by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953)
There was a man was half a clown
Language: English
There was a man was half a clown (It's so my father tells of it). He saw the church in Claremont town And laughed to hear the bells of it. He laughed to hear the bells that ring In Claremont Church and round of it; He heard the verger's daughter sing, And loved her for the sound of it. The verger's daughter said him nay; She had the right of choice in it. He left the town at break of day; He hadn't had a voice in it. The road went up, the road went down, And there the matter ended it. He broke his heart in Claremont town. At Pontgibaud they mended it.
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View text with all available footnotesText Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), "Auvergnat", appears in Verses and Sonnets, 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 (Harold) Temple Abady (1903 - 1970), "He broke his heart in Clermont town", published 1926 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, Sir (1891 - 1975), "Auvergnat", 1943, published 1944 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert James Berkeley Fleming (1921 - 1976), "Auvergnat", 1948 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Murray Goodhart (1866 - 1941), "The Bells of Clermont town", published <<1957 [ voice, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Robert McCauley , "Auvergnat", 2019, from Poems of Hilaire Belloc, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Archie James Potter (b. 1918), "Auvergnat", published 1952 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Songs of Hilaire Belloc [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Auvergnat", op. 108 (1946) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 117