by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906)
Whip‑Poor‑Will and Katy‑Did
Language: English
Slow de night's a-fallin', An' I hyeah de callin' Out erpon de lonesome hill; Soun' is moughty dreary, Solemn-lak an' skeery, Sayin' fu' to "whip po' Will." Now hit's moughty tryin' Fu' to hyeah dis cryin', 'Deed hit's mo' den I kin stan'; Sho' wid all our slippin', Dey's enough of whippin' 'Dout a bird a'visin' any man. In de noons o' summah Dey's anothah hummah Sings anothah song instid; An' his th'oat's a-swellin' Wid de joy o tellin', But he says dat "Katy did." Now I feels onsuhtain; Won't you raise de cu'tain Ovah all de t'ings dat's hid? W'y dat feathahed p'isen Goes erbout a'visin' Whippin' Will w'en Katy did?
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906), appears in Lyrics of Love and Laughter, first published 1903 [author's text not yet checked 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), "Whip-Poor-Will and Katy-Did", 2012 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2017-11-13
Line count: 24
Word count: 112