Rain Rain Go Away

""Rain Rain Go Away""
William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for a variant of Rain Rain Go Away, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose
Nursery rhyme
Published 17th century or earlier

"Rain Rain Go Away" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19096.

Lyrics

There are few versions and variations of this rhyming couplet. The most common modern version is:

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day.[1]

Origins

Similar rhymes can be found in many societies, including ancient Greece. The modern English language rhyme can be dated to at least to the 17th century when James Howell in his collection of proverbs noted:

Raine raine goe to Spain: faire weather come againe.[1]

A version very similar to the modern version was noted by John Aubrey in 1687 as used by "little children" to "charme away the Raine...":

Rain raine goe away,
Come again a Saturday.[1]

A wide variety of alternatives have been recorded including: "Midsummer day", "washing day", "Christmas Day" and "Martha's wedding day".[1]

In the mid-19th century James Orchard Halliwell collected and published the version:

Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day
Little Arthur wants to play.[2]

In a book from the late 19th century, the lyrics are as follows:

Rain, Rain,
Go away;
Come again,
April day;
Little Johnny wants to play.[3]
Arthur, according to Denslow
  • A song, based on the rhyme, was co-written by Gloria Shayne Baker and Noël Regney.[4] "Rain Rain Go Away" was initially recorded by Bobby Vinton.
  • The folk group Peter, Paul & Mary recorded a version of "It's Raining" on their first LP Peter, Paul & Mary in 1962.
  • American Songwriter Allen Toussaint uses the rhyme as the basis for his song "Rain Rain Go Away," as performed by Lee Dorsey on the 1966 album The New Lee Dorsey.
  • This song was covered by Singaporean female artist Zhuang Xue Fang (莊雪芳), in edited Standard Chinese lyrics written by Suyin (舒雲/雨牛) under title name of 雨水不要下, with Ruby Records in 1967.
  • The song Rain, from the Terence Trent D'Arby's 1987 album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, features the chorus "Rain, rain, go away, go away, rain, rain, come back again another day".
  • The song Rain, from Debbie Harry's 1993 album Debravation, has a verse that starts out "Rain, rain go away; come again some other day".
  • Asian American rapper Jin sampled "Rain Rain Go Away", Come again some other day" in the song called "Rain, Rain Go Away" he made dedicated to the victims of Virginia Tech shooting.[5]
  • American rap group Jungle Brothers cited the rhyme in their song "sunshine" on the album Done by the Forces of Nature
  • It is used in the theme tune for the Australian children's television programme Round the Twist.
  • The Foo Fighters song "Arlandria" uses the rhyme, changing it to "Shame, shame go away".[6]
  • American rock band Breaking Benjamin made a song called "Rain" which features the lyrics "Rain rain go away, come again another day, all the world is waiting for the sun." (adding their own spinoff to the rhyme)
  • The song "Down In It" by Nine Inch Nails, finishes with this rhyme
  • The song "Where Do We Go When We Go", from Neck Deep, has a verse that contains the wordplay of the original rhyme "Pain, pain go away; come back another day".
  • The song "Weak And Powerless" by A Perfect Circle contains the line "Little Angel, go away come again some other day" that may or may not be influenced by the rhyme.
  • In Shake, Rattle & Roll 13, the third episode "Rain Rain Go Away" is based on the title of the song when three street children were singing the song while drawing an eye.
  • In The Mighty Boosh episode "Nanageddon", the only way to get rid of the evil Nanatoo is to say a variant of the rhyme: "Nana, nana, go away. Come again another day."
  • American singer songwriter R. Stevie Moore recorded a song titled "Wayne Wayne Go Away" in 1975, which appeared on the CD version of the album "Phonography".[7]
  • The song "Rise and Shine" by American crunkcore duo Blood on the Dance Floor from their 2012 album Evolution starts off with the lyrics "Rain rain won't go away / Cloud on my head every single day", as a metaphor for daily bullying.
  • The webcomic Cyanide & Happiness featured the rhyme in the comic from 19th of July 2017.[8]
  • It was used a few times on the children's television series, Barney & Friends. The lyrics were "Rain, rain go away / Barney wants to go out and play."

Translations

Armenian The song was translated into Western Armenian and recorded in the 2017 album, My First Armenian Songbook, translation under copyright by Karenn Presti.

Italian There is a translation into Italian, 'Pioggia, Pioggia.'

Spanish There is a Spanish translation, 'Lluvia, lluvia, vete ya.'

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 360.
  2. ↑ J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps. The Nursery Rhymes of England: Obtained Principally from Oral Tradition (London: J.R.Smith, 1843), p. 214.
  3. ↑ A. Beljame, "First English Reader" (Paris, France: Librairie Hachhete, 1882), p.109.
  4. ↑ Fox, Margalit (2008-03-11). "Gloria Shayne Baker, Composer and Lyricist, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-03-08. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  6. ↑ http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/04/15/foo-fighters-dave-grohl-interview-nirvana/
  7. ↑ http://www.moorestevie.com/wayne.html
  8. ↑ "Cyanide & Happiness (Explosm.net)". Cyanide & Happiness. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
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