Rain in May
1981 song by Max Werner

"Rain in May" is a song by Dutch musician Max Werner from his first solo album, Seasons (1981). Written and produced by Werner, Chris Meldon and Chris Pilgram, it was released as the album's single in April 1981.
Composition and lyrics
"Rain in May" is written in common time. The track has a tempo of 98 beats per minute and is played in the key of G major. In the lyrics, the male narrator describes his depressive mood during the three seasons: autumn (first stanza), winter (second stanza) and summer in the last stanza. The only time of year he feels comfortable is spring, especially during the month of May. Various unpleasant phenomena that occur in every season are discussed, such as cold and slippery roads in winter. At the end of each verse and in the chorus, he expresses his euphoria in relation to the eponymous "Rain in May".
Commercial performance
"Rain in May" peaked at No. 3 on the Netherlands' Dutch Top 40 chart in June 1981 and was also a chart success in certain other European countries as well.
The public source identifies “Rain in May” as 1981 song by Max Werner. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Rain, song and Werner.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 5, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q118349278. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1981.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rain in May” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.