Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...

Subject: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: GUEST,Mark Fry
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 07:01 AM

I remember bits of the chorus of a song about a man standing at his lover's window, in dreadful weather, imploring her to let him in. Eventually, she gives in and he spends the night. The bit I recall goes something like this:

"It rained, it snowed, it hailed, it blowed,
And I was wet through all my clothes.
I called to be let in,
I called to be let in"

The last 2 lines change with the progress of the song. One variation I recall is "She called me back again". I'm pretty sure I remember Len Berry singing it (The Portway Pedlars) at Nettlebed in the 1990's.

The song is related to "Cold, Haily, Windy Night", of which I'm aware of at least two versions recorded by Steeleye Span and Planxty (and maybe another recorded by John Kirkpatrick).

I've tried searching the Knowledge-base. "It rained" turned up hundreds of entries (I checked out the first 20 or so with no luck...); "it rained it snowed" turned up nothing. So I decided to try a direct appeal.

Thanks in advance.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 07:10 AM

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/martin.carthy/songs/thecottageinthewood.html

If that's it, I'll get the lyrics over to Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 07:22 AM

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/song-midis/Forty_Long_Miles.htm

Here's another.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: melodeonboy
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 10:06 AM

I sing it as "Cottage on the Moor".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: GUEST,Mark Fry
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 10:26 AM

Thanks Chaps, those links look interesting, though not quite the song I think I remember. I have a copy of Sweet Wivelsfield somewhere...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 10:33 AM

There's some discussion of the song near the end of the current 'Night Visiting Song' thread. It will be in the DT under such titles as 'The Laird o the Winny Wa', Let me in this ae Nicht', 'Cold Haily Rainy Night'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 10:35 AM

"The Cottage in the Wood

I have always thought of The Cottage in the Wood as being a fragment which, if taken one way was The Laird of the Windy Wa (Cold Haily Windy Night [which is on Martin Carthy's Landfall]) but if looked at another way is a totally different kettle of fish. What I did was to take it and combine it with another fragment collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams from one Billy Waggs called The Lady Looked Out or The Proud Pedlar and with the song part of a cante-fable collected from Kate Thompson by Kidson called One Moonlight Night (which incidentally was versified by Kidson's wife and called he Robber Groom). I added a couple of verses, and this is the result."

From the liner notes of Sweet Wivelsfield.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 06:06 AM

Recorded from Mark Anderson, retired lead miner of Teesdale, Yorkshire in 1947 be Ewan MacColl and Joan Littlewood
Jim Carroll

FORTY MILES
It's forty miles I've been today
I spied a cottage all on the way
Which I've never seen before, before
Which I've never seen before

I boldly rattled all on the pin.
A bonnie young maid she heard the din
And she cried: Is anyone there, o, there?
And she cried: Is anyone there?


For pity's sake love open the door.
I've come a long journey ower the moor.
And I pray you let me in, o in,
And I pray you let me in.


To let you in that may not be
There's nobody here at home but me,
And I dare not let you in, you in,
And I dare not let you in.

See how it rains, it hails, it snows,
The night is dark, the cold wind blows,
And I'm soaking to the skin, the skin,
And I'm soaking to the skin.

To let you in, that may not be
My dad's gone lambing and ta'en the key,
And I may not let you in, you in,
And I may not let you in.

I turned to go but she said: Nay,
'T would be a sin to send you away.
And she up and she let me in, me in,
And she up and let me in."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It rained, it snowed, it hailed...
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 06:56 AM

This version has a happy ending! Forty Long Miles

It's forty long miles I've travel'd this way
I saw a fine cottage all on the highway
Such as I never had seen before, before and before
Such as I never had seen before.

Oh! I boldly step up andd I knock at the door,
I heard a fair lass skip over the floor,
And she loudly cried, "Who's there, who's there ?"
And she loudly cried, "Who's there ?"

"Oh! it rains and it blows, it hails and it snows,
And I am got wet through all my clothes,
So I pray you, love, open the door, Oh! the door,
So I pray you, love, open the door. "

"Oh no! Oh no! it never can be,
For there's no-one does dwell in this cottage but me
So I pray you begone from my door, Oh! my door
So I pray you begone from my door."

He turn'd himself round some miles for to go,
The stormy winds began for to blow,
Then she call'd me back again, and again,
Then she call'd me back again.

"You take off your wet and put on your dry
You go into bed and quietly lie,
And quickly I will be there, will be there,
And quickly I will be there. "

We pass'd all that night in sweet content,
And the very next day to the church we went,
Then I made her my lawful bride, my bride,
Then I made her my lawful bride.

Come all you young men whoever you be,
Kiss all the pretty fair maids that ever you see,
They'll call you back again and again
They'll call you back again.

From The Constant Lovers, Purslow
Collected from Mrs. Gulliver, Somerset, 1905