It's Raining, It's Pouring
| "It's Raining, It's Pouring" | |
|---|---|
| Roud #16814 | |
| Song | |
| Written | USA |
| Published | 1939 |
| Form | Nursery rhyme |
| Writer | Traditional |
| Language | English |
"It's Raining, It's Pouring" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16814.
Lyrics
Common modern versions include:
- It's raining; it's pouring.
- The old man is snoring.
- He went to bed and bumped his head,
- And he wouldn't get up in the morning.[1]
Origins and interpretation
The song is not found before the mid-twentieth century in the USA.[2] It was noted in 1939 in New York by Charles Ives (1874–1954) and copyrighted in 1944 by Freda Selicoff.[3]
It has 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").[4]
References
- ↑ C. W. Henderson, The Charles Ives Tunebook (Indiana University Press, 2008), p. 141.
- ↑ J. Goldthwaite, The natural history of make-believe: a guide to the principal works of Britain, Europe, and America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 26.
- ↑ C. W. Henderson, The Charles Ives Tunebook (Indiana University Press, 2008), p. 141; Library of Congress Copyright Office, Catalog of copyright entries (Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 1944), p. 1362.
- ↑ A. H. Kaye, "Essential Neurosurgery" 3rd Ed., (Blackwell Publishing, 2004), p. 57
