Friday, October 14, 2005

It’s raining for the seventh day here in New York. A couple of days ago, it was a bit warmer. My daughter couldn’t wait to use her Sesame Street umbrella. So I let her go out back with my son and just play in the rain. It was a nice moment, and it reminded me of my own childhood, splashing through puddles.

So, here’s a very popular rain song from when I was a child in the seventies. It’s still sung by children today…

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again some other day

Nowadays I’ll add…

Lila and Mommy want to play,
So come again some other day.

Here’s a funny poem about rain that I found…

The Rain

The rain it raineth every day,
Upon the just and unjust fella,
But more upon the just, because
The unjust hath the just’s umbrella

Here’s one last one, an amusing Mother Goose nursery rhyme…

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester*

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain,
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again.

*Gloucester is pronounced as “gloster” and rhymes with Foster.

Hope all you readers out there are staying dry, or even better, that you have nice weather!

If anyone would like to send me a poem, rhyme or song about the rain. I’d be happy to post it here. Please email me.

Come visit Mama Lisa’s House of Nursery Rhymes for more Mother Goose Rhymes about the rain.

I, personally, will be looking for songs and rhymes about the sun!

-Lisa

Rainy Day

Rainy day, rainy day, I like it;
My mother will come here with my umbrella,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!

Bag on my shoulder, I follow my mother;
A bell is ringing somewhere,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!

Oh oh, that girl is dripping wet;
She is crying under the willow,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!

Mother, mother, I’ll lend her my umbrella;
“Hi girl, use this umbrella,”
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!

I am all right, don’t worry,
Mother will take me in under her big umbrella,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!

“Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run” is the sound of rain.

Here’s the Japanese version…

Listen to an MP3 of the Japanese Rainy Day Song.

Many thanks to Ayako Egawa for contributing and translating Rainy Day and to Susan Pomerantz for the piano music.

Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Japan page for more Japanese Kids Songs!

It’s Raining and it’s Pouring in New York right now and it has been for days. I’m totally waterlogged from picking up my daughter from preschool.

It turns out that my family is woefully unprepared for the rain. I had a pretty black umbrella with different colored circles on it, that my husband, Jason, “stole” from me one rainy morning before work, back in the spring. He had to throw his away because it fell to pieces. Since he walks three quarters of a mile to the train station during the week, I let him have mine. I never got around to replacing it, since it’s basically been draught weather here for the past few months.

Yesterday my son had early morning band – he had to walk all the way down the block and wait for the bus out in the rain – so I made my husband give him our sole umbrella. The only one in the family who’s really prepared for the rain is our 4 year old daughter. She has a pretty pink raincoat, a Dora the Explorer umbrella and a Sesame Street/Elmo umbrella. The only thing she’s missing is galoshes. Which I just realized the other day.

So, yesterday morning, Jason left the Elmo umbrella and my black one on the table for my son, hoping he would take the Elmo umbrella. Of course he didn’t, since he’s 11 years old. There’s no way he would have taken an Elmo umbrella to school. Jason briefly considered taking the Elmo umbrella himself to the city, but decided against it. I think that was a good choice, since it would have looked very funny to see a six foot two grown man carrying a little preschooler’s Elmo umbrella in the rain. He decided to go for wearing a cap instead. (Of course I made him hold it up like he was going to use it first, just so I could see how he looked!)

Anyway, my son took my umbrella again today, so I got soaking wet during the long walk from the parking lot to my daughter’s preschool to pick her up. At least she was happy with her little pink raincoat and Dora the Explorer umbrella. She finally got to use her umbrella!

Any way, in the car, on the way home, I couldn’t help but singing It’s Raining, It’s Pouring (a song I sang all the time as a kid, whenever it rained). I am Mama Lisa after all! It goes…

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

It’s Raining, it’s pouring,
The old man is snoring,
He bumped his head,
On top of the bed,
And didn’t get up
In the morning.

When I got home, I got my children to record it for you.

Here’s an MP3 of It’s Raining It’s Pouring

-Lisa

Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World USA Page for more children’s songs from the United States.