ELLIS HALL and GEORGE WHITTY aka “WHAT!!!!” Release New Single
In the World
“Some Days Were Meant for Rain”
Offering more indelible proof that a great song can enjoy many lives and enthrall multiple generations, Ellis Hall’s timeless, haunting ballad “Some Days Were Meant for Rain” is now the second single from In the World, the debut album of WHAT!!!!, the legendary vocalist and multi-instrumentalist’s duo with Grammy winning keyboardist George Whitty – literally half a century after he wrote it!
The track follows fast on the heels of the release of the powerhouse, eclectic 10-track collection and the October 2024 drop of its lead single, “Die Living,” which became one of the top five successes its radio promoter has ever had. The indelible blues-soul anthem scored over 1000 spins at terrestrial urban radio its first week out and ultimately eclipsed over 50,000 nationwide (with more stations picking it up all the time) that included countless plays on global internet stations.
An unforgettable expression of heartache and longing, the incredible travels of “Some Days..” began in 1975, after a conversation Hall had with his then manager, who seemed distracted from their discussion of business and told the singer he was despondent because he had just broken up with his girlfriend. When Hall hung up, the song poured out in just 15 minutes. He later gave a cassette recording of it to his manager, who played it for his beloved, leading them to both cry and reconcile.
Those two were the first of countless thousands whose lives have been touched by “Some Days Were Meant for Rain.” Hall began playing it live regularly with his group, The Ellis Hall Band and recorded it for an album that unfortunately was not released, with strings and horns by future legendary superstar arranger Rob Mounsey. He also played it on several dates in 1976 when his band opened for Tower of Power. One night backstage in Boston, TOP founder and saxophonist Emilio Castillo heard it backstage when Hall was listening to it while going over different mixes. He loved it – and when Hall joined up and became TOP’s frontman in 1984, Castillo asked him, “Where’s that song ‘Rain’?”
That song “Rain” (aka “Some Days Were Made for Rain”) proved so popular with TOP audiences that the famed horn band recorded it (with Hall naturally on lead vocals) for their 1987 album, which was the sole project the singer recorded with them before he departed in 1988. It received three Grammy nominations, including Best R&B Vocal and Best Arrangement.
The tune remained relatively obscure for the next few decades until Hall shared it with Whitty as it became clear that their creatively flourishing mutual admiration society would evolve into a full album project. Whitty had been a fan of Hall’s since he “kicked my ass so hard” when he headlined as Tower of Power’s lead singer at a mid-80s performance at NYC’s The Bottom Line. Hall’s longtime project manager (and longtime “watcher”) Alec Berfield had been bugging the singer about meeting Whitty for years, and when Whitty, with Berfield’s prompting, sent him his initial tracks for a special song titled “Hug Me,” he knew it was divine timing. “Hug Me,” the first piece the duo recorded, is an epic, six-minute anthem the two recorded in 2023 as a tribute to the strength and resilience of the Ukranian people.
“George heard some of my songs from over the years which seemed to create an itch in his ear, including ‘Why Should I Care’ and ‘Soul Street’,” says Hall. “When he heard ‘Some Days…’, he said ‘That’s a smash! We need to put that on the record.’ Which was great for me because he has a way of hearing things and opening them up sonically. I told the original story through God’s grace and he knew how to write a whole book, so to speak. The WHAT!!!! version is symphonic – and that’s ironic because I have played it with symphonies but never quite like we’re doing here.
“It’s sonically different from the original Ellis Hall Band and TOP versions because of the hopping synth bass George infuses with the drums, the symphony vibe he creates with his keyboards and also the way my acoustic guitars meld with the organ and other keyboards,” he adds. “He has such a melodic orchestral sense of the music. Also, the Tower recording ended with a muted horn section harmony that I create with my voice here. I also recreated a solo section by cut one of the parts in half so that my organ and vocal go back and forth.”
Whitty says, “I have loved ‘Some Days Were Meant For Rain” since I first heard it in the 1980s. Such a beautiful classic soul ballad, with the world’s greatest soul singer singing it! We reimagined it for this record with some beautiful orchestra colors and a great, grooving Moog bass/organ vibe, and I think Ellis agrees with me that we hit a homer with this rendition!”
Following an inviting intro filled with lush strings and passionate wordless vocals, Hall begins his gentle caress of the heartbreaking lyrics he wrote so long ago: “Raindrops on my window/Completing my day of dread/Tears streaming softly from raw eyes/These words running through my head. . .Some days were meant for rain/Some nights were meant for pain/and I’m caught up in your chains…” As his vocals (and the vocal textures) intensify, his acknowledgement of the reality of sadness turns to a sorrowful plea Hall shares with the full range of his voice (“Baby love, I need you baby love.”) and an introspective, unanswerable question (“Am I just an episode in your life that you’re going through”).
“The song is still relevant and resonates because people love ballads and the story never changes,” the singer says. “It’s about a gentleman losing his baby, a story that has some meat and bone to it, and on top of that we have this wonderful music and production. It’s a universal lyric that touched me then and touches us now. When I originally wrote the guitar part, I was thinking about time I spent in Georgia in the 60s, watching people play on the front porch. Overall, it fits perfectly with the concept of the whole In the World project, with us telling stories listeners can open up like a book – even on the funky tunes and the new twist we put on ‘I Thank You.’”
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