What Have They Done To The Rain
Marianne Faithfull Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The grass lifts it's head to the heavenly sound.
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And what have they done to the rain ?
Just a little breeze out of the sky,
The leaves nod their head as the breeze blows by.
Just a little breeze with some smoke in it's eye,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain ?
And what have they done to the rain ?
Marianne Faithfull's "What Have They Done To The Rain" is a poignant protest song that examines the devastating impact of human activities on natural elements, particularly rain. The first stanza describes rain falling effortlessly, and how the grass seems to bow in reverence to its calming sound. However, the song's tone shifts drastically when a little boy is introduced standing in the rain. The metaphorical meaning of rain changes to cries of sadness as the boy disappears, and the rain starts falling with helpless tears. This tragic image suggests that the boy's life has been washed away because of the destructive forces operating in society.
The second stanza features a breeze that blows by, which appears to have some smoke in its eyes. This is a metaphor for air pollution or perhaps a reference to industrial activities that are damaging the environment. Once again, the boy is present in the musician's lyrics, and the song questions the destructive effects of progress on the world. The song culminates with the same existential question, "What have they done to the rain?" emphasized twice, highlighting the sense that the song is a protest against humanity's disregard for the environment and the traumatic consequences that it has on the natural world.
Line by Line Meaning
Just a little rain falling all around,
A light rainfall is surrounding the area.
The grass lifts it's head to the heavenly sound.
The grass is growing taller with the sound of rain.
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
The rain is not extreme, just a light shower.
What have they done to the rain ?
The singer is questioning why the rain has changed.
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A young boy is outside in the rain.
A gentle rain that falls for years.
The light rain has been occurring for an extended period of time.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
The grass has vanished and the boy has left the area.
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
The rain seems never-ending and sad.
Just a little breeze out of the sky,
A small gust of wind is arriving from the sky.
The leaves nod their head as the breeze blows by.
The wind causes the leaves to move and sway.
Just a little breeze with some smoke in it's eye,
The wind is carrying smoke which is affecting it.
What have they done to the rain ?
The singer is still questioning why the rain has changed.
And what have they done to the rain ?
The singer repeats her question about the rain.
Lyrics Β© Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MALVINA REYNOLDS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
onehotgossip
Marianne Faithfull - What Have They Done To The Rain
Just a little rain falling all around,
The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound.
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain ?
Just a little breeze out of the sky,
The leaves nod their head as the breeze blows by.
Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain ?
And what have they done to the rain ?
James Donaghy
@James Clark the cold war was hardly the point.
You say, 'the cold war', like it explains everything and there's nothing to see here, so move along.
Lets have a look at what you actually mean it.
The narrative calledm the cold war, goes like this:
Two superpowers are engaged in an arms race. Each spend a decade bombing the stratosphere because they are rivals.
Saber rattling?
Was the cold war a contest to see who could make the biggest blast?
Was it a race to perfect the tech?
The fact is that the bomb was already plenty effective and ending human settlements of any size.
So why did they continue with the bombing for 10 years? And why test way up high? What could that tell you about a bomb?
The answer is absolutely crucial to know if you want to understand the untold true history of the 20th Century.
The question was put to Amy Shira, historian of Apollo Missions (Utube chanel, Vintage Space)
Amy contributes a little anecdote, which she then rejects as unimportant.
She says that Dr James van Allen had once speculated that the radiation around our planet might be dispensed with if the right EMP were brought to bear.
Amy says this isnt the reason why the stratosphere was relentlessly attacked.
And yet, anyone investigating the reason for this Operation Dominic may well concludem independently, that this is exactly what happened.
The military, then, had set about harnessing tax payers money to find the right EMP component which was to switch off the magnetic field of earth.
This was a futile venture at best, based apon sheer speculation and erroneous notions.
The earth has no magnetic generator of its own.
The earths magnetism is induced into the iron rich crust by the solar windm over billions of years of gentle strokes of charged CMEs.
The power EMP have over magnetic fields is not to do with permanent magnets, it is only applicable to electromagnets, unless I'm mistaken.
Those who say the earth makes the magetic field point to the iron core and the spin and vortex movement caused by thermal currents deep down. But the core is too hot to have any magnetic effectm since the currie point of iron is well below what we find even quite close to the surface,.given the global scale.
That may be wrong, but it's what i suspect.
However, what we do know is that if they had been sucessful then they would've destroyed the magnetism that protects all life on earth from extreme ultraviolet, the low wavelength end. A mass extinction event would quickly have followed a successful outcome.
So we can assume the experiment was a failure, since we are all still breathing.
What they did achieve was another layer of radioactivity around the planet, a new one, an artificial belt of radioactive energy.
Some folk get confused about all the different units of measurements for radioactivity, so allow me to clear up one or two points.
The first is that lethal means lethal.
The new layer of poison was powerful enough to take out satalites. In factm within 5 year of StarFishPrime, a 4ktn bomb, 1962, the last USA atmospheric bomb, all the satalites were killed.
So if it can kill satalites, it can kill people, who are much softer than electornics from the 50s.
Lethal is a good word to avoid confusion.
The other point I'd like to make is about Alpha radiation.
It is often put out there that Alpha radiation can't even pass through paper, and it's very weak and hardly worth bothering about.
It is true that Alpha can't transpass paper, but you wouldn't want it in your bed! You wouldn't want to ingest it, like the poor double agent Vitor Litvenyenkov, who's convelenscence and hospital bed was so often rendered on our screens.
Poor victor.
Lucky us though, to have survived such a global ordeal, to have survived such misguided leadership.
5 years after Operations Dominic, once sky bombs were made illegal, the artifical belt of radiation abated enough to allow radiation hardened satalites to once again be safely deployed. All they had to deal with now was the heat of 120Β°C .
Some of them would need to pass into high orbit, which would mean passing through the first belt of lethal ionic energy. These must have been sheilded with a titanium shell before shedding that once through the belt. Thats what happened with the Juno mission, so that's probably what they do, although they don't talk about it.
The radiation belts have never gone away.
The temperature in orbit, in the sun is 120Β°C. Life onboard the ISS is hot, crampedm smelly and uncomfortable. Elevated radiation means that you are going to die of cancer in the end, but also that your bones will rot as you float in orbit.
Our brave female astornaut , recently returned to us, is not suffering from gravity deprivation, but from radiation sickness. (That is a poor name for ionic radiation sickness.)
The heat and elevated levels of radioactivity are seldom mentioned on TV and podcasts. They raise too many questions about the moonlandings. Like, how did the film get so well shielded from the little radiation they admitted the astronauts got?
How did they manage with shade, and how could they have claimed to be cold?
Check out my Chanel for vids where i chat to camera about this stuff.
Here's a link to a 5 minute offering were i attempt to debunk the Apollo hoax
https://youtu.be/Zztbw7MLlkI
Troubbadour
Mon petit bonheur du jour = J'adoreπ !
Just a little rain falling all around,
The grass lifts it's head to the heavenly sound.
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain ?
Just a little breeze out of the sky,
The leaves nod their head as the breeze blows by.
Just a little breeze with some smoke in it's eye,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain ?
And what have they done to the rain ?
onehotgossip
Marianne Faithfull - What Have They Done To The Rain
Just a little rain falling all around,
The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound.
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain ?
Just a little breeze out of the sky,
The leaves nod their head as the breeze blows by.
Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye,
What have they done to the rain ?
Just a little boy, standing in the rain,
A gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone, the boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain ?
And what have they done to the rain ?
Maria S.
π
James Clark
MusicMadMaurice The "rain" refers to radioactive fallout after a nuclear holocaust. Remember this song was written at the height of the "Cold War" in the 1960s.
Mr Observer
MusicMadMaurice The effects of radioactive fallout cause cancer
Mr Observer
There would be so much dust and debris hurled upwards the rain would be black when it fell and those below would be so thirsty they would open their mouths to try and catch as much as they could and at the same time sealing their fate
James Donaghy
@James Clark the cold war was hardly the point.
You say, 'the cold war', like it explains everything and there's nothing to see here, so move along.
Lets have a look at what you actually mean it.
The narrative calledm the cold war, goes like this:
Two superpowers are engaged in an arms race. Each spend a decade bombing the stratosphere because they are rivals.
Saber rattling?
Was the cold war a contest to see who could make the biggest blast?
Was it a race to perfect the tech?
The fact is that the bomb was already plenty effective and ending human settlements of any size.
So why did they continue with the bombing for 10 years? And why test way up high? What could that tell you about a bomb?
The answer is absolutely crucial to know if you want to understand the untold true history of the 20th Century.
The question was put to Amy Shira, historian of Apollo Missions (Utube chanel, Vintage Space)
Amy contributes a little anecdote, which she then rejects as unimportant.
She says that Dr James van Allen had once speculated that the radiation around our planet might be dispensed with if the right EMP were brought to bear.
Amy says this isnt the reason why the stratosphere was relentlessly attacked.
And yet, anyone investigating the reason for this Operation Dominic may well concludem independently, that this is exactly what happened.
The military, then, had set about harnessing tax payers money to find the right EMP component which was to switch off the magnetic field of earth.
This was a futile venture at best, based apon sheer speculation and erroneous notions.
The earth has no magnetic generator of its own.
The earths magnetism is induced into the iron rich crust by the solar windm over billions of years of gentle strokes of charged CMEs.
The power EMP have over magnetic fields is not to do with permanent magnets, it is only applicable to electromagnets, unless I'm mistaken.
Those who say the earth makes the magetic field point to the iron core and the spin and vortex movement caused by thermal currents deep down. But the core is too hot to have any magnetic effectm since the currie point of iron is well below what we find even quite close to the surface,.given the global scale.
That may be wrong, but it's what i suspect.
However, what we do know is that if they had been sucessful then they would've destroyed the magnetism that protects all life on earth from extreme ultraviolet, the low wavelength end. A mass extinction event would quickly have followed a successful outcome.
So we can assume the experiment was a failure, since we are all still breathing.
What they did achieve was another layer of radioactivity around the planet, a new one, an artificial belt of radioactive energy.
Some folk get confused about all the different units of measurements for radioactivity, so allow me to clear up one or two points.
The first is that lethal means lethal.
The new layer of poison was powerful enough to take out satalites. In factm within 5 year of StarFishPrime, a 4ktn bomb, 1962, the last USA atmospheric bomb, all the satalites were killed.
So if it can kill satalites, it can kill people, who are much softer than electornics from the 50s.
Lethal is a good word to avoid confusion.
The other point I'd like to make is about Alpha radiation.
It is often put out there that Alpha radiation can't even pass through paper, and it's very weak and hardly worth bothering about.
It is true that Alpha can't transpass paper, but you wouldn't want it in your bed! You wouldn't want to ingest it, like the poor double agent Vitor Litvenyenkov, who's convelenscence and hospital bed was so often rendered on our screens.
Poor victor.
Lucky us though, to have survived such a global ordeal, to have survived such misguided leadership.
5 years after Operations Dominic, once sky bombs were made illegal, the artifical belt of radiation abated enough to allow radiation hardened satalites to once again be safely deployed. All they had to deal with now was the heat of 120Β°C .
Some of them would need to pass into high orbit, which would mean passing through the first belt of lethal ionic energy. These must have been sheilded with a titanium shell before shedding that once through the belt. Thats what happened with the Juno mission, so that's probably what they do, although they don't talk about it.
The radiation belts have never gone away.
The temperature in orbit, in the sun is 120Β°C. Life onboard the ISS is hot, crampedm smelly and uncomfortable. Elevated radiation means that you are going to die of cancer in the end, but also that your bones will rot as you float in orbit.
Our brave female astornaut , recently returned to us, is not suffering from gravity deprivation, but from radiation sickness. (That is a poor name for ionic radiation sickness.)
The heat and elevated levels of radioactivity are seldom mentioned on TV and podcasts. They raise too many questions about the moonlandings. Like, how did the film get so well shielded from the little radiation they admitted the astronauts got?
How did they manage with shade, and how could they have claimed to be cold?
Check out my Chanel for vids where i chat to camera about this stuff.
Here's a link to a 5 minute offering were i attempt to debunk the Apollo hoax
https://youtu.be/Zztbw7MLlkI
Chris Tennant
Incredible voice and looks of innocence on young Marianne's face. Classic in every sense.
Lindsay Evans
Marianne has perhaps the most hauntingly beautiful voice in popular music.
Lea Koe
Lindsay
Agree
Lloyd Preston
She has/had vibrato in her voice - it is no longer there so maybe she lost that as her voice matured.