It Took Eddie Rabbitt More Than a Decade To Write His Biggest Crossover Hit From 1980

By 1980, Eddie Rabbitt was a mainstay on both the country and pop charts. Rabbitt’s Top 40 single, “You Get To Me”, came out in 1974.  After several years and several more hits with songs like “Drinkin’ My Baby (Off My Mind)”, “Hearts On Fire”, “Suspicions”, and more, Rabbitt had his first crossover hit in 1979 with “Every Which Way But Loose”.

But it wasn’t until 1980 that Rabbitt had his first No. 1 on multiple charts. That year, Rabbitt released “I Love A Rainy Night”. The song, written by Rabbitt, Even Stevens, and David Malloy, became his first song to reach the top of not only the country chart, but Billboard’s Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary as well. The song is part of Horizon, Rabbitt’s sixth studio album.

“I Love A Rainy Night” begins with, “Well, I love a rainy night / I love a rainy night / I love to hear the thunder / Watch the lightning / When it lights up the sky / You know it makes me feel good.”

Why It Took Eddie Rabbitt More Than a Decade to Write “I Love A Rainy Night”

Rabbitt reportedly first had the idea to write “I Love A Rainy Night” in the late 1960s. The idea lived on a cassette tape in his basement for about a dozen years, until he found the tape in 1980.

Stevens later recalls Rabbitt’s determination to write something about a rainy night.

“He really didn’t have the melody, but he had this little idea,” Stevens tells The Tennessean. “And he says, ‘I just thought, one night, I wasn’t depressed during a rainstorm. I was really happy, and I put this little thing down. We ought to write that.’ He’d bring it up, and I’d go, ‘Eh, I don’t know what to do with it.’… And then one night, it just clicked.”

Rabbitt not only had a No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but he also helped make history. “I Love A Rainy Night” replaced Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5”, marking the first time one country artist was removed from the top spot by another country artist on that chart. But Rabbitt’s victory was short-lived. After Rabbitt’s “I Love A Rainy Night” held the top spot for a week, Parton returned to No. 1 again for one more week.

After “I Love A Rainy Night”, Rabbitt had several more hit singles. Still, none had the crossover success like this song. His final country No.1 hit came in 1989, with “On Second Thought”.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images

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