The vagabond | Give to me the life I love

Give to me the life I love

Language: English

Our translations: CAT ITA LIT

Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around
And the road before me.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Or let autumn fall on me
Where afield I linger,
Silencing the bird on tree,
Biting the blue finger.
White as meal the frosty field -
Warm the fireside haven -
Not to autumn will I yield,
Not to winter even!

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• T. Dunhill

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Confirmed with The Complete Poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson: A Child's Garden of Verses, e-artnow, 2015 (via Google Books).

Note: "lave" = "that which is left"

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The vagabond", subtitle: "To an air of Schubert", appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 1, first published 1896 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Donald A. Byars , "The vagabond", 1948 [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Travel [sung text not yet checked]
by Noble Cain (1896 - 1977), "The vagabond", published 1932 [ voice and piano ], in the collection Music of Many Lands and Peoples [sung text not yet checked]
by (Henry) Walford Davies, Sir (1869 - 1941), "The vagabond", published 1931 [ voice and piano ], from Twenty-one songs, no. 21 [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1877 - 1946), "The vagabond", published 1920 [ unison chorus or voice and piano ], in The Year Book Press Series of Unison and Part Songs, no. 170, London: Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew Ltd. [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Herbert Foulds (1880 - 1939), "The vagabond", op. 1 (Two songs) no. 2 (c1899) [ baritone and piano ], missing [sung text not yet checked]
by Martin Kalmanoff (1920 - 2007), "Give me the life I loved", published 1958 [ TTBB chorus or solo voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Jessie L. Pease , "The vagabond", published 1907 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878 - 1937), "The vagabond" [sung text not yet checked]
by Georgina Elsie Smith , "The vagabond", 1953, from Songs of Travel, soprano or tenor and piano [sung text not yet checked]
by Oley Speaks (1874 - 1948), "The vagabond", published 1922 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by William Armour Thayer (1874 - 1933), "The vagabond", <<1933 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "The vagabond", 1904, published 1905, orchestrated 1905 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Travel, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Barnes Wells (1880 - 1935), "The vagabond", <<1935 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Francis Brett Young (1884 - 1954), "The vagabond", <<1913 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 186