Did You Hear the Rain?

"Did You Hear the Rain?" is the debut single by British singer-songwriter George Ezra. It was released as the lead single from his debut studio album Wanted on Voyage (2014). The song was released as a digital EP on 1 November 2013 in Italy and as a digital single in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2014 through Columbia Records. The song peaked at number 72 in Austria.

"Did You Hear the Rain?"
Single by George Ezra
from the album Wanted on Voyage
Released1 November 2013
Recorded2013
Genre
Length2:57
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Cam Blackwood
George Ezra singles chronology
"Did You Hear the Rain?"
(2013)		 "Budapest"
(2013)

"Did You Hear the Rain?" was re-released in the UK on 11 May 2015.[1]

Background and inspiration

In an interview with Australian music website FasterLouder, Ezra claimed that "The whole point of ["Did You Hear the Rain?"] was looking at characters – and I wrote that song actually when I was, I must have been 18, and I was looking into the fact that no matter who you meet, no matter how you meet them, they're gonna have more than one side to their personality. I'm not saying that they're gonna be split personality but you meet people at a certain time on a certain day and they might be different to if you met them, and I thought that about myself as well so I wrote the not-so-nice side."[2]

Regarding the recording of the song, he said, "What could be a weird beat on Did You Hear the Rain? is actually three loops we found and mixed together – someone beat boxing, someone playing didgeridoo, and another I can't remember. We fed loops through distortion, then made beats out of it. There's tons of that going on in the songs, which was fun in the studio, but now that I've got a band, is a ball ache to try to recreate live."[3]

Critical reception

Hannah Skolnick reviewed the song positively, calling it: "Equally catchy, but darker and with a greater depth," and that "Ezra scratches and howls out his chorus 'you can try and run and hide, tearing at the chain oh, Lucifer's inside.' Complete with full instrumentation, the sound is dense and imposing, yet some of his tonal delicacy has been lost in the studio recording".[4] Amy Davidson of Digital Spy gave the song 4/5 stars: "'Did You Hear the Rain?' happened to be the track that introduced the world to George Ezra. Released in the slightly different context of a number one album, the track proves why the singer-songwriter has managed to stick around since it debuted. With dark, vengeful lyrics that name-check Lucifer himself, not to mention Ezra's deep, bluesy voice, 'Did You Hear the Rain?' showcases the range and depth of George Ezra."[5]

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Did You Hear the Rain?" was first released onto YouTube on 6 November 2013 at a total length of two minutes and fifty-eight seconds.[6]

Track listing
Digital download[7]
  1. "Budapest" – 3:22
  2. "Did You Hear the Rain?" – 2:57
  3. "Benjamin Twine" – 2:53
  4. "Angry Hill" – 4:10

Charts
Chart (2014) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[8] 72
France (SNEP)[9] 169
Ireland (IRMA)[10] 89

Release history
Region Date Format Label
Italy[7] 1 November 2013 Digital download Columbia
United Kingdom[11] 11 April 2014

References
  1. Moss, Liv (24 April 2015). "George Ezra announces new single Did You Hear the Rain?". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  2. Macgregor, Jody (11 July 2014). "Meet the new face of UK folkmusic: George Ezra". FasterLouder. Sound Alliance. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  3. Hughes, Tim (21 May 2015). "George the Great - Hit singer-songwriter George Ezra heads to Oxford". Oxford Mail. Newsquest. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  4. Skolnick, Hannah (5 March 2014). "Album Review: George Ezra – Did You Hear the Rain?". Redbrick. University of Birmingham Guild of Students. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  5. Davidson, Amy (10 May 2015). "This week's new singles reviewed: Jessie J, LunchMoney Lewis, George Ezra, QT". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  6. GeorgeEzraVEVO (6 November 2013). "George Ezra – Did You Hear the Rain?". YouTube. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  7. "Did You Hear the Rain?" (in Italian). Amazon.it. 1 November 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  8. "Austriancharts.at – George Ezra – Did You Hear The Rain?" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  9. "Lescharts.com – George Ezra – Did You Hear The Rain?" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  10. "Chart Track: Week 19, 2014". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  11. "Did You Hear the Rain? – Single by George Ezra". iTunes Store. United Kingdom: Apple. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
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