It's gonna rain

The poet Paul Farley was born in 1965, the same year that Steve Reich first put out his pioneering early work ‘It’s Gonna Rain’. By way of a birthday present to himself, Paul sets out to explore the piece that gifted phasing to the musical world. At the time, Reich was still working to make a name for himself, and he headed off to Union Square in San Francisco with a tape recorder. He’d been tipped off that the charismatic Pentecostal preacher Brother Walter was going to be preaching about Noah and the Biblical flood. Once he got his recording back to the studio and started looping it on his tape decks he made a chance discovery that changed the course of his career. Paul speaks with Reich about the creation of the piece and how his relationship with it has evolved over the years. Along the way, he gains the perspectives of Elizabeth Alker, Professor Raymond MacDonald of Edinburgh University - and also the turntablist NikNak - to find out how far ‘It’s Gonna Rain’ still resonates with today’s young composers. He also sets out to create his own digital tribute to the track using a line of his own poetry on a rainy morning in Scotland.

Produced by Geoff Bird

Contributors:

Steve Reich

Elizabeth Alker, author of ‘Everything We Do Is Music’

Professor Raymond MacDonald, Chair of Music Psychology and Improvisation, Music, University of Edinburgh

NikNak, DJ and turntablist