John Fogerty – Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

John Fogerty performing live, the Creedence Clearwater revival song, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” on October 23, 2010 at the Night of the proms in Antwerp (Sportpaleis Merksem), Belgium.

Original release:
“Have You Ever Seen the Rain” – Single by Creedence Clearwater Revivalfrom the album Pendulum
B-side “Hey Tonight”
Released January 1971
Songwriter John Fogerty
Producer John Fogerty

“That song is really about the impending breakup of Creedence. The imagery is, you can have a bright, beautiful, sunny day, and it can be raining at the same time,” Fogerty told Rolling Stone magazine in 1993.

In a 2020 interview with American Songwriter, Fogerty stated that the line “Have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day?” was inspired by the band’s feelings of unease and depression at the height of their fame and commercial success. The band would ultimately split in October 1972, following the release of the album Mardi Grass.