What does “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” really mean?
“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” is a warning about sleeping after a head injury. Like other famous nursery rhymes, “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” tells a short story to teach children a moral or educational lesson. In this case, an old man goes to bed after bumping his head and can’t get up in the morning, leading some curious readers to wonder whether his knock to the noggin (and resulting sleep) actually led to his death or a coma. Here’s the full poem if you need a refresher: It’s raining, it’s pouring,The old man’s snoring.He got into bedAnd bumped his headAnd couldn’t get up in the morning. Alternate text: In some versions of the rhyme, the order of events in lines 3 and 4 is switched to say the old man “bumped his head” and then “went to bed.”
There are 2 popular interpretations to explain how the old man hit his head. The overall message of “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” is about staying conscious after a head injury for your safety, but the text of the story supports 2 different theories for how the old man received his head knock. Depending on which interpretation you believe, you’ll walk away from the nursery rhyme with a slightly different message related to head trauma: Interpretation 1: The old man was drunk, causing him to hit his head and go fall unconscious. The moral of the story is, “Don’t drink so much that you hurt yourself.” Interpretation 2: The old man hit his head by accident and then went to sleep without realizing the extent of his injury, causing him to die. The moral of this story is, “Don’t go right to bed after hitting your head.”
“Don’t Drink Too Much”
“It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man’s snoring…” In this interpretation, “raining” and “pouring” don’t refer to the weather; instead, they’re a metaphor for the old man drinking or pouring himself alcoholic beverages pretty liberally. After drinking too much to keep himself awake, the old man starts nodding off and snoring wherever he is. We’re not totally sure where the old man is drinking, but since he’s able to put himself to bed, we can assume he’s at his home.
“He got into bed and bumped his head…” At this point, the old man realizes it’s time to sleep it off and drunkenly makes his way to bed. In the version where he gets into bed before he hits his head, it seems as if he has a clumsy accident while lying down—maybe he rolls out of bed and hits his head on the floor, or hits it against his headboard. In the version where he hits his head before going to bed, it’s easier to see how he may have hit his head on practically anything as he drunkenly made his way to his bed. In either case, the old man is going to sleep very soon after a head injury—not a good idea.
“...and couldn’t get up in the morning.” Depending on how child-friendly you want to be, you can interpret this last line to mean he simply couldn’t get out of bed because he was so hungover in the morning or that his drinking and head injury caused him to die in his sleep. It seems the moral of this version of the nursery rhyme is “Watch how much you drink, or you could hit your head and wind up dead.”
Stay Awake After a Concussion
“It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man’s snoring…” In this version of events, the opening lines set the scene for the rest of the rhyme. It is indeed raining outside, and the old man may be dozing off in his living room chair. Perhaps he was even caught off guard by the weather while he was outdoors (“snoring” might be a metaphor for not paying attention to your surroundings).
“He got into bed and bumped his head…” Depending on which order of events you’re reading, the old man either gets in bed and then hits his head, or hits his head before getting in bed at all. It’s not totally clear why or how. It could be just a clumsy accident, or maybe he slipped on a wet patch from all the rain (or stumbled as he ran to get out of it) as he made his way to bed. In either case, the old man suffered a blow to the head and then got some sleep afterward. The blow may have knocked him out (this is more likely if you read the “He got into bed and bumped his head” version), or he may have felt fine afterward and decided it was OK to still go to bed (“He bumped his head and went to bed”).
“...and couldn’t get up in the morning.” Unfortunately, the old man meets a grim fate. After trying to sleep off his possible concussion, he’s not able to wake up because he’s in a coma or even dead. The moral of this version of the nursery rhyme seems to be, “Don’t go to sleep after you’ve hit your head or you may not wake up.” Some medical professionals have even chimed in to diagnose the old man’s injury. Neurosurgeon and author Andrew Kaye suggests an extradural hematoma, a very dangerous condition where blood pools between the brain’s protective lining and the skull after a head injury. Symptoms include drowsiness, headaches, and an eventual loss of consciousness (and the old man definitely experienced drowsiness and loss of consciousness!).
The History of “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”
“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” has unclear origins in England. We don’t know exactly who came up with the words or where the rhyme comes from, but it’s likely that it was sung or recited by children when it was too rainy to go outdoors and play (England is quite rainy, after all). “It’s pouring” is an English expression that means “it’s raining heavily” and hints at the rhyme’s origins in England, possibly in the 19th century. Nursery rhymes as we know them have existed since at least the 13th century and were very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, some of the most popular ones today like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” were published as late as 1806 and 1830, respectively. So, it’s possible that “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” is another latecomer.
It was first published in 1912 and attributed to Mother Goose. Even though it’s probably English in origin, this nursery rhyme was first published in the US. The book The Little Mother Goose contains just the first 2 lines of the text (“It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring.”). This may explain why there are 2 versions of the text: one where the old man hits his head first, and one where he goes to bed first. The book also contains hundreds of other classic nursery rhymes (and some you’ve probably never heard of). Mother Goose is a figure in children’s literature who’s credited with a huge number of nursery rhymes, songs, and stories that have been passed down for hundreds of years. She may be based on a real person (Elizabeth Foster Goose or Mary Goose from 17th-century Boston) and her collection of children’s stories, but it’s more likely that Mother Goose is a legend. References to Mother Goose date as far back as 1626 in France, when several scripts mention mère l’oye (“My mother the goose”). Some believe King Robert II’s wife, who loved to tell children’s stories in 10th century France, is the inspiration behind Mother Goose.
The first recording of the text was made in 1939. Anthropologist and folklorist Herbert Halpert made the earliest known audio recording of “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” in 1939 in New York. The recording is currently archived in the Library of Congress. It was notated by American composer Charles Ives in the same year and set to a similar tune as “A Tisket, A Tasket” or “Ring Around the Rosie” (the tune was and still is public domain). As of 1944, a copyrighted version of the song “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” belongs to Freda Selicoff of Indiana.
More Dark Lessons from Popular Nursery Rhymes
“Baa Baa Black Sheep” and the medieval wool tax In the 13th century, King Edward I imposed a new tax where a third of the cost of a sack of wool went to him, a third went to the church, and third was kept by the farmer. Black fleece couldn’t be dyed, so it was considered less lucrative or bad luck to have a black sheep. Some versions of the text mention other characters receiving wool, like dames or “the little boy down the lane”: Baa, baa, black sheepHave you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.One for the master,And one for the dame,And one for the little boyWho lives down the lane.
“Ring Around the Rosie” and the Great Plague of London of 1665 A “rosie” is believed to be a smelly rash that formed on the skin of bubonic plague victims, while “a pocket full of posies” helped cover the smell. “Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!” likely refers to the deceased plague victims who were burned and buried (in total, bubonic plague killed about 15% of Britain’s population). The full text reads: Ring around the rosy,Pocket full of posy,Ashes! Ashes!We all fall down!
“Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” and Bloody Mary “Bloody” Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII, had a violent reputation for the torture and murder of Protestants (she was a devout Catholic). In the rhyme, her “garden” likely refers to a graveyard of Protestant martyrs, while “silver bells” (thumb screws) and “cockleshells” (an torture device attached to male genitals) were used to murder people. “Maids all in a row” may refer to victims being lined up for the Maiden, or a machine used to decapitate people. The full text reads: Mary, Mary, quite contraryHow does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockleshellsAnd pretty maids all in a row. Fun fact: The gruesome legend around Mary’s torture tactics is what led to the urban legend and game, Bloody Mary.
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