Stand a Little Rain

"Stand a Little Rain" is a song written by Donny Lowery and Don Schlitz, and recorded by American country music group Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It was released in June 1986 as the first new single from the album Twenty Years of Dirt. The song reached number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and number 3 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.^[1]

Critical reception

Kip Kirby, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the band "delivers a slow, melancholy descant on the strengthening power of adversity." He goes on to call it a "change of pace from their whimsical, 'Partners, Brothers and Friends'.^[2]

In popular culture

During April 1992, the song was the unwitting subject of one of George H. W. Bush's malapropisms when he referred to the group as the "Nitty Ditty, Nitty City Great" at a country music awards ceremony in Nashville:

"I said to them, you know, there's another one that the Nitty Ditty, Nitty City Great -- [laughter] -- that they did, and it says, "If you want to see a rainbow, you've got to stand a little rain." We've had a little rain. New Hampshire has had too much rain. A lot of families are hurting."^[3]

This unusual phrasing was repeatedly used as an example of Bush's garbled syntax (notably, in Dave Barry's book Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway), which in turn helped publicize the band.

Chart performance

"Stand a Little Rain" debuted at number 61 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of June 21, 1986.

References