The Bluegrass Messengers
Cold Rain And Snow- Version 5

Cold Rain And Snow

Traditional Old-Time Breakdown and Song- North Carolina, Virginia, US.

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: Early 1900’s;

RECORDING INFO: Arkansas Sheiks. Whiskey Before Breakfast, Bay 204, LP (1975), cut# 6; Mill Run Dulcimer Band. Sweet Songs from Yesterday, Mill Run MRDB 103, LP (1984), cut#B.05; Fiddle Puppets (sung by Amy Sarli) "Lift Up Your Wings and Fly;" Grateful Dead. "Cold Rain and Snow," "The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead" (Shanachie 6014); British group Pentangle from "A Maid That's Deep in Love;" Tom Constanten : Nightfall Of Diamonds (1992)

OTHER NAMES: “Rain and Snow;”

RELATES TO: "Nine Hundred Miles" songs: "Reuben's Train," such as the Grayson/Whitter "Train 45"; and “One Hundred Miles” by Flatt and Scruggs.

SAME OR SIMILAR LYRICS AS: “Red Apple Juice;” “Red Rocking Chair;” “Sugar Baby;” “Honey Babe Blues;” “Ain’t Got No Honey Baby Now;” “I Ain’t Got No Honey Baby Now;” “Pay Day;” “Storms Are on the Ocean, The”

SOURCES: The earliest version of “Rain and Snow” is found in Sharp and Karpeles' 'English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians', #116 (with a tune) as sung by Mrs. Tom Rice at Big Laurel, NC Aug. 18, 1916. In 1963 Obray Ramsay recording on PRESTIGE/INTERNATIONAL 13020, 'Folksongs from the Three Laurels'. Ramsay’s version has been reissued on Shanachie: Roots of the Grateful Dead Various Artists (Released 10/17/95). The Grateful Dead versions are based on Ramsay’s and perhaps was influenced by Peter Rowan, who sang the “Rain and Snow” with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys in the mid 60’s. The Dead have recorded many live versions of “Cold Rain and Snow” plus one instrumental.

NOTES: The relationship of “Cold Rain and Snow” with the “Red Apple Juice/Ain’t Got No Use/Sugar Baby/ Honey Babe Blues/Red Rocking Chair” group appears to be mainly through lyrics. This is another “white blues” from the same general region of the Appalachians that both Boggs and Poole lyrics sprang.

A close tie with “Cold Rain and Snow” are the "Nine Hundred Miles" songs: "Reuben's Train," such as the Grayson/Whitter "Train 45"; and “One Hundred Miles” by Flatt and Scruggs. Both the meter, chords and lyrics are similar.

LYRICS: 

I married me a wife, she gave me trouble all my life
Put me out in the cold rain and snow, rain and snow
Out in the cold rain and snow

Well, I've done all I can do to try to get along with you
No longer can I stay, can I stay
No longer can I stay

See her trippin’ down the stairs, combing back her long yeller hair
My love's got cheeks like a rose; like a rose
My love's got cheeks like a rose

She went into her room,where she met her fateful doom
Goin' where those chilly winds don't blow, winds don't blow
Goin' where those chilly winds don't blow.





















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