Love Songs

Song Cycle by Brad Mehldau (b. 1970)

1. it may not always be so; and i say  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
it may not always be so;and i say 
that if your lips,which i have loved,should touch 
another's,and your dear strong fingers clutch 
his heart,as mine in time not far away; 
if on another's face your sweet hair lay 
in such a silence as i know,or such 
great writhing words as,uttering overmuch, 
stand helplessly before the spirit at bay; 

if this should be,i say if this should be-- 
you of my heart,send me a little word; 
that i may go unto him,and take his hands, 
saying,Accept all happiness from me. 
Then shall i turn my face,and hear one bird 
sing terribly afar in the lost lands.

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Confirmed with E. E. Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys, New York: Liveright, 1976, page 140.


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

2. We met at the end of the party

Language: English 
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3. Child, child
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Child, child, love while you can
The voice and the eyes and the soul of a man;
Never fear though it can break your heart
Out of the wound new joy will start;
Only love proudly and gladly and well,
Though love be heaven or love be hell.

Child, child, love while you may
For life is as short as a happy day;
Never fear the thing you feel
Only by love is life made real;
Love, for the deadly sins are seven,
Only through love will you enter heaven.

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4. Twilight   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Dreamily over the roofs
  The cold spring rain is falling;
Out in [the]1 lonely tree
  A bird is calling, calling.

[Slowly]2 over the earth
  The wings of night are falling;
My heart like the bird in the tree
  Is calling, calling, calling.

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Confirmed with Sara Teasdale, Helen of Troy and Other Poems, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1911, page 103.

1 Watts: "a"
2 Watts: "Softly"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. Because
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Oh, because you never tried
To bow my will or break my pride,
And nothing of the caveman made
You want to keep me half afraid,
Nor ever with a conq'ring air
You thought to draw me unaware
Take me, for I love you more
Than I ever loved before.
And since the body's maidenhood
Alone were neither rare nor good
Unless with it I gave to you
A spirit still untrammelled too,
Take my dreams and take my mind
That were masterless as wind;
And 'master!' I shall say to you
Since you never asked me to.

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6. Dreams
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I gave my life to another lover,
I gave my life, and all, and all,
But over a dream the past will hover
Out of a dream the past will call.

I tear myself from sleep with a shiver
But on my breast a kiss is hot,
And by my bed the ghostly giver
Is waiting tho' I see him not.

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7. Did you never know?   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Did you never know, long ago, how much you loved me --
  That your love would never lessen and never go?
You were young then, proud and fresh-hearted,
  You were too young to know.

Fate is a wind, and red leaves fly before it
  Far apart, far away in the gusty time of year --
Seldom we meet now, but when I hear you speaking,
  I know your secret, my dear, my dear.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 469