"Man in the Rain" is a

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

song written and performed by English

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

Mike Oldfield Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English retired musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut studio album ''Tubular Bells'' (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a gu ...

. It was included on the album ''

Tubular Bells III ''Tubular Bells III'' is the eighteenth studio album by English guitarist, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield. It was released on 31 August 1998 by Warner Music UK as the third instalment in his ''Tubular Bells'' album series. After relocati ...

'' and released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on 5 October 1998 by

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

. The vocals were performed by Irish folk singer

Cara Dillon Cara Elizabeth Dillon (born 21 July 1975, in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving t ...

History

"Man in the Rain" is similar in style to Oldfield's 1983 hit, "

Moonlight Shadow "Moonlight Shadow" is a song written and performed by English multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, released as a single in May 1983 by Virgin Records, and included on his eighth album, ''Crises'', of the same year. The vocals were performed by ...

", from which "Man in the Rain" borrows

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

drums. An early version of "Man in the Rain" was also written shortly after "Moonlight Shadow". Another early demo version of "Man in the Rain" was recorded for Oldfield's ''Islands'' album, with vocals by Barry Palmer; this version later turned into the song " Heaven's Open". "Man in the Rain" was also the working title for the album '' Heaven's Open''. Although

performs on the album, she was not present at the ''Tubular Bells III'' première concert at

Horse Guards Parade Horse Guards Parade is a large Military parade, parade ground off Whitehall in central London (at British national grid reference system, grid reference ). It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the K ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. For this performance and subsequent live dates, she was replaced by Pepsi DeMacque. During the premiere performance of "Man in the Rain" some of the stage lights unexpectedly cut out. One of the B-sides, "The Inner Child", featured Luar na Lubre vocalist Rosa Cedrón.

Track listing

All songs by Mike Oldfield. # "Man in the Rain" – 4:01 # "Serpent Dream" (live at Horse Guards Parade 04/09/98) – 3:00 # "The Inner Child" (live at Horse Guards Parade 04/09/98) – 4:43

Charts

References

{{authority control 1998 singles 1998 songs Mike Oldfield songs Songs written by Mike Oldfield Warner Music Group singles