View source for Rain Rain Go Away

{{Short description|English nursery rhyme}}
{{For|the short story by Isaac Asimov|Rain, Rain, Go Away (short story)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox song
| name      = Rain, Rain, Go Away
| cover     = Rain Rain Go Away 1 - WW Denslow - Project Gutenberg etext 18546.jpg
| alt       =
| caption   = Illustration from [[W. W. Denslow]]'s ''Mother Goose'' (1901)
| type      = [[Nursery rhyme]]
| written   =
| published = 17th century or earlier
| writer    = 
| composer  = 
| lyricist  = 
}}

"'''Rain, Rain, Go Away'''" is a popular [[English language]] [[nursery rhyme]]. It has a [[Roud Folk Song Index]] number of 19096 and many different variations of it have been recorded.

==Lyrics and melody==
There are several versions and variations of this rhyming [[couplet]]. The most common modern version is generally

{{Poem quote|Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day.}}

but sometimes with different conclusions recorded.<ref name=Opie1997>[[Iona and Peter Opie]], ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997), p. 360.</ref>

Similar rhymes can be found in many societies, including [[ancient Greece]] and [[ancient Rome]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dolby |first1=Karen |title=Oranges and Lemons: Rhymes from Past Times |date=2012 |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books |isbn=9781843179757 |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDPdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT143}}</ref> The modern English language rhyme can be dated at least to the 17th century, when [[James Howell]] in his 1659 collection of proverbs noted "Raine, raine, goe to Spain: faire weather come againe". At the same period [[John Aubrey]] noted that "little children have a custom when it raines to sing or charme away the Raine; thus they all joine in a chorus and sing ''Raine, raine, goe away, Come againe a Saterday''", while a book of prognostications for 1829 provides "come again tomorrow day".<ref>''Poor Humphrey's Calendar'', (Matilda Hone, London 1828) [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZPYNAAAAQAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&pg=PA7 p. 7]</ref>

A wide variety of other alternatives has been recorded for when the rain may return, including: "Midsummer day", "washing day", "Christmas Day" and "on Martha's wedding day",<ref name=Opie1997/> while in the mid-19th century [[James Orchard Halliwell]] collected the version:
{{Image frame|content=<score sound raw>
\header { tagline = ##f }
\paper { #(set-paper-size "a4") }
global = { \key c \major \time 4/4 }

chordNames = { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"acoustic guitar (nylon)"
  \chordmode { \global \override ChordName.font-size = #-1
  g,4\p e, g, e, | g,8 g, e, a, g, g, e,4 |
  f, d, f, d, | g,8 f, e, d, e, c, c,4 \bar "|."
} }

melody = \relative c'' { \global \set Staff.midiInstrument = "vibraphone" \autoBeamOff
  g4 e g8 g e4 | g8 g e a g g e4 |
  f8 f d d f f d4 | g8 ([f]) e ([d]) e c c4 \bar "|."
}

verse = \lyricmode {
  Rain, rain, go a -- way,
  come a -- gain a -- no -- ther day,
  lit -- tle Ar -- thur wants to play,
  rain, rain, go a -- way,
}

\score {
  <<
    \new ChordNames \chordNames
    \melody
    \addlyrics { \verse }
  >>
  \layout { indent = 0 line-width = 110\mm \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } }
  \midi { \tempo 4=100 }
}
</score>}}
{{Poem quote|Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day;
Little Arthur wants to play.<ref>[[James Halliwell-Phillipps]]. ''The Nursery Rhymes of England: Obtained Principally from Oral Tradition'' (London: J. R. Smith, 1844), p. 214.</ref>}} At much the same time, a parallel charm against the rain was noted as
{{Poem quote|Rain on the green grass, rain on the tree,
And rain on the house-top but not upon me.<ref>[[Michael Aislabie Denham]]. ''Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages'' (Percy Society, 1846), [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wys4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA8 p. 8]</ref>}}

Still other regional variations were collected during the 19th century and later. In [[Scotland]] the rain was bidden "Rain, rain, gang to Spain, And never come back again", while elsewhere various bribes were offered to make it go away. In [[Northumberland]], for example, "When I brew, and when I bake, I'll gie you a little cake"; in [[Cornwall]] this was further specified as "You shall have a figgy cake, And a glass of brandy".<ref>Andrew Cheviot, ''Proverbs, Proverbial Expressions, and Popular Rhymes of Scotland'' (1896), [https://books.google.com/books?id=XsC6Dy8A2d4C&dq=%22rain%2C+rain%2C+go+away%2C+come+again+another+day%22&pg=PA282 p. 282]</ref> In [[Yorkshire]], after it has been told to go away, it is further exhorted, "Rain, rain, come down and pour, Then you'll only last an hour"; in [[Norfolk]] this changes to "Go to France and go to Spain, And mind you don’t come back again".<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Steve Roud]]|title=The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland|publisher=Penguin UK|year=2006|page=[https://books.google.com.au/books?id=1Mc4qPiICvcC&lpg=PT683 683]|isbn=9780141941622}}</ref>

The song is also known in the U. S. where, in North and South Carolina, the rain is informed that
{{Poem quote|Little Johnny wants to play,
In the meadow on the hay.<ref>{{cite book|editor1=[[Newman Ivey White]]|editor2=Wayland D. Hand|editor2-link=Wayland Hand|title=The Frank C. Brown Collection of NC Folklore|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1964|edition=2nd printing 1977|volume=VII|page=[https://books.google.com.au/books?id=WRd15VPJplYC&lpg=PA340 340]|isbn=9780822382867}}</ref>}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:English folk songs]]
[[Category:English nursery rhymes]]
[[Category:Songs about weather]]