Rain in Rangoon by Vernon Duke

Vernon Duke was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, perhaps best remembered for writing the standards "Taking a Chance on Love," "I Can't Get Started," "April in Paris," and the stunningly beautiful "Autumn in New York," one of OnyaBirri's all-time favorite standards. He also composed "serious" music under his given name, Vladimir Dukelsky.

Vernon Duke is also credited with writing the gorgeous "Rain in Rangoon" from the RCA exotica album "Orienta" by the Markko Polo Adventurers, arranged by TV/film composer Gerald Fried. "Rain in Rangoon" must be one of OnyaBirri's favorite exotica tunes ever.

I cannot find any references to "Rain in Rangoon" that are not connected to the "Orienta" album.

Does anyone know anything about this tune? What was it written for? Were there lyrics? Are there other versions? Do you think it was an excerpt from a Vladimir Dukelsky piece that was turned into a pop tune?

[ Edited by: OnyaBirri 2011-05-28 21:27 ]

No, but I sure admire your taste in music!

I myself, am a huge fan of Malcolm Arnold...another serious composer who also wrote "light" music.

Aloha OnyaBirri!

"Rain in Rangoon is one of my all=time favorite tracks on "Orienta" (the other being the wordless vocal version of "Mountain High, Valley Low"), and "Orienta" has been in regular rotation since I was eight... :)

I did a reasonable amount of research on all composers/contributors songs a while back and my finding was that "Rain in Rangoon" was composed for the album, so it not an excerpt, and I couldn't find copyrighted lyrics attributed to the tune.

My own history of this album: "Orienta" was part of a collection of five records touted to fully demonstrate the "well-balanced frequency range" on my parent's circa 1960's solid state hi-fi equipment (Paragon speaker, Marantz linear tracking turntable...I forget what the amp/preamp combo at the time was). It was relegated to the back of their collection until I latched onto it.

Cheers, and please post any more info you find on this lovely tune. See you all at Hukilau!

-Gina of the Jungle

As soon as I saw the reference to the Paragon speakers, I knew that must be you Gina!

Looking forward to seeing you at Hukilau!

I did an MP3 search and found "The Aubergine* That Ate Rangoon" but I'm thinking that's not the same song :lol:

*Aubergine is British/Australian(/Canadian?) for eggplant