Olivia Newton-John - Silvery Rain Lyrics






Butterflies danced on invisible strings
Showing wings they borrowed from a rainbow
And a blackbird on high sang a praise to the sky
While a light aeroplane sprayed the fields
With a silvery rain

Furry backed bees with a tireless drone
Never moan, they're happy to be working
And a grasshopper green could be heard but not seen
While a light aeroplane sprayed the fields
With a silvery rain

Fly away, Peter, fly away, Paul
Before there's nothing left to fly at all
Take to the sky, higher than high
Before the silvery rain begins to fall

Nothing moves now but the swaying ripe corn
Not a dawn is greeted with a bird's song
There's a feather or two from a bird that once flew
Before a light aeroplane sprayed the fields
With a silvery rain

Fly away, Peter, fly away, Paul
Before there's nothing left to fly at all
Take to the sky, higher than high
Before the silvery rain begins to fall

Fly away, Peter, fly away, Paul
Before there's nothing left to fly at all
Take to the sky, higher than high
Before the silvery rain begins to fall





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Olivia Newton-John Silvery Rain Comments
  1. S.... S....

    I remember seeing the network TV debut of Olivia's Physical videos on a cold, snowy night February 1982. I was in the 4th grade and thought the music videos were awesome.

  2. L.... B....

    She was ahead of her time.

  3. L.... J....

    Olivia Newton Johns singing is beyond great.

  4. �.... ....

    2019.08.19 뉴스룸 엔딩곡butterflies danced 
    on invisible strings
    showing wings
    they'd borrowed
    from a rainbow
    and a blackbird on high
    sang a praise to the sky

    while a light aeroplane
    sprayed the fields
    with a silvery rain

    furry backed bees
    with a tireless drone
    never moan 
    they're happy 
    to be working
    and a grasshopper green 
    could be heard but not seen

    while a light aeroplane 
    sprayed the fields 
    with a silvery rain
    fly away Peter
    fly away Paul
    before there's nothing left 
    to fly at all
    take to the sky
    higher than high
    before the sudden rain
    begins to fall

    nothing moves now
    but the swaying ripe corn
    not a dawn is greeted with a birds' song
    there's a feather or two
    from a bird that once flew

    before a light aeroplane 
    sprayed the fields 
    with a silvery rain
    fly away Peter
    fly away Paul
    before there's nothing left 
    to fly at all
    take to the sky
    higher than high
    before the sudden rain
    begins to fall

  5. S.... A....

    An amazing song.

  6. D.... D....

    Love this so much, Cliff did this with Hank Martin, but this Version is Great, Olivia has her own touch which is Fantasic

  7. M.... G....

    All famous people keep ther personal to themselves spare fans.

  8. M.... G....

    Her music will lived on

  9. M.... G....

    She lying about her health to spare her fans pain.

  10. M.... G....

    I heard she dying.

  11. M.... ....

    There was a little "DEVO" in her video, too!!!

  12. 1.... y....

    I haven't heard this song  in a long time. It's nice to hear  in a long time
    olivia's song silver rain....I wonder if she is well now.

  13. c.... ....

    Dude thank you so much for sharing this! I had no idea there was a video (I was born in '81). This was always one of my favorite songs. She's such a committed artist.

  14. M.... L....

    Nice song, but 2 much ad libbing, by Olivia.

  15. d.... j....

    Could it be chem trails??

  16. A.... F....

    Such a beautiful song...

  17. e.... l....

    Fly away Peter fly away Paul before there’s nothing left to fly from! Here for Olivia yesterday, today, and forever...2018

  18. D.... T....

    I love this !!

  19. J.... ....

    Everything's inspired by other things, knowlingly or unconsciously... I dreamt about that song last night and I needed to see the video from the TV special she had back then...

  20. H.... C....

    get well dear

  21. C.... B....

    Um she held that note wow

  22. C.... B....

    I played this song a lot

  23. s.... ....

    one of my all time faves ....

  24. L.... D....

    hard to imagine hank Marvin writing this

    L.... D....

    who is Hank Marvin, and why? ..

    L.... D....

    I'm guessing that Lawrence finds it hard to imagine *Hank Marvin* writing _’Silvery Rain’_ because he was the lead guitarist in *The Shadows* whose reputation isn't particularly cutting edge. It should be though. Marvin's contribution to the concept of rock lead guitar playing is quite as significant as *Scotty Moore's*, *Chet Atkins'* or any of the other key rock guitar instigators. Virtually every notable 60s, 70s and 80s guitarist acknowledged their debt. Less well known is his songwriting which, for a brief period from the mid 60s to early 70s, produced some great things - this song being one of them. The 'trouble' in this case being who recorded them. By the mid sixties, *Cliff Richard* was considered as irrelevant to rock music's cutting edge as silly-movie *Elvis* had become and this was pretty much true (check the ridiculous _'Congratulations'_ or middle-of-the-road slop like _'All My Love'_) but with a bunch of amazing, often *Hank Marvin-Bruce Welch* written, exceptions.

    The most well-known examples of *Marvin's* songwriting brilliance (and great late 60s *Cliff*) are probably _'In the Country'_ and _'The Day I Met Marie'_ (both top ten hits) but also, scattered amongst obscure LP tracks and failed singles, were the following gems...
    _’London’s Not Too Far’ / ‘The Dreams I Dream’ / ‘What's Behind the Eyes of Mary’ / ‘Throw Down a Line’ / ‘The Joy of Living’ / ‘You Gotta Tell Me’ / ‘Love, Truth and Emily Stone’ / ‘Why Wasn’t I Born Rich’_ and, obviously, _’Silvery Rain’._

  25. T.... S....

    One of my favorites by her...

  26. R.... W....

    Best song on the album. Love it.

  27. u.... ....

    This is a treat. She is so diverse. One of my favorite albums of all time. My sis bought it but a 10 year old played the heck out of it on the turntable. Long time fan. Thanks for posting.

  28. F.... ....

    Silver rain is great for vampire slaying

    F.... ....

    Lol! Another innovative idea that I have found is gorging mass quantities of garlic and blowing kisses at vampires. It knocks them out of the sky like a sniper shot bug zapper

  29. H.... O....

    Silvery Rain was written by Hank Marvin and first recorded by Cliff Richard

  30. M.... M....

    Chem trails

    M.... M....

    MewzMe2 Michelle no, pesticides. Chem trails aren't real.

  31. C.... S....

    i was thinking more like the Breathing video by Kate Bush

  32. B.... M....

    This is probably the best song and video combo she ever did. People still look at me like I am lying when I say that she did a rock song on the dangers of pesticides. But this video is epic and freaky as shit! I love the dark side that Olivia showed in these videos.

    B.... M....

    She was my favourite artist when I was a kid.

    B.... M....

    I thought it was about war.

    B.... M....

    Yes - the video really adds something to the song, doesn't it? The whole Physical video album was outstanding. This, Landslide, and Recovery were the weirdest (and best) videos. Stranger's Touch was good, too. Physical ended up being over-exposed, but it's still a great, funny video.

    B.... M....

    Video very much inspired by Kate Bush’s breath

  33. j.... d....

    this is about our world she's telling the birds to fly and animals to jury and leave before they die because people are in airplanes and spraying pesticide and DDT in the plants and it's not only affecting the animals but us to and if we don't stop this there will be no animals no food no us.This makes me angry because the people who are doing this is not only hurting the animals but the world and us.😠😠

    j.... d....

    +jada dean your right Jada ,its Jobanna and we both learned that at school!

  34. l.... ....

    Rabbitwith Fangs (Jayne Lamb) Wow! Was thinking this too - also David Bowie "Fashion" video. Kate Bush "Sat In Your Lap" - the aesthetic. I thought I was crazy when I connected them. Have you seen her "Landslide" video? Same thing. Even the song... I thought if it was less "easy listening" this song and "Landslide" could be David Bowie like rock songs.

  35. P.... L....

    Influenced by Bowie's 'Ashes To Ashes' and Kate Bush's 'Breathing'; this is a bit of a lost treasure.

    P.... L....

    +Rabbitwith Fangs (Jayne Lamb) Did she ever comment on the video for Breathing being inspiration for this? Love that Kate may have inspired Olivia. I once did a dance performance of Breathing and did a recreating of the plastic uterus leading to a still birth (lyrical interprtation) I was told that it made people ill watching it. Love that.

    P.... L....

    I agree with you though the cool Bowie and Bush connections are funny to me because this song was one of my first memories of music obsession... in an earlier version by Cliff Richard!!

    P.... L....

    The song is a reworking of a Cliff Richard track & this video was not inspired by anything by Bush or Bowie at least according to the Brian Grant who directed it. Olivia did go on to work with David Mallet who directed Ashes To Ashes.

  36. p.... ....

    butterflies danced 
    on invisible strings
    showing wings
    they'd borrowed
    from a rainbow
    and a blackbird on high
    sang a praise to the sky

    while a light aeroplane
    sprayed the fields
    with a silvery rain

    furry backed bees
    with a tireless drone
    never moan 
    they're happy 
    to be working
    and a grasshopper green 
    could be heard but not seen

    while a light aeroplane 
    sprayed the fields 
    with a silvery rain
    fly away Peter
    fly away Paul
    before there's nothing left 
    to fly at all
    take to the sky
    higher than high
    before the sudden rain
    begins to fall

    nothing moves now
    but the swaying ripe corn
    not a dawn is greeted with a birds' song
    there's a feather or two
    from a bird that once flew

    before a light aeroplane 
    sprayed the fields 
    with a silvery rain
    fly away Peter
    fly away Paul
    before there's nothing left 
    to fly at all
    take to the sky
    higher than high
    before the sudden rain
    begins to fall

    p.... ....

    thank you so much for this. I'm flashing back tonite to some happier/healthier Christmas Eves...All the best to you in 2016

    p.... ....

    +Karloffrules Thank you :-) a very healthy and happy 2016 for you too... stay positive ;-)

  37. A.... P....

    Brillaint !!!!

  38. G.... M....

    Well done Pavel for puttin this up!  Only real ONJ fans know what to look out for.  What a treat for me to see this.  Didnt know the original but I had it from a ONJ nite special x

  39. S.... K....

    Beautiful Livvy - you sang songs about the preciousness of life when I was still learning to be a woman not a girl....

  40. S.... K....

    I'm not sure who wrote the song but the fact that Olivia chose to perform it - right down to the intuitively David Bowie (aka "Ashes To Ashes") video is a salute to her forward thinking - because in the end the Silvery Rain (or lack thereof) will get us all...and the end is only a few years away, certainly within our lifetimes.

    All ecosystems are going to collapse around the end of the 2020s as the world's population doubles and redoubles exponentially until it's totally off the grid (think the doubling of the world;s population in a week - a day - an hour....).

     The cancer has to end some time, and the time is coming soon. Let's ignore the warning signs and keep letting the rich do business as usual because we don't give a damn about this world only the next one, the afterlife we've been religiously indoctrinated into since childhood....

    S.... K....

    i think one of the shadows wrote this in the 60s. Think his name was farrah and it may have been a shadows tune. Anyhow...cliff richard did a versio but Olivia nailed it with hers.

    S.... K....

    Hank Marvin of The Shadows wrote it. Cliff Richard (The singer who performed with the Shadows) released his version before ONJ. John Farrar who was a member of the Shadows produced and posted on most of ONJ's 'Physical' album inc this track.

    S.... K....

    lolololololol

    S.... K....

    acid rain was big in the public discussion at the time of this song

  41. 0.... ....

    今見ると相当不気味なPVですな。。。

  42. f.... ....

    Looks like a parody of a Kate Bush video-great song though..

  43. B.... W....

    1981 was a really great year. I think I watched this on HBO enthralled by her beauty and the beauty of her music. I think people forget how talented she is and much her music was a  part of a generation. Love her.

    B.... W....

    Actually this aired on regular network television on ABC back in 1981 because we didn't have cable in our neighborhood at the time.

  44. T.... B....

    I had it too!! Oh what I wouldn't do to have it again!!

  45. a.... ....

    I had that TV special on VHS and my sister and I played it endlessly, till my dad taped over it accidently one day and we were distraught for years! This was up there with my favourites on the show as well as "strangers touch", "landslide","recovery" and of course "physical"

  46. s.... ....

    I'll have to buy that. I really like "the lovely Livvy" (as we used to call her).

  47. l.... ....

    The genius of Brian Grant.

  48. l.... ....

    First album by a solo artist. A Blondie album a couple of years earlier did the same thing.

  49. l.... ....

    There was a video for EVERY song on the Physical album - it's a terrific collection. They're all on Olivia's "Video Hits Gold DVD" now.

  50. l.... ....

    Why? For having an imagination? It's a lot better than most of the videos we see these days, and it was downright innovative for the early 80s.

  51. l.... ....

    The TV special it was from was a huge hit in 1982, so many more people have heard it that just those who've seen it on YouTube. It wasn't a single, which is one reason it didn't get more exposure, although I'm pretty sure I saw it several times on UK TV in the early 80s. It's no more ludicrous than most early 80s videos, and it's a lot more imaginative than most of the pop videos we see today.

  52. l.... ....

    All the Physical album videos are now available on the Video Hits Gold DVDs. So great to see them in top quality after all these years!

  53. l.... ....

    Although technically they were MORE successful. Physical (the album this song is from) was her biggest-selling solo album. The TV special these clips were first aired on was a huge hit, with 35% of the US viewing market when first broadcast, and the VHS release was a top-seller and won a Grammy.

  54. V.... V....

    I've had exactly the same thought. Love this clip (and Breathing)....

  55. f.... ....

    одна сторона кассеты BASF была с этим альбомом .....крутил часто ...сейчас нет ни кассеты той ни магнитолы .....есть воспоминания о студенческих годах под музыку Оливии!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  56. k.... ....

    This video reminds me a great deal of Kate Bush's video for her song "Breathing."

  57. M.... ....

    I think many of her fans were a bit taken back by the image portrayed in these such videos and maybe why they weren't as successful. I was one. But listening now I find I like the songs much more. This one is pretty good!

  58. L.... A....

    Olivia's videos have taken a long time to be made available. I've been wanting them since I first watched her Physical video in '81. The entire album should have been made popular, but she wasn't the norm when it came to music. Beautiful woman, beautiful voice, beautiful heart. She cares.

  59. l.... ....

    Oh I believe you !! Soul Kiss is a FABULOUS album.

  60. D.... ....

    Actually was written by legendary guitar player and also a friend of Olivia, Hank B Marvin of The Shadows fame. He wrote a huge number of songs and often people will know them when they hear them, but won't know who wrote it.
    If you want to hear Hank B. M. doing an instrumental version with both acoustic and electrical guitar - on the Hank Marvin Guitar Syndicate album - listen to the Master: watch?v=2F7pyW7jCG0

  61. j.... ....

    I played this 45 over & over! (only us old farts no what a" 45" is....

  62. p.... ....

    the video is ludicrous but the message is extremely important. back in the 80's, who else in the world of pop was worrying about pesticides in their lyrics? Olivia is one of a kind and it's such a shame this song did not get the recognition it deserves. only 32.663 people have watched it so far
    no wonder the world is as bad as it is...

  63. C.... F....

    Very cool music video!!!

  64. r.... a....

    beautiful voice and good video..............

  65. T.... B....

    she made an impression on me. love her

  66. N.... B....

    LOve this song, is a bit odd..like me :))

  67. a.... ....

    @HeartBDoctor Amen buddy :)

  68. a.... ....

    Probably one of the earliest environmental songs... And besides that the song and the clip are brilliant... Love Olivia...

  69. D.... ....

    Interesting.

  70. M.... ....

    this song used to make me cry.

  71. t.... ....

    I loved this and still do.

  72. P.... M....

    I never thought I would hear a song about the enviroment and psticides!!!???

  73. H.... ....

    @Orca40 Silvery Rain is about polution, nuclear attacks, and chemical warfare.

    H.... ....

    Not even close, but nice try.

  74. H.... ....

    @emily2u97 Also about nucler and chemical wafare.

  75. H.... ....

    @MrCejays You are absolutely right. MTV, one of the raunchiest channels in America, still has limits on what videos they will show. 235 years later, America is still Christian prudish. Up yours, Catholic Church!

  76. T.... B....

    @gillfamilync
    it's taken me a long time to find this song(20+yrs) and still amazingly brillant!

  77. c.... s....

    Beautiful song, great message from 1981 that has more meaning now in 2011 30 years later. Olivia was ahead of her time as far as videos go MTV would not debut for a few more years.

  78. L.... M....

    Very beatiful song...

  79. s.... ....

    I LOVED this song. It was my fave on the "Physical" album. I didn't know there was a video for this. She looks like a crazed Tammy Wynette mixed with Jane Lynch in this clip.

  80. a.... p....

    Radical for the time. But considering we are now in 2010 thank God we never ended up in her world.

  81. R.... ....

    You are the one over all.... the best... thanks for being there again, I'll see you soon in Santiago, Chile.

  82. A.... ....

    Ahhh the good music, I wish todays musicans would take lessions from these artists of the past and do music right instead of all the wierd stuff their doing. This was THE era of True good music take lessions and Learn, these are the God Fathers and mothers of Music for the Future...

  83. J.... R....

    Dedicated to the wildlife trapped in the Gulf of Mexico...Fly away while you can.......

  84. T.... ....

    @Orca40 Well, As I see it, In the begining of the video she emerges from a ' bio dome' wearing a ' protective suit' of sorts, ( notice the ventilation hose and helmet that floats off) This is deffinitely set in a post ' we really screwed the earth over' era after so much polution ( Silvery rain) has hit the earth because of us that now its commng from the sky ( In the form of Acid rain). No animals exist, and the few humans left cant escape. ' before theres nothing left to fly at all'.

  85. N.... B....

    love this, reminds me of me..a bit weird but cool lol

  86. T.... ....

    @Orca40 It's about Polution

  87. S.... ....

    Brilliant Video and Brilliant Song !!! Brilliant Olivia !!!

  88. R.... ....

    No doubt, this one of my favorites videos.. very advanced way to make a clip for that time...

  89. g.... ....

    and I remember reading that every video director back then was told to burn out the whites!

  90. g.... ....

    one of my favorites from this album. I think this was the first album to have a video collection.

  91. b.... ....

    Love this song! I fell in love with it when Olivia did an HBO special and performed it there.

    Weird video. ;-) LOL! Well, it was the 80's!!