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Didn't It Rain?
Traditional Spiritual;
ARTIST: from Brown Collection of NC Folklore
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIEvmwiRiIg Mahalia Jackson
SHEET MUSIC: http://books.google.com/books?id=3cw-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA110&dq=Bahama+songs+and+stories:+A+contribution+to+folk-lore,+Volume&lr=&as_brr=3&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel;
DATE: early 1900s;
RECORDING INFO: Didn't It Rain [Me III-C 47]
Belafonte Folk Singers LPM-2309, LSO-6007, MFCD-782, CD12518
Brown Collection of NC Folklore
Edwards, Charles Lincoln Bahama Songs and Stories: Volume 3
Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p477/#250
Houston, Cisco. I Ain't Got No Home, Vanguard VRS 9107, LP (1962?), trk# 16b
Pringle, Valentine. I Hear America Singing, RCA (Victor) LSP 2689, LP (1963), trk# A.05
Van Ronk, Dave. Just Dave Van Ronk, Mercury SR 60908, LP (196?), trk# A.05
Golden Gate Quartet SOL512,
Mahalia Jackson CBS 29789,
Nana Mouskouri Philips 848 108-2,
Phoenix Singers Warner W1485,
Margret Roadknight MC3009.
OTHER NAMES: "Didn't It Rain" "Didn't It Rain Children"
RELATED TO:
SOURCES: Folk index; Bahama Songs and Stories: Volume 3 by Charles Lincoln Edwards 1895;
NOTES: These short versions of "Didn't It Rain?," a traditional spiritual, come from the Brown Collection of NC Folklore.
"Didn't It Rain My Elder" (below) is a version of "Didn't It Rain". This version is from Bahama Songs and Stories: Volume 3 By Charles Lincoln Edwards and is the first version I've found (see complete lyrics below). These songs were brought to the Bahamas from African-Americans and are quite old.
Didn't It Rain My Elder (excerpt)
VERSE: Didn't it rain, my elder,
Didn't it rain, good Lord,
Didn't it rain forty days.
CHORUS: Forty days an' forty nights,
Lord, didn't it rain forty days.
The first recording is from Deacon Len Davis in 1926. The song became established as a black quartet or jubilee quartet song with early recordings by Biddeville Quintette (1929) and Fairview Jubilee Quartet (1930). Several white groups recorded the song including Vaughan Happy Two (1928) and Lily May Ledford of the Coon Creek Girls who heard the song sung at the White House by a black gospel group in 1939.
564. Didn't It Rain? Brown Collection of NC Folklore
Variants of this song have been published by H. W. Odum, The Negro and His Songs (Chapel Hill, 1925), pp. 29-30, and by White in ANFS 141.
A. "Negro fragment." With music. From Julian P. Boyd, as collected from Kuby Casey, a pupil of the school at Alliance, Pamlico county; undated.
It rained forty clays and forty nights
Without stoppin' no mo'.
Didn't it rain, didn't it rain?
I heard de angels when dey moaned,
Lord, didn't it rain?
B. As published by White in ANFS 141, without music. "Reported from Durham, N. C, 1919, MS of Thomas Litaker, as from Cabarrus County, N. C. 'Heard sung by negro on father's place.' "
C . 'Didn't It Rain?' From "Hodgin, Northeastern N. C." ; undated.
Didn't it rain?
Children mighty didn't it rain?
Oh, my Lord, didn't it rain?
Rained forty days and forty nights vvithotit stopping.
D. "Negro fragment." From Julian P. Boyd, as collected from Ruby Casey, a pupil of the school at Alliance, Pamlico county, c. 1927-28.
It rained forty days,
And it rained forty nights;
Sinner come a-floatin' by Noah's do'.
'Go way, man, you done and sinned;
De Lord tol' me not to let you in.
De do' is locked and de key is gone.'
I heard de angels when dey cried;
'Make haste, my Lord,'
Dey cried, 'Make haste.'
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