Cold and Raw the North Wind Doth Blow Lyrics
A frosty morning, a bitter north wind and hills white with snow. This short winter verse comes from a song that was famous in England more than three hundred years ago.
Cold and Raw the North Wind Doth Blow
Cold and raw the north wind doth blow,
Bleak in a morning early;
All the hills are covered with snow,
And winter's now come fairly.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/cold-and-raw-the-north-wind-doth-blow/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Old English tune, Cold and Raw
- Best for ages
- 4 to 10 years
What Does Cold and Raw the North Wind Doth Blow Mean?
Raw here means damp and bitterly cold, and bleak means harsh and bare. "Winter's now come fairly" means winter has properly arrived. It is a picture of a snowy morning, best said slowly in a shivery voice.
History and Origin
These lines open an old English song, and its tune, also called "Cold and Raw", was well known in the late 1600s. A popular story says that Queen Mary II was so fond of it that the composer Henry Purcell worked the tune into a piece of music for her birthday. This short version is from Andrew Lang's The Nursery Rhyme Book (1897).
Learning Activities
- Winter words: collect words for cold weather: raw, bleak, frosty, icy, chilly.
- Shiver voice: say it with chattering teeth and a shivery voice.
- Compare: read it alongside The North Wind Doth Blow, another winter rhyme.