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James Joyce Songs

Song Cycle by Vincent Persichetti (1915 - 1987)

1. Unquiet heart  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Sleep now, O sleep now,
  O you unquiet heart!
A voice crying "Sleep now"
  Is heard in my heart.

The voice of the winter
  Is heard at the door.
O sleep, for the winter
  Is crying "Sleep no more."

My kiss will give peace now
  And quiet to your heart -
Sleep on in peace now,
  O you unquiet heart!

Text Authorship:

  • by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), no title, appears in Chamber Music, no. 34, first published 1907

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Walter Riemer) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Brigid's Song  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Dingdong! The castle bell!
Farewell, my mother!
Bury me in the old churchyard
Beside my eldest brother.
My coffin shall be black,
Six angels at my back,
Two to sing and two to pray
And two to carry my soul away. 

Text Authorship:

  • by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), no title, appears in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, B. W. Huebsch, first published 1916

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1916, page 22.

Excerpt is "the song that Brigid had taught him" in Chapter I that appears on page 22 of the first edition of the novel.
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

3. Noise of Waters  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
All day I hear the noise of waters
 Making moan,
Sad as the sea-bird is, when going
 Forth alone,
He hears the [winds]1 cry to the waters'
 Monotone.

The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing
 Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
 Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them [flowing]2
 To and fro.

Text Authorship:

  • by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), no title, appears in Chamber Music, no. 35, first published 1908

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Coulthard: "wind's"
2 Coulthard: "blowing"

Researcher for this page: John Versmoren
Total word count: 161
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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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