There was a man was half a clown (It's so my father tells of it). He saw the church in [Claremont]1 town And laughed to hear the bells of it. He laughed to hear the bells that ring In Claremont Church and round of it; He heard the verger's daughter sing, And loved her for the sound of it. The verger's daughter said him nay; She had the right of choice in it. He left the town at break of day; He hadn't had a voice in it. The road went up, the road went down, And there the matter ended it. He broke his heart in Claremont town. At Pontgibaud they mended it.
Poems of Hilaire Belloc
Song Cycle by Robert McCauley
1. Auvergnat  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), "Auvergnat", appears in Verses and Sonnets, first published 1896
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Goodhart: "Clermont" throughout.
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
2. Ha'nacker Mill  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Sally is gone that was so kindly Sally is gone from Ha'nacker Hill. And the Briar grows ever since then so blindly [ And ever since then the clapper is still,]1 And the sweeps have fallen from Ha'nacker Mill. Ha'nacker Hill is in Desolation: Ruin a-top and a field unploughed. And Spirits that call on a fallen nation [ Spirits that loved her calling aloud:]1 Spirits abroad in a windy cloud. Spirits that call and no one answers; Ha'nacker's down and England's done. Wind and Thistle for pipe and dancers And never a ploughman under the Sun. Never a ploughman. Never a one.
Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), appears in Sonnets and Verse (1923), first published 1923
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View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Warlock.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Tarantella  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda? Do you remember an Inn? And the tedding and the spreading Of the straw for a bedding, And the fleas that tease in the [High]1 Pyrenees, And the wine that tasted of [tar]2? And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers (Under the vine of the dark verandah)? Do you remember an Inn, Miranda? Do you remember an Inn? And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers Who hadn't got a penny And who weren't paying any, And the hammer at the doors and the din? And the hip! hop! hap! Of the clap Of the hands to the [swirl and the twirl]3 of the girl gone chancing, Glancing, Dancing, Backing and advancing, Snapping of the clapper to the spin Out and in -- And the ting, tong, tang of the guitar! Do you remember an Inn, Miranda? Do you remember an Inn? Never more; Miranda, Never more. Only the high peaks hoar: And Aragon a torrent at the door. No sound In the walls of the halls where falls The tread Of the feet of the dead to the ground, No sound: But the boom Of the [waterfall]4 like doom.
Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), "Tarantella", appears in Sonnets and Verse (1923), first published 1923
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Toye: "Highly"
2 Toye: "the tar"
3 Toye: "twirl and the swirl"
4 Toye: "far waterfall"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Ballad of Hell and of Mrs Roebeck  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
I'm going out to dine at Gray's With Bertie Morden, Charles and Kit, And Manderly who never pays, And Jane who wins in spite of it, And Algernon who won't admit The truth about his curious hair And teeth that very nearly fit: And Mrs Roebeck will be there. And then to-morrow someone says That someone else has made a hit In one of Mister Twister's plays. And off we go to yawn at it; And when it's petered out we quit For number 20, Taunton Square, And smoke, and drink, and dance a bit: And Mrs Roebeck will be there. And so through each declining phase Of emptied effort, jaded wit, And day by day of London days Obscurely, more obscurely, lit ; Until the uncertain shadows flit Announcing to the shuddering air A Darkening, and the end of it : And Mrs Roebeck will be there. Princes, on their iron thrones they sit, Impassible to our despair, The dreadful Guardians of the Pit: And Mrs Roebeck will be there.
Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), "Ballad of Hell and of Mrs Roebeck"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. He does not die  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
He does not die [I wrote]1 that can bequeath Some influence to the land he knows, Or dares, persistent, interwreath Love permanent with the wild hedgerows; He does not die but still remains Substantiate with his darling plains. The spring's superb adventure calls His dust athwart the woods to flame; His boundary river's secret falls Perpetuate and repeat his name. He rides his loud October sky: He does not die. He does not die. The beeches know the accustomed head Which loved them, and a peopled air Beneath their benediction spread Comforts the silence everywhere ; For native ghosts return and these Perfect the mystery in the trees. So, therefore, though myself be crost The shuddering of that dreadful day When friend and fire and home are lost And even children drawn away -- The passer-by shall hear me still, A boy that sings on Duncton Hill.
Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), no title, appears in The Four Men, first published 1912
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View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by McCauley
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 734