Story Behind The Song

The story of men who wanted to make rain, despite being sad, is also satirical. See: https://youtu.be/0fTfJS_UvgQ

Song Description

Three brothers are farmers hit by a prolonged drought. Thus, they try to make it rain using a rain machine, that is a weapon they bought downtown. Their performance is so successful that a tornado storm is triggered and their farm destroyed by the consequent flood. This poem was written in 1891 by a well-known scientist, F.W. Clarke, after the failure of a weather modification experiment in Texas, which was richly funded by the Congress of the USA. European American settlers in the Great Plains depend on agriculture. Since they were plagued by drought, they would develop an interest in rainmaking. The earliest attempts involved the concussion method, which was premised on the theory that gunpowder explosions triggered friction and generated nuclei to produce rain. In 1890 Congress appropriated funds to put this theory into practice. The task was given to General Robert S. George Dyrenforth. Experimentation began on the C Ranch in Andrews County, Texas, in 1891 and continued at San Antonio, Texas, in 1892. No rainfall occurred. General Dyrenforth was dubbed "General Dryhenceforth," and the remaining funds appropriated for rainmaking experiments reverted to the Department of the Treasury. Frank Clarke (1847-1931) was an American scientist and chemist, sometimes known as the "Father of Geochemistry". Clarke is credited with determining the composition of the Earth's crust. Clarke was not a hearty laugher. He was known to "ripple" quietly at exceptional displays of wit or humor. Clarke's humorous use of language was compared to Lewis Carroll and the talent was renowned at Washington D.C.'s Cosmos Club. He wrote this poem to banter the Federal Administration for wasting a lot of money to support weather modification without any scientific evidence. Take note that Dyrenforth was not entitled to a military title. see: https://youtu.be/0fTfJS_UvgQ

Lyrics

Said Jeremy Jonathan Joseph Jones,
"The weather is far too dry,
So I reckon I'll have to stir my bones
And try the effect of concussive tones
Upon the lazy sky."

So Jeremy Jonathan Joseph went
Away to the nearest town:
And there his money was quickly spent
For queer contraptions all intent
To make the rain come down.

There were cannon, and mortars, and lots of shells,
And dynamite by the ton;
With a gas balloon and a chime of bells
And various other mystic spells
To overcloud the sun.

The day was fair and the sky was bright,
And never a cloud was seen;
When Jeremy Jonathan set alight
His biggest fuse and screwed up tight
The joints of the rain machine.

He fired a shot, and barely two,
When the sky began to pale;
The third one brought a heavy dew,
But at the fourth tornadoes blew,
With thunder, rain, and hail.

It rained all night and another day,
And then for a week or more;
It flooded the farm in a scandalous way,
And drowned poor Jeremy, sad to say,
Who Couldn't stop the pour.

O! Jeremy Jonathan Joseph Jones,
Your farm was fair to see;
But now a lake lies over its stones,
From whose dark bosom horrific moans
Are heard noctallee.

To check the flood you started, I've heard
All efforts were in vain;
Until the Bureau at Washington stirred,
And stopped the storm with a single word,
By just predicting - Rain!
from: Ode to Pluviculture or The Rhyme of the Rain Machine by F. W. Clarke, 1891