Love Let Me In (Forty Long Miles; It Rains, It Hails)

DESCRIPTION: The singer arrives after a long journey, and appeals to the girl: "It rains, it blows, it hails, it snows ... love let me in." At first she turns him away because she is home alone. She changes her mind, takes him to bed and he marries her the next day.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1891 (Kidson-TraditionalTunes)
KEYWORDS: love marriage sex nightvisit
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) Britain(England(North,South),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "FORTY MILES"
Greig/Duncan5 983, "Forty Long Miles" (1 text)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 90, "Glaw, Keser, Ergh Ow-cul Yma [It Rains, It Hails and Snows and Blows]" (1 text + Cornish translation, 1 tune, which shares elements of this song and "Let Me In This Ae Nicht")
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 452, "It's Forty Long Miles I've Travelled This Day" (1 text)
Hamer-GreenGroves, p. 22, "There Stands a Cottage" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #90, "The Charming Bride" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 58-59, "Forty Miles" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, p. 36, "Forty Long Miles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 48, "Love, Let Me In" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, pp. 504-506, "Come, Open the Door, Sweet Betty" (1 excerpt, 1 tune plus a variant, possibly this although the text is too short to be certain)
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic II, pp. 147-148, "Come, Open the Door, Sweet Betty" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
DT, FORTYLNG*
Roud #608
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rise Up Quickly and Let Me In (The Ghostly Lover)" (plot)
cf. "Let Me In This Ae Nicht" (plot)
File: LLab048

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