5 Songs for Contralto

Song Cycle by John Milton Cage (1912 - 1992)

1. Little Four Paws  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
why did you go
little fourpaws?
you forgot to shut
your big eyes.

where did you go?
like little kittens
are all the leaves
which open in the rain.

little kittens who
are called spring,
is what we stroke
maybe asleep?

do you know?or maybe did
something go away
ever so quietly
when we weren't looking.

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Confirmed with E. E. Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys, New York: Liveright, 1976, in Chansons Innocentes, page 27.

First published as "V" in Seven Poems, in The Dial, Vol. 68, No. 1, January 1920. Not included in the first edition of Tulips and Chimneys, but included in XLI Poems in 1925.


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

2. Little Christmas Tree  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see    i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don’t be afraid

look      the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms
and i’ll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you’re quite dressed
you’ll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they’ll stare!
oh but you’ll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we’ll dance and sing
“Noel Noel”

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Note: this poem entered the public domain in 2021.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. In Just‑  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
in Just-
spring          when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
 
whistles       far         and wee --
 
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
 
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far       and         wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
 
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
 
it's
spring
and
        the
 
                goat-footed
 
balloonMan         whistles
far
                                and
                wee

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First published as "IV" in Five Poems, in The Dial, Volume 68 no. 5, May 1920, and in 1923 in Tulips and Chimneys.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. hist whist  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
hist whist
little ghostthings
tip-toe
twinkle-toe
little [itchy]1
witches and tingling
goblins
hob-a-nob          hob-a-nob
little hoppy happy
toad in tweeds
tweeds
little itchy mousies
with scuttling
eyes        rustle and run          and
hidehidehide
whisk
whisk          look out for the old woman
with the wart on her nose
what she'll do to yer
nobody knows
for she knows the devil            ooch
the devil        ouch
the devil
ach        the great
green
dancing
devil
devil
 
devil
devil
 
                    wheeEEE

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View original text (without footnotes)
1 W. Mayer: "twitchy"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. Another Comes  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Tumbling-hair
                         picker of buttercups
                                                            violets
dandelions
And the big bullying daisies
                                    through the field wonderful
with eyes a little sorry
Another comes
                    also picking flowers

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 385