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Didn't It Rain?
Traditional Spiritual;
ARTIST: from Golden Gate Quartet circa 1941
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
Howard Odum Songs of the Southern Negroes 1909
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" "Didn't It Rain My Elder" "Forty Days and Forty Nights"
RELATED TO:
SOURCES: Folk index; Bahama Songs and Stories: Volume 3 by Charles Lincoln Edwards 1895;
NOTES: Mahalia Jackson sings the traditional spiritual, based on her 1957 perform on youtube.
"Fohty Days an' Nights" that is a version of "Didn't It Rain". Bothe versions are from Howard Odum in his Songs of the Southern Negroes published in 1909. Below is a version from 1895 by Charles Lincoln Edwards from Bahama Songs and Stories: Volume 3. It's the earliest version I've found:
Didn't It Rain My Elder (excerpt) collected by Charles Lincoln Edwards 1895
VERSE: Didn't it rain, my elder,
Didn't it rain, good Lord,
Didn't it rain forty days.
CHORUS: Fourty days an' fourty 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.
Howard W. Odum Journal of Religious Psychology- Songs of the Southern Negroes 1909: Among those of the Bible who have been the special subject of song, Noah has a prominent place. References to him have been made already. He is always the hero of the flood. In most of the songs wherein a special character has an important part, it is in the chorus or refrain. So in "Fohty Days an' Nights", a general mixture of songs and ideas, Noah and the flood make the chorus.
Dey calls bro' Noah a foolish man,
Fohty days an' nights,
He built de ark upon de lan',
Fohty days an' nights.
CHORUS: En, ho, ho, didn't it rain?
O yes, you know it did.
Ho, ho, didn't it rain?
O yes, you know it did.
Ole Satan wears a iron shoe,
Hit's fohty days an' nights,
Ef you don't mind gwine slip it on you,
Fohty days an' nights.
Some go to meetin' to put on pretense,
Fohty days an' nights,
Until de day ob grace is spent,
Fohty days an' nights.
Some go to men tin' to sing an' shout,
Fohty days an' nights,
Fo' six months dey'll be turned out,
Fohty days an' nights.
I tell you brother an' I tell you twice,
It 's fohty days an' nights,
My soul done anchored in Jesus Christ,
Fohty days an' nights.
If you git dar befo' I do,
Forty days an' nights,
Look out fer me I 'se comin' too,
Fohty days an' nights.
You baptize Peter an' you baptize Paul,
It's fohty days an' nights,
But de Lord-God-er-mighty gwine baptize all,
It's fohty days an' nights.
The present-day song that apparently originated in the above song is less elaborate, having only portions of the old song, and not being much in demand. It, too, is called "Didn't it rain?"
God told Noah 'bout de rainbow sign —
Lawd, didn't it rain?
No more water but fier nex' time —
O didn't it rain ? Halleluyer.
CHORUS: O didn't it rain, O didn't it rain?
Halleluyer, didn't it rain?
Some fohty days an' nights.
Well it rain fohty days an' nights widout stoppin',
Lawd, didn't it rain?
The sinner got mad 'cause the rain kept a droppin',
O did n't it rain? Halleluyer.
DIDN'T IT RAIN?- Golden Gate Quartet circa 1941
CHORUS: Well, didn't it rain children?
God gonna send the water from Zion;
He's gonna raise His heaven up higher,
It's goin' to rain, well it's goin' to rain. [Repeat]
VERSE: Great God, now my God got angry on the throne,
The angels from heaven they began to moan,
He Said, Go down angels and stir up a flood;
Knock out the sun and turn the moon into blood.
Then come back angels and bar the door;
I declare that the time will be no more.
They tell me, great God, when it started to rain,
Women and children they began to scream.
Well they knocked on the windows and battered at the door,
Saying Brother Noah, can you take one more?
Noah said, "I'm sorry my friend,
God's got the key and you can't come in."
Well Noah wasn't worried 'bout the children coming in;
He was worried 'bout the angels more.
CHORUS: Well, didn't it rain children?
God gonna send the water from Zion;
He's gonna raise heaven up higher,
It's goin' to rain, well it's goin' to rain.
VERSE: Great God now it rained forty days and nights without stopping;
Noah was worried but the rain kept a dropping.
He sent out a raven, then he sent out a dove,
But the water, good God, kept coming from above.
To tell me little children, the birds did seek,
But they couldn't find land to rest their feet.
Noah wasn't worried 'bout the resting of the feet;
He was worried 'bout the animals more.
CHORUS: Well, didn't it rain children?
God gonna send the water from Zion;
He gonna raise heaven up higher,
Didn't it rain, rain, rain.
VERSE: They tell me that the wind did blow and the Ark did rock,
Noah couldn't find nowhere to dock.
My God spoke and whispered low;
Showed brother Noah where he wanted him to go.
He said looky here Noah, the rain gone stop;
I want you to land on the mountain top.
Showed Brother Noah a rainbow sign,
Said it won't be water but fire next time.
Well Noah wasn't worried 'bout the fire next time;
He was worried 'bout the angels more.
CHORUS: Well, didn't it rain children?
God gonna send the water from Zion;
He's gonna raise heaven up higher,
It's goin' to rain, well it's goin' to rain.
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