This song comes to us from the songwriter/composer duo of Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain. Their teamwork brought about a library that saw life on the silver screen and Broadway. Being one of their earlier compositions together (1927), “I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain” existed for its own sake. The working partnership ended with the death of Irving Kahal in 1942.
Lyrically, the song is a sort of bittersweet hodgepodge. On the one hand, it humorously offers up a great visual metaphor, one’s sweetheart literally melting away like sugar. Another potential sugar pun comes in the line I guess my sweetie thought I was the low down kind/I didn’t realize that he was so refined. If only the woman in the song could have met Led Zeppelin. She would have learned that any man left in the rain feels like a fool. At least she feels remorseful for the way she treated her former lover. Once the lyrical wit subsides, the listener is left with a sombre, swinging tune. While staying mostly downbeat, it occasionally delves into a happier sound. This completes the song’s interweaving of a love that’s no longer, but hey, the singer can still feel good and make jokes about it.
Music Through the Mists of Time 