When daisies pied and violets blue [And lady-smocks all silver white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue]1, Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree Mocks married men, for thus sings he, Cuckoo, Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear. When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks, [When]2 turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, And maidens bleach their summer [smocks]3, The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree Mocks married men, for thus sings he, Cuckoo, Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear.
Shakespeare Songs, Book VII
by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968)
3. The cuckoo and the owl [sung text not yet checked]
Note: this is a multi-text setting
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Kevät", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Lied. Der Frühling", first published 1870
- NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Arild Bakke) , "Når spraglet tusenfryd", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Stravinsky: "And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,/ And lady-smocks all silver white"
2 Arne: "And"
3 Arne: "frocks"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
When icicles hang by the wall And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail; When blood is nipt and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who! Tu-whit! Tu-who! -- A merry note! While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw; When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who! Tu-whit! Tu-who! -- A merry note! While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Total word count: 0