O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Boris Blacher (1903 - 1975), "O thin men of Haddam", 1957 [ voice and string quartet ], from Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, no. 7, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Lukas Foss (b. 1922), "O thin men of Haddam", 1978, copyright © 1980 [ soprano, piano, flute, 2 tapes, and percussion ], from Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, no. 7, New York, Pembroke [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912 - 1990), "O thin men of Haddam", 1947, published 1951, from 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louise Juliette Talma (1906 - 1996), "O thin men of Haddam", 1979 [ tenor or soprano, oboe, flute or violin, and piano ], from 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 5
Word count: 27
Ach schmächt’ge Männer aus Haddam,
warum stellt ihr euch gold’ne Vögel vor?
Seht ihr nicht, wie die Amsel
um die Füße der Frauen hüpft,
die bei euch sind?