It’s
raining . . .
It’s
raining, it’s pouring,
The old man is snoring;
He went to bed
And he banged his head.
Ane he couldn’t get up
In the morning.
(Rain, rain,
go away,
Come again another day.)
This nursery rhyme is American in origin and was first published in 1912. One suggestion is that the first line is a metaphor for a liberal outpouring of alcohol.The ‘old man’ bumping his head is a consequence of inebriation.
The second couplet in brackets is something I've always added when singing with children.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, ‘Rain,’ is sweet and simple and was included in ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses,’ first published in 1885.
The rain
is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850-1894)
`
I remember that RLS poem from my own copy of "A Child's Garden of Verses."
ReplyDeleteThe version I learned says "He went to bed with a cold in his head and couldn't get up in the morning."
ReplyDeleteThe first two I've heard all my life, but the RLS was new to me.
ReplyDeleteThe weather is an eternal preoccupation, isn’t it?
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing because the only thing I ever heard of this poem is what you have in brackets. And I learned that in school too. And here I'm saying snow snow go away because our deep snow finally melted Thursday and oh yes it's snowing today.
ReplyDeleteFlashbacks to childhood. The trouble with rain it never goes away and with climate change we are about to see a lot over the cold months.
ReplyDeleteOnly the "rain, rain go away" bit sounds familiar to me. Yesterday afternoon we had rain falling on snow here which made today very icy. Now one weather app on my phone tells me it will stop snowing in 1.5 hour (but it's neither snowing nor raining just now) and another app that it will start snowing in 1 hr (remains to be seen). A third app on my tablet says 95% chance of snowfall tonight, anyway....
ReplyDeleteI hope I don't have to use any of these rhymes any time soon!
ReplyDeleteI am just guessing that it is raining there.
ReplyDeleteWe had rain yesterday, today we have glorious sunshine!
ReplyDeleteI remember this well. I've sang it numerous times... thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, my Mum and Dad used to sing us a rhyme about rain, too. It only works in German, and best in my Swabian dialect, which is why I won‘t write it down here. But it goes to show that it seems a universal thing for parents to use songs and rhymes for their children in connection with the weather.
ReplyDeleteNeat that you come up with some rhymes when it's raining.
ReplyDeleteIt has certainly rained some on Chatham Islands this week - Moriori name for the place was 'land of mists' or something along those lines - Rekohu
ReplyDeleteI know, for certain, I've never heard of the symbolism in the first rhyme but, who knows? In these parts we added "and don't come back tomorrow!" to the portion you have in parentheses. (Fabulous photo...even if it's raining. All we've seen is snow and more snow.)
ReplyDeleteI learned the first one just like this one, but the old bumped his head, not banged it... I have of the chanted the last few lines to see if it worked because am I am not fond of going out in the rain
ReplyDeleteI remember and loved them. Love them still! No rain for us today though - nothing but clear blue skies. A beautiful late winter day.
ReplyDeleteI remember that poem well. Brings back memories of my mom singing it to me and me singing it to my kids. Too bad rain water is now full of pollution and not so good to be out "singing in the rain"
ReplyDeleteLOVED the childs garden verses of Robert Louis Stevenson. I bought it for my daughter when she was young and she also enjoyed it. Thanks for the memories.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post . . . very timely for all in the UK who have been experiencing a lot of rainfall and for some, flooding.
ReplyDeleteToday in my part of the UK we had some blue sky and sunshine, which was certainly welcome.
All the best Jan
It rained a little today where I live and we are supposed to get snow tonight. Rain, please stay away until temperatures stay above freezing, please?
ReplyDeleteMy distortion was 'Rain, rain, go away. Don't come again another day'. That was before I had an understanding of droughts.
ReplyDeleteI like Stevenson's poem? limerick?
grateful for rain...but steadily 9 months out of the year is difficult. The trade off is three months of the most beautiful lush growth, clean air, gentle summer! September to May there is no light.
ReplyDeleteYou are making the best of the rain with fun poetry-Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteKing Charles III is currently raining this lonely island off the coast of continental Europe. Long may he rain!
ReplyDeleteOld-timey rhymes are like short-form horror stories.
ReplyDeleteRemember the first very well, the second one not so much. Robert Louis Stevenson Is a favorite so may have just forgotten. Thanks for the reminder. I hope you have had a break from all the rain I have been hearing about.
ReplyDeleteI haven't thought about this nursery rhyme for a long time. Thanks for the possible explanation!
ReplyDeleteI don't know these rhymes my English teacher was a dragon.. But they are very true ! Here it's the same fortunately nobody snores, and I can't hear myself !
ReplyDeleteWe used to say the first rhyme when I was a child. Never thought about its possible meaning, but it DOES make sense now.
ReplyDeleteI knew the first two poems and rhymes but not the RLS one.
ReplyDeleteI hope it won't be long now before the rain does go away, at least for a while. We have had more than enough for now!
Those poems are unnervingly apt for the last however many weeks.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to remember, there was a second part to that second couplet and I'm wracking my brains - something to do with sending it to Spain?