Rosario Monachino
People have been left disturbed after finding out the dark meaning behind the nursery rhyme ‘It’s Raining, It’s Pouring’.
Everyone is familiar with the tune that we all sang countless times when we were younger.
While we always thought it was a pleasant song, it turns out it tells the story of something much darker.
A woman, who goes by the username @stupidlittlegenius, has gone viral on TikTok after unpacking the lyrics and breaking down their meaning.
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“Everyone knows this one, but do you know what it means?” she asks.
The TikToker then begins singing the familiar tune: “It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring, he went to bed and bumped his head and couldn’t get up in the morning.”
The TikToker says that even though it doesn’t describe anyone in particular, the nursery rhyme is a ‘cautionary tale’.
Despite the rhyme describing a downpour, the woman reveals that surprisingly, the nursery rhyme has nothing to do with rain.
Viewers have taken to the comments to react to its true meaning, with one person saying: “My childhood is officially ruined.”
Another user questions: “Why did my two-year-old self have to sing these nursery rhymes.”
“I’m going to pretend this is about the weather,” a third comments.
The woman continues: “In actual fact, the old man liked a good drink and ‘it’s raining and pouring’ refers to the alcoholic drinks being poured very liberally – like it’s raining cocktails and shots.”
She then confirms that the rhyme is actually about a man who has had a few too many to drink.
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“After drinking so much that he couldn’t stay awake, he started nodding off and snoring,” the TikToker continues.
“So he decided ‘it’s time to sleep it off’. But by this point, he was so inebriated he probably couldn’t even walk in a straight line.
“So when he went to bed he stumbled, fell or otherwise drunkenly bumped his head.
“And that must’ve been some bump because he couldn’t get up in the morning.”
While you’d suspect that the reason he couldn’t get up in the morning was due to a rough hangover, it’s actually a much more depressing reason.
“Well, he was dead,” the woman concludes.
“That’s right, most experts agree that the man never got up again because he suffered from a major head trauma.”
And things get even darker if you delve further into the origins of this nursery rhyme…
‘It’s Raining, It’s Pouring’ is listed as an example in Andrew Kaye’s ‘Essential Neurosurgery’ medical book, as per American Songwriter.
A section discusses a ‘deteriorating conscious state’, adding: “This is the most important neurological sign, particularly when it develops after a ‘lucid’ interval. It is essential that the drowsiness that occurs in a patient following head injury is not misinterpreted just as the patient wishing to sleep.
“In the book, Kaye notes the seemingly innocent rhyme is actually a ‘classic description of an extradural hematoma [acute haemorrhage] leading to drowsiness and death’.”
Patient.info explains that an extradural haematoma is ’caused by a severe head injury – for example, in a road traffic accident’.
These strange connections have led some to theorise that the song actually serves as a PSA to encourage those who had head injuries to seek out medical help.
It puts a whole new (and sinister) meaning on the seemingly sweet nursery rhyme!
@stupidlittlegenius Do you know the real meaning of this one? #kidsrhyme #nursaryrhyme #kids #baby #child #poetry #song #folksong #history #historylesson #old #shocking #didyouknow #traditional #folklore #origin #meaning #etymology #tradition #historylover #historynerd #worldhistory #historygram #instahistory #historylovers #history #historytime #historytok #historybuff #historytiktok #historyfacts #historylesson #historytimes #historyteacher #rain #raining #itsraining #itsrainingitspouring #weather #oldman #drunk #headinjury ♬ original sound – Stupid Little Genius
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