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Ain’t Gonna Rain No More
Old-time; bluegrass breakdown, very widely known
ARTIST: Brown Collection
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 Odum; 1923 (recording by Hall)
RECORDING INFO “Aint Gonna Rain No Mo”: 3. Solomon, Jack & Olivia (eds.) / Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p175 [1938] (It Ain't Gonna/Gonner Rain No More) 4. Sandburg, Carl / American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955/1928), p141 5. Scott, John Anthony (ed.) / Ballad of America, Grosset & Dunlap, Bk (1967), p212 (T'ain't Gonna Rain (No More)) 6. Visconti, Carl (ed.) / Paint Creek Folklore Society Song Tune Book, Paint Creek, Sof (1986), p 1 (It Ain't Gonna/Gonner Rain No More) 7. Fields, Arthur; & Fred Hall (eds.) / 50 Favorite "Get Together" Songs, Piedmont Music, sof (1933), #29 (It Ain't Gonna/Gonner Rain No More) 8. Home Spun Songs, Treasure Chest, Sof (1935), p43 9. Brand, Oscar. Absolute Nonsense, Riverside RLP 12-825, LP (195?), trk# B.09 10. Brehm, Louise. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., University of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p370/#557 [1935/07/07] 11. Cannon, Gus. Walk Right In, Stax SCD-8603-2, CD (1999), trk# 8 [1963/06/10] 12. Gaster, Marvin. Uncle Henry's Favorites, Rounder 0382, CD (1996), trk# 9 (It Ain't Gonna/Gonner Rain No More) 13. Golden Gate Quartet. Folk Music Radio, Radiola MR 1133, LP (1982), trk# B.02 14. Hall, Wendall. Minstrels and Tunesmiths, JEMF 109, LP (1981), trk# B.09 [1923/10/12] (It Ain't Goin' to Rain No More) 15. Howard, Clint; and Fred Price. Ballad of Finley Preston, Rounder 0009, LP (1972), trk# 4 16. Lipscomb, Mance. Garwood, Donald / Masters of Instrumental Blues Guitar, Oak, Fol (1967), p54 17. Lipscomb, Mance. Texas Sharecropper and Songster, Arhoolie F 1001, LP (1961), trk# A.06 [1960] 18. Parish, Roscoe. Old-Time Tunes from Coal Creek, Heritage (Galax) 005, LP (1975/field), trk# 4 [1970s?] 19. Snipes, John. Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia, Smithsonian SF 40079, CD (1998), trk# 15 20. Thompson, Joe. Family Tradition, Rounder 2161, CD (1999), trk# 2 (It Ain't Gonna/Gonner Rain No More) 21. Unidentified Group of Eight Girls. Alabama. From Lullabies to the Blues, Rounder 1829-2, CD (2001), trk# 21 [1934/10ca]
RELATED TO: Song of (the) States; Song of Song Titles
OTHER NAMES: There Ain’t No Bugs on Me; Ain't Gonna Rain No More;"Ain't Got to Cry No More"
SOURCES: Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 226, "Ain't No Bugs on Me" (1 text, 1 tune) Silber-FSWB, p. 244, "There Ain't No Bugs On Me" (1 text) Randolph 557, "Ain't Going to Rain No More" (1 short text, 1 tune); also perhaps 275, "The Crow Song" (the "D" fragment might be this piece); Randolph/Cohen, pp. 409-410, "Ain't Going to Rain No More" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 557); BrownIII 430, "Ain't Gonna Rain No More" (5 short texts); Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 107, "'Tain't Gwine Rain No Mo'" (1 text, 1 tune); also p. 108 (no title) (1 text; the chorus at least goes here though the verses may be from a rabbit-hunting song); Sandburg, p. 141, "Ain't Gonna Rain" (1 short text, 1 tune); Scott-BoA, pp. 212-213, "T'ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'" (1 text, 1 tune) Fuld-WFM, p. 307, "It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'"
NOTES: “It Ain't Gonna Rain No More” was part of the black string band repertoire (Thomas and Cage) and was a standard hillbilly song (Gid Tanner). The melody was adapted by Fiddlin’ John Carson for his rendition of “Ain’t No Bugs On Me.”
“A popular version of this piece was published in 1923 as by Wendell W. Hall. Even the cover, however, admits that it was an "old southern melody" -- and since we have traditional versions at least from 1925, there is little doubt that the song is traditional-RBW”
Here’s some information on Wendal Hall by Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide: Despite having sold more than two million copies of one of his records and having written several totally evergreen standards, it seems the most enduring historical legacy of this artist is a series of instruments named after him. In this sense, Wendell Hall is the Les Paul of ukuleles and the slightly louder ukulele banjo, because just as the guitar maestro who designed a popular electric guitar as his namesake, Hall was the designer of a series of sought-after, collector's item ukes and banjo ukes, the subject of brisk commerce on the internet decades after his death. And just as many guitarists strumming their Les Paul guitars don't fret about who Les Paul is, there are surely many crooners strumming prestige Wendell Hall ukuleles who are unaware of who the Hall is. The singer and strummer was known as both "the red-haired music maker" and the slightly more pungent "pineapple picador."
He had several decades of recording success in the '20s and '30s, performing a variety of pop and blues numbers while attracting attention with novelty songs. He also had a shoe, or perhaps we should say a barefoot, in the hillbilly patch and in terms of national hit records is reported to be the first "official" hillbilly, if there can be such a thing. His song "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More" was considered a hillbilly release when it first was pressed in 1923, a distinction that has long since faded while the song itself has remained a classic standard.
This was the release that sold two million for Hall, but it was not his only successful recording by any means. He played the other side of the rain cloud with a release of "It Looks Like Rain," although public response indicated a preference for dryer climates. He recorded a cover version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain," and an "answer" song to Harry McClintock's "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" entitled "Who Said I Was a Bum?" He provided lyrical fodder for many a serviceman with "Show Me the Way to Go Home," and also drew attention collaborating with fellow official hillbilly Carson Robinson in a series of Stephan Foster platters, such as "Camptown Races" and "Oh Susanna." Hall also became involved in publishing instruction manuals and songs for ukulele early on in the game. His Ukulele Methods, published by Forster Music in 1925, was one of the first such manuals for the instrument to be commercially available. It came hot on the heels of Uke Songs published the year before by Jack Mills. Hall also recorded and performed on several other small stringed instruments, the mildly obscure tipple and the truly rare taropatch. He was featured on radio broadcasts over the NBC WHZ network in the '30s.
THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE
Vol. XXIV. —JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1911— No. XCIII
FOLK-SONG AND FOLK-POETRY AS FOUND IN THE
SECULAR SONGS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES
BY HOWARD W. ODUM
Or the woman sings in retort to the husband who thus sings,
and who does not support her properly, or has failed to please
her in some trifle:
I got a husband, a sweetheart, too,
Ain't goin' to rain no mo',
Husband don't love me, sweetheart do,
Ain't goin' to rain no mo'.
Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'- Brown Collection
430 Ain't Gonna Rain No More
This is perhaps a chant of Negro origin. See White's note on the version in ANFS 281-2, which is our A text. It is rather widely known: among Southern Negroes (JAFL xxiv 277, 374), as a dance song in Texas (TNFS 107-8) and Nebraska (ASb 141), and Finger heard it sung in Patagonia (FB 163, by an American Negro). The fragments of meaning that have attached themselves to the key refrain vary, as will be seen from our North Carolina texts. See Mrs. Steely 217-18 (1935)-
A. 'It Ain't er Gwine ter Rain.' Reported by H. H. Hanchey of Durham in 1919 as heard some four years before that. Said to be a "song sung by slaves when they went back to work after a rainy day." Previously printed, ANFS 208. The contributor notes that "it was said to be a sign of' dry weather to see a rabbit sitting in the fence corner."
1 It ain't er gwine ter rain, it ain't er gwine ter rain,
It ain't er gwine ter rain no mo';
It rained last night an' de night befo'.*
2 Rabbit settin' in de jamb ob de fence.
It ain't er gwine ter rain no mo'.
He's settin' thar for de like- ob sense,
It ain't er gwine ter rain no mo'.
*One expects a repetition of the refrain line after line 3, but the manuscript does not give it. - For "lack," of course.
B. "Tain't Gon' Rain an' 'Tain't Gon' Snow.' Contributed in 1922 or there-abouts by Jennie Belvin, Durham.
1 'Tain't gon' rain and 'tain't gon' snow,
'Tain't gon' rain no mo'.
'Tain't gon' rain and 'tain't gon' snow,
'Tain't gon' rain no mo".
2 Rabbit settin' behind the pine,
'Tain't gon' rain no mo'.
One eye out an' the other'n blind.
Ain't gon' rain no mo'.
3 What does the blackbird say to the crow?
'Tain't gon' to rain no mo'.
It ain't gon' to rain no mo'.
'Tain't gon' to rain no mo'.
"Tain't A-Going to Rain No More.' Reported in 1923 by Clara Hearne of Pittsboro, Chatbam county.
1 'T ain't goin' rain, 't ain't goin' snow,
'T ain't goin' rain no more.
2 Rabbit sittin' behind the pine.
One eye out and the other blind.
'T ain't gwine rain no more.
3 Red bug hauling, seed tick a-mauling ;
'T ain't gwine rain no more.
4 How do you know, an' who said so?
'T ain't gwine rain no more.
D. "T ain't Goin' to Rain No More.' Obtained from Carl G. Knox, Durham, some time in tbe period 1922-24. With the tune. Here a human figure takes tbe place of tbe rabbit.
1 Old Aunt Dinah behind the pine —
'T ain't goin' a rain no more —
One eye out and the other one blind —
'T ain't goin' a rain no more.
2 Big boy, little boy, picking up sticks —
'T ain't goin' a rain no more —
Big boy, little boy, picking up sticks —
'T ain't goin' a rain no more.
3 Little boy, big boy, picking up sticks —
'T is goin' a rain some more —
Little boy, big boy, picking up sticks —
'T is goin' a rain some more.
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