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__NOTOC__
{{Unreferenced|date=April 2008}}
{{Infobox song
| name = It's Raining, It's Pouring
| cover =
| alt =
| type = [[Nursery rhyme]]
| written =
| published =
| recorded = 1939
| length =
| writer =
| composer =
| lyricist =
}}
{{Portal |Children's literature}}


"'''It's Raining, It's Pouring'''" is an [[English language]] [[nursery rhyme]] and [[children's song]] of [[United States|American]] origin. It has a [[Roud Folk Song Index]] number of 16814.<ref>{{cite web |title=English Folk Dance and Song Society: The National Organisation for the Development of the Folk Arts |url=https://www.vwml.org/roudnumber/16814 |website=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library |accessdate=24 May 2020}}</ref>
'''''It's Raining, It's Pouring''''' is the first line of an [[English language|English-language]] [[nursery rhyme]].


==Origin==
==Origins==
The first two lines of this rhyme can be found in ''The Little Mother Goose'', published in the US in 1912.<ref>Anon, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20511/20511-h/20511-h.htm ''The Little Mother Goose''] (1912, Dodd, Mead & Company, 3rd edn., 1918), p. 169.</ref> The melody is the same as "[[A Tisket, A Tasket]]" and has been associated with "[[What Are Little Boys Made Of?]]",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hayes |first1=Bruce P. |last2=MacEachern |first2=Margaret |title=Quatrain Form in English Folk Verse |journal=Language |date=1998 |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=480–481 |doi=10.2307/417791 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XUKAQAAMAAJ&q=pouring|accessdate=24 May 2020 |issn=0097-8507|jstor=417791|quote=Our folk song database includes no instances of the parallel long-last construction GG4G, but we know of three of them from our childhoods. Ex: [What are little boys made of] is one (The others are 'It's Raining, It's Pouring' and 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket, A Green and Yellow Basket')}}</ref> which has a different melody.
It was written about the meteorologist [[John Dalton]]. On July 27th 1844 he made his last meteorological observation (presumably that it was raining) and during the night fell from his bed, hit his head and was found dead in the morning.


The earliest known audio recording of the song was made in 1939 in New York by anthropologist and folklorist [[Herbert Halpert]] and is held in the [[Library of Congress]].<ref>{{cite web |title=It's raining, it's pouring |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/afc9999005.10625/#about-this-item |website=Library of Congress|date=24 October 1939 |accessdate=16 June 2015}}</ref> [[Charles Ives]] added musical notes in 1939,{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} and a version of it was copyrighted in 1944 by Freda Selicoff.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Henderson |first1=C. W. |title=The Charles Ives Tunebook |date=2008 |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=141}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions |date=1944 |publisher=Library of Congress, Copyright Office. |page=1362 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yj5jAAAAIAAJ&q=390753 |language=en}}</ref>
==Oldest version==
The oldest version of this rhyme reads:{{Verify source|date=April 2008}}
:''It's raining; it's pouring.''
:''The old man is snoring.''
:''He bumped his head and he went to bed,''
:''And couldn't get up in the morning.''


The lyrics of the poem go as follows:<ref name="neurosurgery" />
==Variations==
{| class="wikitable"
! 1
| It's raining; it's pouring.
|-
!rowspan="2"| 2
| The old man is snoring.
|-
| The man next door is snoring.
|-
!rowspan="14"| 3
| He went to bed and bumped/hit his head,
|-
| Bumped his head and he went to bed,
|-
| He bumped his head as he went to bed,
|-
| He bumped his head on the top of his bed,
|-
| He went to bed with a bump on his head,
|-
| He went to bed with a bucket on his head,
|-
| He went to bed with a cold in his head,
|-
| He went to bed with a hole in his head,
|-
| He went to bed and covered his head,
|-
| He went to bed to mend his head,
|-
| He fell out of bed and bumped his head,
|-
| He bumped his head on a piece of bread,
|-
| He jumped in bed and bumped his head,
|-
| He bumped his head and peed the bed,
|-
!rowspan="5"| 4
| And/But couldn't get up in the morning.
|-
| And he couldn't get up in the morning.
|-
| And didn't get up in the morning.
|-
| And never got up in the morning.
|-
| And didn't get up until/till morning.
|}


:It's raining, it's pouring,
== Parody ==
:The old man is snoring,
For Shakespeare's [[Macbeth]]:
:He bumped his head and went to bed,
:''It's raining; it's pouring.''
:And couldn't get up in the morning.
:''The old king's not snoring.''
:''He got into bed and was found dead,''
:''When they went to him in the morning.''


==Interpretation==
== Popular culture ==
*A children's book of the same name, written by [[Kin Eagle]] and illustrated by [[Rob Gilbert]], expands on this rhyme to show what happens to the old man in all sorts of weather.
*The PC game Delaware St. John Volume 1: The Curse of Midnight Manor, begins with the ghost of a little girl singing this rhyme in a spooky manner while it's storming outside.
*Jose Feliciano sang this as part of his release, "Listen to the Falling Rain".
*This rhyme is sung by children at the end of [[Supertramp]]'s song, [[It's Raining Again]].


It has been suggested that “it’s raining. It’s pouring” is a metaphor for alcohol liberally flowing. The old man gets drunk causing him to bump his head.
[[Category:Nursery rhymes]]

It has further been suggested that the verse is a "classic description" of a [[head injury]] ("bumped his head"), followed by a [[lucid interval]] and an inability to resume normal activity ("couldn't get up in the morning").<ref name="neurosurgery" /> Andrew Kaye in Essential Neurosurgery suggested that, in regard to the first verse at least, the rhyme is an interpretation of an accidental death.<ref name="neurosurgery">{{cite book |last1=Kaye |first1=Andrew H. |title=Essential Neurosurgery |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-4817-7 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-C1fq0tzBkC&q=raining%20pouring |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:American nursery rhymes]]
[[Category:Songs about weather]]
[[Category:Year of song unknown]]
[[Category:Songs with unknown songwriters]]
[[Category:American children's songs]]
[[Category:Traditional children's songs]]

Latest revision as of 22:02, 28 December 2024

"It's Raining, It's Pouring"
Nursery rhyme
Recorded1939

"It's Raining, It's Pouring" is an English language nursery rhyme and children's song of American origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16814.[1]

Origins

[edit]

The first two lines of this rhyme can be found in The Little Mother Goose, published in the US in 1912.[2] The melody is the same as "A Tisket, A Tasket" and has been associated with "What Are Little Boys Made Of?",[3] which has a different melody.

The earliest known audio recording of the song was made in 1939 in New York by anthropologist and folklorist Herbert Halpert and is held in the Library of Congress.[4] Charles Ives added musical notes in 1939,[citation needed] and a version of it was copyrighted in 1944 by Freda Selicoff.[5][6]

The lyrics of the poem go as follows:[7]

It's raining, it's pouring,
The old man is snoring,
He bumped his head and went to bed,
And couldn't get up in the morning.

Interpretation

[edit]

It has been suggested that “it’s raining. It’s pouring” is a metaphor for alcohol liberally flowing. The old man gets drunk causing him to bump his head.

It has further been suggested that the verse is a "classic description" of a head injury ("bumped his head"), followed by a lucid interval and an inability to resume normal activity ("couldn't get up in the morning").[7] Andrew Kaye in Essential Neurosurgery suggested that, in regard to the first verse at least, the rhyme is an interpretation of an accidental death.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "English Folk Dance and Song Society: The National Organisation for the Development of the Folk Arts". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  2. ^ Anon, The Little Mother Goose (1912, Dodd, Mead & Company, 3rd edn., 1918), p. 169.
  3. ^ Hayes, Bruce P.; MacEachern, Margaret (1998). "Quatrain Form in English Folk Verse". Language. 74 (3): 480–481. doi:10.2307/417791. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 417791. Retrieved 24 May 2020. Our folk song database includes no instances of the parallel long-last construction GG4G, but we know of three of them from our childhoods. Ex: [What are little boys made of] is one (The others are 'It's Raining, It's Pouring' and 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket, A Green and Yellow Basket')
  4. ^ "It's raining, it's pouring". Library of Congress. 24 October 1939. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  5. ^ Henderson, C. W. (2008). The Charles Ives Tunebook. Indiana University Press. p. 141.
  6. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1944. p. 1362.
  7. ^ a b c Kaye, Andrew H. (2009). Essential Neurosurgery. John Wiley & Sons. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-4051-4817-7.
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