“Early Morning Rain” is a song composed and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The song appears on his debut album Lightfoot! (1966) and in a re-recorded version on the 1975 compilation Gord’s Gold.
Lightfoot composed the song in 1964, supposedly inspired by seeing off a friend at the Los Angeles airport some years previous. The lyrics suggest someone down on his luck, standing by an airport fence and observing the thunderous takeoff of a Boeing 707 jetliner. The general narrative of the song can be taken as a sort of jet-age musical allegory to a hobo of yesteryear lurking around a railroad yard attempting to surreptitiously board and ride a freight train. The Canadian husband and wife duo Ian & Sylvia were the first artists to release this song. There was over a year’s time lag between their recording and Lightfoot’s recording and its release. Funk super-group Cameo frequently performs the song live as an homage to Lightfoot’s influence on the band. We Five released a version of the song on their 1970 album, Catch the Wind.
1965 Peter, Paul and Mary, See What Tomorrow Brings – #11 on the Billboard 200
By Peter Paul and Mary
Lyrics
In the early morning rain with a dollar in my hand
With an aching in my heart and a pocket full of sand
I’m a long way from home and I miss my loved one so
In the early morning rain with no place to go
Out on runway number nine, big 707 set to go
But I’m stuck here on the grass where the cold winds they do blow
Where whiskey it was boss and the women they were fine
Well now there she goes my friend, now there she’s rolling down the line
Hear the mighty engines roar, see the silver bird on high
She’s away and westward bound, far above the clouds she’ll fly
There the morning rain don’t fall and the sun always shines
She’ll be flying over my home in about three hours time
This old airport’s got me down it ain’t no earthy good to me
Because I’m stuck here on the ground, cold and drunk as I can be
You can’t jump a jet plane like you can a railroad train
So I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain