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Peterisms: second set

Song Cycle by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930)

1. Roister Doister
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I mun be married a Sunday,
Whosoever shall come that way,
I mun be married a Sunday.

Roister Doister is my name,
A lusty brute I am the same,
I mun be married a Sunday.

Christian Custance have I found,
A widow worth a thousand pound,
I mun be married a Sunday.

Custance is as sweet as honey,
I her lamb and she my coney;
I mun be married a Sunday.

When we shall make our wedding feast,
There shall be cheer for man and beast;
I mun be married a Sunday.

Text Authorship:

  • by Nicholas Udall (1505 - 1556), appears in Ralph Roister Doister [play], first published 1550

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Spring
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king;
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The palm and may make country houses gay,
Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day,
And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,
Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit,
In every street these tunes our ears do greet,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring! The sweet Spring!

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Nashe (1567 - 1601), appears in Summer's Last Will and Testament, first published 1600

See other settings of this text.

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "Frühling", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

3. Lusty Juventus
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
In an arbour green asleep whereas I lay
The birds sang sweet in the middis of the day:
I dreamed fast of mirth and play;
In youth is pleasure.

Methought I walked still to and fro,
And from her company I could not go,
But when I waked it was not so.
In youth is pleasure

Therefore my heart is surely pyght
Of her alone to have a sight
Which is my joy and heart's delight.
In youth is pleasure.

Text Authorship:

  • by R. Wever, probably Richard Wever (c1500? - 1560?), "Lusty Iuventus of youth he syngeth", appears in An Enterlude called Lusty Juventus, first published 1565

See other settings of this text.

Note for stanza 3, line 1: "pyght" or "pight" is an old past participle of "pitch" and means "resolved, set upon, fixed, or determined". Holst's use of "plight" may be a typo.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 269
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