Didn't It Rain

DESCRIPTION: "Now didn't it rain, children...." Various events related to the flood: "It rained 40 days and 40 nights...God sent a raven to carry the news...." "God sent Noah the rainbow sign...." "They knocked at the window and they knocked at the door...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Biddleville Quintette)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible flood
FOUND IN: US(SE) West Indies(Bahamas)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 564, "Didn't It Rain" (3 fragments plus an excerpt; the "D" fragment does not use the "didn't it rain" line and might be something else)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 564, "Didn't It Rain" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Edwards-BahamaSongsAndStories 4, "Didn't It Rain, My Elder" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 250, "Didn't It Rain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warren-EveryTimeIFeelTheSpirit, pp. 111-113, "Didn't It Rain" (1 text, 1 tune, adapted and copyrighted by Roberta Martin, 1907-1969, plus an excerpt of the original spiritual on pp. 115-116)
Roud #6699
RECORDINGS:
Biddleville Quintette, "Didn't It Rain" (QRS 7073, 1929)
Famous Blue Jay Singers of Birmingham, "Oh My Lord Didn't It Rain" (Paramount 13126, 1932; on VocalQ2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Noah" (subject, patter+chorus format) and references there
NOTES [79 words]: For the statement that the rain fell for forty days during Noah's flood, see Gen. 7:12 (the total duration of the flood is given in 7:17, 8:6? as 40 days and in 7:24, 8:3 as 150 days; the different numbers are believed to have come from different sources).
Nowhere does the Bible mention people asking Noah to take them aboard. Nor was the raven sent as a warning; rather, Noah sent it out to look for dry land (Gen. 8:7). The covenant of the rainbow is described in 9:13f. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: LoF250

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography