Brother Noah

DESCRIPTION: "Brother Noah, Brother Noah, May I come into the Ark of the Lord, For it's growing very dark and it's raining very hard." Noah says that the other cannot come aboard. The rejected man curses Noah and predicts light rain. Noah says it will rain like hell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions), but see NOTES
KEYWORDS: religious ship rejection
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, pp. 200-201, "Brother Noah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, pp. 10-11, "Brother Noah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8821
RECORDINGS:
Judy Cook, "Mister Noah" (Piotr-Archive #770, recorded 01/10/2024)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Noah (I)" (idea, and some lyrics)
NOTES [457 words]: Most people seem to know this from a Sixties Folk recording by Dave Van Ronk, who substituted a "doodle-ee-doo" refrain line for an older "Hallelujah" or "Let me in" or, toward the end, even "Go to Hell." The Highwaymen had a similar version. But Jonathan Lighter, in a thread on Mudcat, reported that someone named Meade Minnegerode believed he had learned a song in 1893 that began, "Mister Noah! Mister Noah! Won't you let me aboard your Ark of the Lord: For it's raining mighty hard and I want to get aboard. Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!" This was, however, recalled many decades later, so I don't trust the date.
Lighter also found several folktale relatives:
From 1902 -- "You remember that Noah built himself a ship with the pleasant expectation of being the only man that would be afloat when the flood came, and the time came when the heavens opened and the rain fell, and Noah was afloat; and as usual with those who have the happy instinct of being able to get ready for'I told you so,' he looked out of the window one day and saw a gentleman swimming around ther, hanging on to a piece of stick, and the man says to him, 'Let me in.' 'Oh, no,' says Noah, 'I can't do that,' and the man says, 'Go on with your darned old scow, it is only a rain storm anyhow.' (Laughter.)"
And one from 1854: "We recollect to have heard a story of a loafer in the days of Noah, who, after the rain had endured for some time, and the waters began to 'spread themselves,' made out to wade to the ark, and was very solicitous for a passage. Noah told him that the thing was impossible, the ark was fully freighted, and being closed, nothing more could be taken on board. The loafer became very urgent and insisted that as no other vessel would be putting out in the same direction for some time, and as the waters were entirely covering the land, so that the lives of those on shore were endangered, it was the duty of the 'Captain' to assist and save his fellow beings. All the arguments of the loafer, however, proved of no avail, and when he had satisfied himself that there was no chance whatever of obtaining a passage, and becoming convinced that if he remained much longer where he was, he would run a great risk of drowning, he turned from th uncouth craft, and giving it a kick, told Noah that he might go to the devil with his old scow, for he would not disgrace himself by traveling in it, - and from appearances, he did not believe there would be much of a shower any how."
See also the John Jacob Niles song "Old Noah (I)," which bears a lot of similarity to this but also has hints of Niles rewriting. I've split it off out of an abundance of caution. Steve Roud gives a different set of combinations; it's hard to tell Noah songs apart!
Last updated in version 7.2
File: ShaSS200

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