"Rain, Rain, Go Away" is a popular

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

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 but sometimes with different conclusions recorded. Iona and Peter Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997), p. 360. Similar rhymes can be found in many societies, including

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and

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. The modern English language rhyme can be dated at least to the 17th century, when

James Howell James Howell ( – ) was a Welsh writer and historian. The son of a Welsh clergyman, he was for much of his life in the shadow of his elder brother Thomas Howell (bishop), Thomas Howell, who became Lord Bishop of Bristol. Education In 1613 he ...

in his 1659 collection of proverbs noted "Raine, raine, goe to Spain: faire weather come againe". At the same period

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded (often for the first time) numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England ...

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". 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", while in the mid-19th century James Orchard Halliwell collected the version: At much the same time, a parallel charm against the rain was noted as Still other regional variations were collected during the 19th century and later. In

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

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 Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, for example, "When I brew, and when I bake, I'll gie you a little cake"; in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

this was further specified as "You shall have a figgy cake, And a glass of brandy". In

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, 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 Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

this changes to "Go to France and go to Spain, And mind you don’t come back again". The song is also known in the U. S. where, in North and South Carolina, the rain is informed that

References

{{Authority control English folk songs English nursery rhymes Songs about weather