Three jolly gentlemen,
  In coats of red,
Rode their horses
  Up to bed.
Three jolly gentlemen
  Snored till morn,
Their horses champing
  The golden corn.
Three jolly gentlemen
  At break of day,
Came clitter-clatter down the stairs
  And galloped away.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Peacock Pie. A Book of Rhymes by Walter de la Mare, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., [1920], page 39.

Authorship

• by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The huntsmen", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 1. Up and Down, no. 21, first published 1913 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The huntsmen", 2006 [ medium-high voice, piano ], from Pieces of Peacock Pie, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Marshall Moore Bartholomew (b. 1885), "The huntsmen", published 1928-30 [ unaccompanied voice ], in The Music Hour [sung text not yet checked]
• by Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, Sir (1891 - 1975), "Three jolly gentlemen", 1923, published 1923 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by James Brown , "The huntsmen" [ voice and piano ], in Songs for Children [sung text not yet checked]
• by (David) Neil Butterworth (b. 1934), "Three jolly gentlemen", published 1960 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Emeléus , "The huntsmen", published 1960 [ chorus and piano ], from The Huntsmen [sung text not yet checked]
• by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "The huntsmen", published 1933 [ chorus, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, and piano (or three violins, violoncello, and piano) ], from Peacock Pie [sung text not yet checked]
• by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "The huntsmen", 1989, first performed 1995 [ tenor and piano ], from Peacock Pie -- 20 songs for Tenor and Piano, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christian Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901 - 1947), "The huntsmen", published 1927 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Art O'Murnaghan , "The huntsmen", published 1937 [ unaccompanied voice ], published in Broadside [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dorothy Pilling (1910 - 1998), "Three jolly gentlemen" [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hugh Stevenson Roberton, Sir (1874 - 1952), "Three jolly gentlemen", published 1943 [ SSA chorus a cappella ], from Peacock Pie [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roy Teed (b. 1928), "Three jolly gentlemen", published 1957 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 40