It's Raining - Irma Thomas

It's Raining - Irma Thomas

single, 1961

2:08

Written by Allen Toussaint (as Naomi Neville)

This is a stately R&B number, draped in doo-wop-style falsetto backing vocals and Toussaint’s beautifully unhurried arrangement.  The narrator notices the rain, which evokes sad memories of a lost love: "The harder it rains the worse it gets / This is the time I'd love to be holding you tight / I guess I'll just go crazy tonight."  What makes the song land is Thomas' vocal.  She never overplays the emotion.  Her delivery is poised, almost regal, turning a simple ache into something clear-eyed and adult. The sorrow feels lived-in, not melodramatic; a quiet storm held together by dignity rather than despair.

Time Is On My Side - Irma Thomas

Time Is On My Side - Irma Thomas

2:52

Wish Someone Would Care, 1964

Written by Jerry Ragovoy (as Norman Meade) and Jimmy Norman

I did not know, or had forgotten, that this song was not a Jagger-Richard original.  It was first recorded as an instrumental by jazz trombonist Kai Winding!  For this version by the Soul Queen of New Orleans, a singer named Jimmy Norman wrote the words.  She belts them out as well as Aretha herself could have done it, and obviously in so doing created a standard, because the Glimmer Twins used her version as a template, though leaving out her impassioned monologue in the middle.