"The Day the Rains Came" or "Am Tag als der Regen kam" or "La pioggia cadrà" is an adaptation of the French song "Le Jour où la pluie viendra". The latter is a popular song released in 1957, composed and written by Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë.
Bécaud's version reached number 3 in Wallonia, in a tandem ranking,[1] and number 20 in Flanders.[2]
In the United Kingdom, an English language version by Jane Morgan went to number one for a week in 1959.[3] That version also reached number 4 in Canada[4] and number 7 in Norway.[5]
In the US, Raymond Lefèvre was the first to release the song, but as instrumental under the English title. The song made number 14 on the Billboard Honor Roll of Hits[6] and number 17 on the Cash Box chart,[7] while Lefèvre's and Morgan's versions were marked as bestsellers on both charts. Dalida's French language original was released in US under the English title. "The Day the Rains Came" also reached number 2 on Billboard's sheet music chart.[8]
Dalida's version was also an international success. She recorded it for the first time in 1957 and was among the first places in the rankings in France where the song was released on the A side of a 45 rpm maxi with "Gondolier".[9] Also the song was a #1 hit in Germany and a major success of her career with more than 1,000,000 units sold worldwide.[9][10] On July 15, 1959, the German music magazine Musikmarkt was published with Dalida on the cover. The magazine judged Dalida's hit as "a won battle for the cultivated, sophisticated hit".[11]
Dalida was credited in 1984 as créatrice de la chanson − expression used in France for the original performer.[citation needed]
^Chez Dalida - Le temps d'aimer. Editions du Rocher. 2017. ISBN9782268091518. She sings in Lebanon, Greece and even Germany, where the Germanic version of Le jour où la pluie viendra is a great success and sells more than a million copies.
^Uwe Lechner, Der Musikmarkt, 30 Jahre Singlehitparade, 1989, S. 4.