1967
IT'S RAINING * THE THREE TOPS * TROJAN 003 * GB
It is easy to build a picture of somebody working in the office at Island records, at the time this record was label was being processed, taking down the particulars of this track from a West Indian, speaking Patios, and the word 'three' sounding like 'tree'. Although it is credited to the 'Treetops' on the label, the group (Dion Cameron, Orville Robinson and Jimmy Riley) name is The Three Tops which was almost certainly a reference to Tamla Motown's: Four Tops. A deliciously ambiguous track that starts off in one vein: that of a young man endeavoring to keep his lover with him a little longer, (something along the lines of Baby It's Cold Outside, recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan and later by Ray Charles and Betty Carter) then the lyrics shift to a completely different concept altogether: to that of general advise to fellow sufferers who are in such straights that they "can't find food or shoe's". This is the original unedited version of It's Raining and the flip The Sound Of Music, (don't be put off by the title) is also a top track.