‘Rainbow in the Dark’ is a song by heavy metal band Dio. Released from the band's double platinum-selling 1983 debut album, Holy Diver. Assisted by a popular MTV music video, it reached #12 on US Billboard Album Rock Tracks in early October. Along with ‘Holy Diver,’ this is one of Dio's most popular songs. It's heavy on keyboards, which helped make the song more accessible to a pop audience, something Van Halen did with great success on their album 1984.
One of the great depression metaphors, in this song lead singer Ronnie James Dio is feeling isolated and trapped, unable to release the tremendous potential inside him - like a rainbow in the dark. Dio has mentioned his time as Black Sabbath lead singer as inspiration for the lyrics; he felt "alone and rejected" when he left the band. Along with Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice, he formed Dio in 1983.
The music video was filmed close to the time of the original studio recording of the song. The video's location takes place in central London, with scenes alternating between shots of a man following a woman through a street lined with pornographic cinemas, and Ronnie James Dio singing from a rooftop. The implied malicious intent of the man is made evident during the guitar solo, when guitarist Vivian Campbell (and bassist Jimmy Bain) appear and effectively "scare" him away after he follows the woman into a movie-house, with the woman kissing Campbell on the cheek in apparent gratitude. The video includes shots of tourist attractions such as Nelson's Column, Westminster Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, and Soho.
‘Rainbow In The Dark’ is one of Dio's most enduring songs, but Ronnie James Dio tried to murder it with a razor blade. "It's a song I really dislike," he explained in a track-by-track interview. "When it was finished, I announced to everyone that I was going to take a razor blade and cut the tape up. I went for the razor blade and they went, 'No, No! Don't!' For me it was too poppy for the album. I didn't want to create a piece of pop because I came from Black Sabbath, a band that allowed me to do anything as dark as I wanted to do it. I didn't want those people who liked what I did in Black Sabbath to say, 'Now he's changed. He's become a pop artist.' But they talked me out of it and I thanked them over and over. I still feel the song is too poppy, but it works.”
The song was featured in the 2019 San Diego Comic Con reveal of Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder, and is featured in end credits of the film itself.
Labels – Vertigo (Europe), Warner Bros. Records (US/Canada)
Songwriters – Ronnie James Dio, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain, Vivian Campbell
Producer – Ronnie James Dio
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]When there's lightning
You know it always brings me down
'Cause it's free and I see that it's me
Who's lost and never found
I cry out for magic
I feel it dancing in the light
It was cold
Lost my hold to the shadows of the night
[Chorus]
No sign of the morning coming
You've been left on your own
Like a rainbow in the dark
A rainbow in the dark
[Verse 2]
Do your demons
Do they ever let you go?
When you try do they hide deep inside?
Is it someone that you know?
You're just a picture
You're an image caught in time
We're a lie
You and I we're words without a rhyme
[Chorus]
There's no sign of the morning coming
You've been left on your own
Like a rainbow in the dark
Just a rainbow in the dark, yeah
[Instrumental Break 01:58-02:46]
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
When I see lightning
You know it always brings me down
'Cause it's free and I see that it's me
Who's lost and never found
Feel the magic
I feel it floating in the air
But it's fear
And you'll hear it calling you, beware
Look out!
[Outro]
There's no sign of the morning coming
There's no sign of the day
You've been left on your own
Like a rainbow
Like a rainbow in the dark
Yeah, yeah
You're a rainbow in the dark
Just a rainbow in the dark
No sign of the morning
You're a rainbow in the dark
Woah