I Can’t Stand The Rain | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| Ab7 | Ab7 |
Verse 1
| Ab7 | Ab7 | Ab7 | Ab7 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, bringing back sweet memories.
| Ab7 | Ab7 | Db7 | Ab7 |
Hey window pane, do you remember, how sweet it used to be.
Chorus 1
| Gb | Gb | Ab | Ab |
When we were together, yeah, everything was so grand.
| B | B | Bbm7 | Eb7 |
Now that we’ve parted, there’s just one sound that I just can’t stand.
Verse 2
| Ab7 | Ab7 | Db7 | Ab7 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, bringing back sweet memories.
| Ab7 | Ab7 | Db7 | Ab7 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, ’cause he not here with me.
Chorus 2
| Gb | Gb | Ab | Ab |
Oh, where the pillow, where his head used to lay, yeah.
| B | B | Bbm7 | Eb7 |
I know you’ve got some sweet memories, but like the window, you ain’t got nothing to say. Yeah.
Instrumental
| Ab Ab6 Abadd9 | Gb Gbadd9 | Ab Ab6 Abadd9 | B |
Verse 3
| Ab7 | Ab7 | Db7 | Ab7 |
Well, I can’t stand the rain, against my window, bringing back sweet memories.
| Ab7 | Ab7 | Db7 | Ab7 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, yeah, ’cause you’re not here with me.
| Ab7 | Ab7 | Db7 | Ab7 |
I can’t stand the rain. Yeah. I can’t stand the rain. Mm-hm.
I Can’t Stand The Rain | Chords + Lyrics (key of A)
Intro
| A7 | A7 |
Verse 1
| A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, bringing back sweet memories.
| A6 | A6 | D6 | A6 |
Hey window pane, do you remember, how sweet it used to be.
Chorus 1
| G | G | A | A |
When we were together, yeah, everything was so grand.
| C | C | Bm7 | E7 |
Now that we’ve parted, there’s just one sound that I just can’t stand.
Verse 2
| A7 | A7 | D7 | A7 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, bringing back sweet memories.
| A6 | A6 | D7 | A6 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, ’cause he not here with me.
Chorus 2
| G5 | G5 | A | A |
Oh, where the pillow, where his head used to lay, yeah.
| C | C | Bm7 | E7 |
I know you’ve got some sweet memories, but like the window, you ain’t got nothing to say. Yeah.
Instrumental
| A A6 Aadd9 | G Gadd9 | A A6 Aadd9 | C |
Verse 3
| A6 | A6 | D7 | A7 |
Well, I can’t stand the rain, against my window, bringing back sweet memories.
| A6 | A6 | D7 | A7 |
I can’t stand the rain, against my window, yeah, ’cause you’re not here with me.
| A7 | A7 | D7 | A7 |
I can’t stand the rain. Yeah. I can’t stand the rain. Mm-hm.
You can learn how to play I Can’t Stand The Rain!
Ann Peebles‘s I Can’t Stand The Rain is not just a blues, it’s more complicated than that. Let’s analyze this very clever tune, we’ll stick to the key of A as that’s easier.
The intro is an A7 arpeggio.
For the verse, we either continue playing the arpeggio riff or play a standard A to A6 honky-tonk part. This is then moved to the D chord as well.
You could describe I Can’t Stand The Rain’s verse chords as a 12 bar Blues, but without a turnaround, like this:
| A6 | A6 | D6 | A6 |
| A6 | A6 | D6 | A6 |
| A6 | A6 | D6 | A6 |
The chorus is much more adventurous starting on a bVIIx (G) before we go back to A, then a C (bIIIx), before we resolve with a II – V. Like this:
| G | G | A | A |
| C | C | Bm7 | E7 |
I Can’t Stan The Rain covers
I Can’t Stand The Rain has been recorded by many artists. Humble Pie recorded their version in 1974, and Ronnie Wood did so in 1975.
Eruption had their biggest hit with the song in 1978, Lowell George (of Little Feet) made his version in 1979.
Tina Turner released her version in 1984 on the album Private Dancer and then the following year as a single.
Bad Manners recorded their version in 1993 and Missy Elliot decided that it was enough to just sample the chorus for her track The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) in 1997.
Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) recorded his version in 2006.
As recently as 2008, Seal decided that he should include I Can’t Stand The Rain on his album Soul. I”ve included many of these in the playlist at the top of this page, enjoy!
I Can’t Stand The Rain’s 8 guitar lessons in the course
The final song in the intermediate acoustic course is learned in just five steps by practicing with loops for each section.
Following this, we create a 2nd guitar part and play the vocal melody for both the verse and the chorus.
In total, there are 8 step-by-step lessons for I Can’t Stand The Rain available. Here are links to each lesson in the course (members only):
- Step 1 – Main riff
- Step 2 – Main riff in D & A
- Step 3 – Honky-Tonk
- Step 4 – Chorus & Instrumental
- Step 5 – The complete song, with TAB
- Step 6 – 2nd guitar
- Step 7 – Verse vocal melody
- Step 8 – Chorus vocal melody
I Can’t Stand The Rain chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
- Born Under A Bad Sign chords
- Come Together chords
- I Heard It Through The Grapevine chords
- Soul Man chords
- Take Me To The River chords
Ann Peebles
Ann Peebles is an internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter, best known for her popular Memphis soul albums of the 70s on Hi Records.
Two of her better-known songs are I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down and I Can’t Stand The Rain.
Ann Peebles on the web
Intermediate Acoustic Songs
The intermediate songs can not be played using just basic open-position chords. We have to move up the fretboard and play CAGED barre chords as well.
We incorporate bass lines, licks, extend chords, and even play vocal melodies. Most importantly, we invent 2nd guitar parts and play these songs together.
