The song is a turning point in the plotline of the musical. Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering have been drilling Eliza Doolittle incessantly with speech exercises, trying to break her Cockney accent speech pattern. The key lyric in the song is "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain", which contains five words that a Cockney would pronounce with [æɪ] or [aɪ][1] – more like "eye" [aɪ] than the Received Pronunciation diphthong [eɪ]. With the three of them nearly exhausted, Eliza finally "gets it", and recites the sentence with all "proper" long-As. The trio breaks into song, repeating this key phrase as well as singing other exercises correctly, such as "In Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen", in which Eliza had failed before by dropping the leading 'H'.
The phrase does not appear in Shaw's original play Pygmalion, on which My Fair Lady is based, but it is used in the 1938 film of the play. According to The Disciple and His Devil, the biography of Gabriel Pascal by his wife Valerie, it was he who introduced the famous phonetic exercises "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" and "In Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen" into the script of the film, both of which were later used in the song in My Fair Lady.[2]
In other languages
Versions of "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" in various languages include:
Danish: "En snegl på vejen er tegn på regn i Spanien" ("A snail on the road is a sign on rain in Spain")
Dutch: "Het Spaanse graan heeft de orkaan doorstaan" ("The Spanish wheat has survived the hurricane")[3]
German: "Es grünt so grün, wenn Spaniens Blüten blüh'n" ("it turns so green when Spain's flowers bloom")[4]
Hebrew: "ברד ירד בדרום ספרד הערב" ("Barad yarad bidrom sfarad haerev": Hail fell in southern Spain this evening.)[5]
Hungarian: "Lenn délen édes éjen édent remélsz."[6]
Italian: "La rana in Spagna gracida in campagna" ("The frog in Spain croaks in the country side")
Polish: "W Hiszpanii mży, gdy dżdżyste przyjdą dni" ("It drizzles in Spain when come the rainy days")
Spanish: "La lluvia en Sevilla es una pura maravilla"[7] (The rain in Sevilla is a true marvel) playing with the sound of the "ll").
A 1985 British television commercial for Heineken parodies the scene. Sylvestra Le Touzel plays a woman who speaks posh, and after a drink of Heineken a cockney accent appears. It was ranked at number 9 in Campaign Live's 2008 list of the "Top 10 Funniest TV Ads of All Time",[8] and at number 29 in Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest TV Ads" in 2000.[9]
In the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea", Stewie tries to teach a girl to lose her Cockney accent. Together, he and Eliza sing a parody, "The Life of The Wife is Ended by the Knife."[10][11]
The Simpsons episode "My Fair Laddy" is itself a parody of My Fair Lady, and includes the song "Not On My Clothes" (with the lyrics, "What flows from the nose does not go on my clothes").[14]
In Stephen King's book, The Gunslinger, he writes a parody titled "The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain". King's novel 'Salem's Lot also features his changed lyrics recited by Mark Petrie.[15]
In 2012, a punk rock version of "The Rain in Spain" was featured in comedy-musical TV series Glee, episode "Choke". The song was performed by Mark Salling (as his character Puck) and the guys of the series' fictional glee club New Directions.[16]
In the 1956–59 revue At the Drop of a Hat, Michael Flanders observes in a brief comic monologue that: "Despite all you may have heard to the contrary, the rain in Spain stays almost invariably in the hills."[17]
In the 1989 Doctor Who serial Ghost Light, companion Ace (played by Sophie Aldred) attempts to teach an alien stranded in Victorian England how to be "ladylike" by misquoting, "The rain in Spain falls mainly down the drain."
During the fourth episode of Orphan Black's first season (2013), "Effects of External Conditions", Alison Hendrix practices her Cockney accent with the line.[19]
References
^Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 307–308. ISBN0-521-24224-X.
^Pascal, Valerie, "The Disciple and His Devil," McGraw-hill, 1970. p. 83.
^"07 Het Spaanse Graan Wim Sonneveld & Magriet De Groot & Paul Storm". YouTube. 2020-09-19. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
^"Es grünt so grün, wenn Spaniens Blüten blühen - My Fair Lady". YouTube. 2019-06-06. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
^"Almagor, Dan, ""Barad yarad bidrom sfarad: How "The Rain in Spain" Fell in Eretz-Israel,"" Israel Review of Arts and Letters, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA.org), November 19, 1998". Mfa.gov.il. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
^"Dilatato corde - Szárnyaló szívvel - Dudás Róbert Gyula - Némo honlapja ~ Musicalmúzeum". Musicalmuzeum.hu. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
^"Origen del dicho: "La lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla"". sevilla (in Spanish). 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
^"The Top 10 funniest TV ads of all time". Campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
^. London: Channel 4. 2000. Archived from the original on 18 June 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
^The Internet Movie Transcriptions Database, "Family Guy S3 E1-11."
^Planet Family Guy, "Subtitle Scripts Archived 2012-09-14 at archive.today."
^Kilian, Michael, "Offing Broadway Satirical Revue Grows Into A Star-Bashing Biggie", Chicago Tribune, 6 November 1988, p. 28. (Full Text)
^Kuchwara, Michael, "Alessandrini zeroes in on next Broadway target", Knight-Ridder, 5 March 2000.
^Clausen, Alf and Michael Price, "Not On My Clothes", T C F Music Publishing, Inc., 2006.
^Stephen King (2011). Salem's Lot. Random House. p. 653. ISBN9780307743671.
^. Archived from the original on 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
^. Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
^Whose Line - Colin's "Weird Newscasters" joke (reindeer)
^"Quotes". Quotes.net. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
External links
"Barad yarad bidrom sfarad": How "The Rain in Spain" Fell in Eretz-Israel, by Dan Almagor
"The Rain in Spain (My Fair Lady)" from "Hey Mr Producer" on YouTube, 1998 live recording of "Hey, Mr. Producer!"
"The Rain in Spain" from "An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner" on YouTube, 1987 live recording of "An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner" (feat. Plácido Domingo, Liz Robertson, Richard Caldicot)
February 14, 2023
rain, spain, song, from, musical, fair, lady, with, music, frederick, loewe, lyrics, alan, lerner, song, published, 1956, julie, andrews, eliza, harrison, higgins, robert, coote, pickering, segment, 1957songpublished1956genremusical, theatrecomposer, frederick. The Rain in Spain is a song from the musical My Fair Lady with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner The song was published in 1956 The Rain in Spain Julie Andrews as Eliza Rex Harrison as Higgins Robert Coote as Pickering in The Rain in Spain segment 1957SongPublished1956GenreMusical theatreComposer s Frederick LoeweLyricist s Alan Jay LernerThe song is a turning point in the plotline of the musical Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering have been drilling Eliza Doolittle incessantly with speech exercises trying to break her Cockney accent speech pattern The key lyric in the song is The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain which contains five words that a Cockney would pronounce with aeɪ or aɪ 1 more like eye aɪ than the Received Pronunciation diphthong eɪ With the three of them nearly exhausted Eliza finally gets it and recites the sentence with all proper long As The trio breaks into song repeating this key phrase as well as singing other exercises correctly such as In Hertford Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen in which Eliza had failed before by dropping the leading H Contents 1 Origin 2 In other languages 3 Usage in other popular culture 4 References 5 External linksOrigin EditThe phrase does not appear in Shaw s original play Pygmalion on which My Fair Lady is based but it is used in the 1938 film of the play According to The Disciple and His Devil the biography of Gabriel Pascal by his wife Valerie it was he who introduced the famous phonetic exercises The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain and In Hertford Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen into the script of the film both of which were later used in the song in My Fair Lady 2 In other languages EditVersions of The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain in various languages include Danish En snegl pa vejen er tegn pa regn i Spanien A snail on the road is a sign on rain in Spain Dutch Het Spaanse graan heeft de orkaan doorstaan The Spanish wheat has survived the hurricane 3 German Es grunt so grun wenn Spaniens Bluten bluh n it turns so green when Spain s flowers bloom 4 Hebrew ברד ירד בדרום ספרד הערב Barad yarad bidrom sfarad haerev Hail fell in southern Spain this evening 5 Hungarian Lenn delen edes ejen edent remelsz 6 Italian La rana in Spagna gracida in campagna The frog in Spain croaks in the country side Polish W Hiszpanii mzy gdy dzdzyste przyjda dni It drizzles in Spain when come the rainy days Spanish La lluvia en Sevilla es una pura maravilla 7 The rain in Sevilla is a true marvel playing with the sound of the ll Usage in other popular culture EditThis section contains a list of miscellaneous information Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles June 2017 A 1985 British television commercial for Heineken parodies the scene Sylvestra Le Touzel plays a woman who speaks posh and after a drink of Heineken a cockney accent appears It was ranked at number 9 in Campaign Live s 2008 list of the Top 10 Funniest TV Ads of All Time 8 and at number 29 in Channel 4 s list of the 100 Greatest TV Ads in 2000 9 1994 in the Greek TV series Oi Men Kai Oi Den In the Family Guy episode One If by Clam Two If by Sea Stewie tries to teach a girl to lose her Cockney accent Together he and Eliza sing a parody The Life of The Wife is Ended by the Knife 10 11 The satirical revue Forbidden Broadway set up playwright David Mamet as being exasperated with Madonna s acting style with the lyrics I strain in vain to train Madonna s brain 12 13 The song is included on the album Forbidden Broadway Vol 2 The Simpsons episode My Fair Laddy is itself a parody of My Fair Lady and includes the song Not On My Clothes with the lyrics What flows from the nose does not go on my clothes 14 In Stephen King s book The Gunslinger he writes a parody titled The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain King s novel Salem s Lot also features his changed lyrics recited by Mark Petrie 15 In 2012 a punk rock version of The Rain in Spain was featured in comedy musical TV series Glee episode Choke The song was performed by Mark Salling as his character Puck and the guys of the series fictional glee club New Directions 16 In the 1956 59 revue At the Drop of a Hat Michael Flanders observes in a brief comic monologue that Despite all you may have heard to the contrary the rain in Spain stays almost invariably in the hills 17 In the 1989 Doctor Who serial Ghost Light companion Ace played by Sophie Aldred attempts to teach an alien stranded in Victorian England how to be ladylike by misquoting The rain in Spain falls mainly down the drain On the 32nd episode of the 5th season of the American version of the improvisational comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway Colin Mochrie leads off a playing of Weird Newcasters with a report that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was killed in a mid air collision with a flock of seagulls and a Boeing 747 with the incident taking place over Barcelona Mochrie concludes the report with the punchline Eyewitnesses report that the reindeer in Spain was hit mainly by the plane 18 During the fourth episode of Orphan Black s first season 2013 Effects of External Conditions Alison Hendrix practices her Cockney accent with the line 19 References Edit Wells John C 1982 Accents of English 2 The British Isles Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 307 308 ISBN 0 521 24224 X Pascal Valerie The Disciple and His Devil McGraw hill 1970 p 83 07 Het Spaanse Graan Wim Sonneveld amp Magriet De Groot amp Paul Storm YouTube 2020 09 19 Archived from the original on 2021 12 19 Retrieved 2021 10 02 Es grunt so grun wenn Spaniens Bluten bluhen My Fair Lady YouTube 2019 06 06 Archived from the original on 2021 12 19 Retrieved 2021 05 26 Almagor Dan Barad yarad bidrom sfarad How The Rain in Spain Fell in Eretz Israel Israel Review of Arts and Letters Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs MFA org November 19 1998 Mfa gov il Retrieved 9 October 2018 Dilatato corde Szarnyalo szivvel Dudas Robert Gyula Nemo honlapja Musicalmuzeum Musicalmuzeum hu Retrieved 9 October 2018 Origen del dicho La lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla sevilla in Spanish 2013 10 07 Retrieved 2020 03 10 The Top 10 funniest TV ads of all time Campaignlive co uk Retrieved 2015 08 12 The 100 Greatest TV Ads London Channel 4 2000 Archived from the original on 18 June 2001 Retrieved 5 August 2019 The Internet Movie Transcriptions Database Family Guy S3 E1 11 Planet Family Guy Subtitle Scripts Archived 2012 09 14 at archive today Kilian Michael Offing Broadway Satirical Revue Grows Into A Star Bashing Biggie Chicago Tribune 6 November 1988 p 28 Full Text Kuchwara Michael Alessandrini zeroes in on next Broadway target Knight Ridder 5 March 2000 Clausen Alf and Michael Price Not On My Clothes T C F Music Publishing Inc 2006 Stephen King 2011 Salem s Lot Random House p 653 ISBN 9780307743671 Glee Songs Report Card Season 3 Episode 18 Choke Archived from the original on 2016 01 13 Retrieved 2016 03 27 Flanders and Swann Online at the Drop of a Hat A Song of the Weather Archived from the original on 2014 05 17 Retrieved 2014 06 25 Whose Line Colin s Weird Newscasters joke reindeer Quotes Quotes net Retrieved 10 December 2021 External links Edit Barad yarad bidrom sfarad How The Rain in Spain Fell in Eretz Israel by Dan Almagor The Rain in Spain from My Fair Lady on YouTube 2001 London revival The Rain in Spain My Fair Lady from Hey Mr Producer on YouTube 1998 live recording of Hey Mr Producer The Rain in Spain from An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner on YouTube 1987 live recording of An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner feat Placido Domingo Liz Robertson Richard Caldicot Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Rain in Spain amp oldid 1130167712, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
