Rain, Rain, Go Away/It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, by Lawrence Weiss, 2018
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring
U.S.A.
HISTORY AND SONG NOTES
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring is an American folksong. The words to this song appeared in The Little Mother Goose, published in 1912. It shares a tune with another familiar folksong, A Tisket, A Tasket.
Singing
This song is a lovely singing activity for young children, particularly on a rainy day. It has an easy-to-sing repeated pattern and a narrow range.
AUDIO RECORDING FOR LISTENING, SINGING ALONG, AND LEARNING
You’ll notice that in the recording below It’s Raining, It’s Pouring is paired with another folksong, Rain, Rain Go Away. These songs share the same harmonic structure, and can be sung together. Young children will not be able to sing two or more overlapping songs independently as you hear in this recording without considerable practice and teacher help; however, listening to overlapping songs or songs with different vocal parts is one way that we first introduce children to the concept of harmony.