:23 PM (#4121261)
Subject: RE: req: Sadie Thompson 'The Rain came down'
From: GUEST

Marilyn Maye sings it sometimes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK0em2Us0nw
and here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSqt_cJwouU


13 Feb 23 - 05:43 AM (#4165034)
Subject: RE: req: Sadie Thompson 'The Rain came down'
From: GUEST,Guest

I remember this song being played daily when I lived on the south side of Chicago in the 60's. The link offered by another writer to the Marilyn May performance is of the correct song, but the version that I remember was not performed as Jazz.

I remember the lyrics and tune vividly and I'm still able to sing the chorus 58 years later. I have unsuccessfully searched for this song for many years and not knowing the name of the female artist adds to the challenge.

The lyrics I remember are slightly different than those posted by Betsy720.

CHORUS: And the rain(s) came down, It came down FROM ABOVE
HOW the rain came down, it reached above your HEAD,
But inside her shack, Sadie would entertain -
Drank coca-cola, play her Victrola,
While she enjoyed the rain.

Sigh