Text: It’s raining to beat the band

Context: My informant, who is from the Midwest, explained that whenever it is raining very hard outside, her family always says “It’s raining to beat the band.” She also said that “to beat the band” can be used to describe anything that is being done to an extreme extent. 

Analysis: When a band is performing, it often grasps the attention of everyone around since bands are loud and both visually and audibly entertaining. If something “is beating the band,” it is being done so greatly that it is visually and/or audibly overpowering the band. This hyperbolic expression compares an occurrence to a band to capture the extent to which something is being done. If the rain is beating the band, for example, it must be raining so hard that it is loud and/or visually shocking.