He said strong visual imagery was the thing he most looks for, the image that can crystallize the sentiment. Just the other day I was asking my musical collaborator Lee Feldman, an excellent lyricist in his own right, what qualities he thought made for a great lyric. The prevailing conceit, the weather motif, common enough in popular music (“Stormy Weather” anyone?), is worked out eloquently and consistently, from a simple but powerful beginning: “Sunshine, blue skies, please go away.” The jilted lover doesn’t see stormy weather, he wants stormy weather, so his pain can blend in. I need rain to disguise the tears in my eyes. To the world outside my tears, I refuse to explain. That I’m cryin’… cryin’ when I go outside. My eyes search the skies, desperately for rain. Rain, rain, rain (Oh, how I wish that it would rain) People this hurt I feel inside, words can never explain. I gotta cry ’cause cryin’ eases the pain, oh yeah. (Such a lovely day)īut everyone knows that a man ain’t suppose to cry, listen. So day after day, I stayed locked up in my room.īut I wish it would rain. With her went my future, my life is filled with gloom. Terrible for the psyche, but fodder for one of the great modern torch songs. This song was inspired by Penzabene’s wife, with whom he was head over heels in love.Īlas, not long after, Penzabene discovered his wife was cheating on him. Penzabene had penned the words for an earlier Temptations song, “You’re My Everything.” Barrett Strong would just have to wait his turn on the back burner. And when I read a little more about the story behind the song, and about Penzabene’s ultimate fate, it was too compelling a tale to hold off on. Only, I learned, Barrett Strong didn’t write the lyric, Rodger Penzabene did (with music by Whitfield). Then I thought about “I Wish It Would Rain,” a very powerful, very moving song. “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” was a very strong contender too, a story you can sink your ears into. Of all their great songs, which one would I write about? “Just My Imagination”? Fabulous song. I was planning to write about Barrett Strong, the lyricist who, along with composer Norman Whitfield, wrote many of the Temptations’ biggest hits.