The Gentle Rain


"The Gentle Rain" is a 1965 bossa nova composition by Luiz Bonfá, with lyrics by Matt Dubey. Originally written in A minor, this song was first released as part of the motion picture soundtrack of the 1966 film Gentle Rain (film)|The Gentle Rain] by the American director Burt Balaban. The music of the film was a collaboration of Luiz Bonfá as a composer and Eumir Deodato as orchestra arranger and director.

Other recorded versions

It has become a jazz standard recorded instrumental in the following albums:
Astrud Gilberto recorded the song in 1965 on The Shadow of [Your Smile (Astrud Gilberto album)|The Shadow of Your Smile]. It is also reported to be one of Tony Bennett's favorites and recorded on his 1966 album The Movie Song Album featuring Luiz Bonfá on guitar. Other recordings were by Sarah Vaughan, Irene Kral with pianist Alan Broadbent, Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, Stacey Kent featuring vocals with the saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, Ranee Lee, Barbra Streisand, and Don Burrows.
Lynda Day George, who made her screen debut in the film in which "The Gentle Rain" first appeared, sings the song in a 1972 episode of Mission: Impossible, "Trapped". It was also played at the funeral of Irish guitarist Louis Stewart in 2016 in the presence of the president of the Irish Republic but misattributed to a non-Brazilian composer in the Irish Times obituary.