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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

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