Crying in the Rain

This song was born from a personal moment that David Coverdale wanted to turn into sound. The first version, recorded in 1981 and released the following year on the album Saints & Sinners, carries the weight of a slow blues and a slide guitar that drags on like the rain mentioned in the title. The opening solo by Bernie Marsden sounds like a stuttered confession, just before the band speeds up the rhythm and Coverdale’s voice becomes more urgent. But it’s not just a song about the weather: it speaks to the feeling of when the sky overflows and one cannot help but cry.

In 1987, the band recorded it again for the album Whitesnake, this time with a more aggressive approach. The tempo sped up, the riffs became more metallic, and the initial blues disappeared entirely. The production, handled by Martin Birch, gave it a darker sheen, as if the storm had gone from a whisper to a thunderclap. Since then, this version is the one they usually play live, though in performances after 2002 they added a drum solo in the middle, like a breath before the song returns to that unforgiving chorus. The original, however, remains a rawer document, with that guitar solo that Kerrang! described as "an epic that makes your knees tremble over an exquisite slide guitar."