Dark brown is the river (Stevenson) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

Dark brown is the river

Language: English

Available translation(s): ITA

Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating -
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Where go the boats?", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885 [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 Mark Andrews (1875 - 1939), "Where go the boats?", published 1911 [voice and piano], from Nine songs from "A Child's Garden of Verse" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Where go the boats?", published 1958 [2-part chorus and piano], from Four innocent airs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Where go the boats?", 1917. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Marshall H. Barnes (b. 1921), "Where go the boats?", published 1970 [SA chorus and piano], from Three songs to children [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Gladys M. Cohen (1907 - 1996), as Guirne Javal, "Where go the boats", published 1956 [two-part chorus], partsong [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Thomas Crawford , "Where go the boats?", published 1915 [voice and piano], from Songs with Music from "A Child's Garden of Verses", no. 2. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Edward Falk , "Where go the boats?", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from A Child's Garden of Verses [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Carlisle Floyd (b. 1926), "Where go the boats?", published 1967 [unison chorus and piano], from Two Stevenson songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Adolph Martin Foerster (1854 - 1927), "Where go the boats?", op. 67 (Child Lyrics) no. 1. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Joseph Groocock , "Dark brown is the river", published 1957 [SSA chorus and piano], from A Child's Garden [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Henry Kimball Hadley (1871 - 1937), "Where go the boats?", op. 29 no. 4, published 1903 [voice and piano], from Four Stevenson Songs, no. 4. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Marjorie Helyer , "Where go the boats?", published 1957. [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917 - 1995), "Where go the boats?", published 1966. [voice or unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Robert Houston Macdonald , "Where go the boats?", published 1895 [unison chorus and piano], in Thirty Unison Songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Jan Masséus (1913 - 1999), "Where go the boats?", op. 47a no. 4 (1974), from My kingdom, no. 4. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Anne Stratton Miller , "Boats of mine", published 1919. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Stanley Muschamp , "Where go the boats?", published <<1940. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862 - 1901), "Dark brown is the river", <<1901 [voice and piano], from Three songs, no. 3. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878 - 1937), "Where go the boats?", published 1910. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Where go the boats?", op. 5 no. 3, published 1914, rev. 1945 [voice and piano], from Four Child Songs, no. 3, Chappell [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Marvin Radnor , "Where go the boats?", published 1923. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Teresa del Riego (c1876 - 1968), "Where go the boats?", published 1909 [voice and piano], from Children's pictures [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Beatrice Macgowan Scott , "Where go the boats?", published 1933 [unaccompanied voice], in New Universal School Music Series: Rhythm Songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Eleanor Smith , "Where go the boats?", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Song Pictures [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Where go the boats?", op. 30 no. 5, published 1892 [voice and piano], from A Child's Garland of Songs, no. 5. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "Where go the boats?" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "Where go the boats?", published <<1940. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Muriel Thomas , "Where go the boats?", published 1957 [unison chorus of medium voices and piano], from Four songs for children, also set in Welsh, translation by Wil Ifan [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Vally Weigl, née Pick (c1894 - 1982), "Where go the boats?" [medium voice, recorder, and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Patrick Williams (1905 - 1985), "Where go the boats?", published 1963. [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson (b. 1931), "Where go the boats?", published 1968 [high voice and piano], from From a child's garden, no. 3. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Luigi Zaninelli (b. 1932), "Where go the boats?", published 1962 [SSA chorus and instrumental ensemble], from The world is so full [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 70