Where go the boats? | Dark brown is the river

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]
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]
by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Where go the boats?", 1917 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Gladys M. Cohen (1907 - 1996), as Guirne Javal, "Where go the boats", published 1956 [ two-part chorus ], partsong [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Edward Falk , "Where go the boats?", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from A Child's Garden of Verses [sung text not yet checked]
by Carlisle Floyd (b. 1926), "Where go the boats?", published 1967 [ unison chorus and piano ], from Two Stevenson songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Adolph Martin Foerster (1854 - 1927), "Where go the boats?", op. 67 (Child Lyrics) no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Joseph Groocock , "Dark brown is the river", published 1957 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from A Child's Garden [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917 - 1995), "Where go the boats?", published 1966 [ voice or unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Robert Houston Macdonald , "Where go the boats?", published 1895 [ unison chorus and piano ], in Thirty Unison Songs [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Stanley Muschamp , "Where go the boats?", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878 - 1937), "Where go the boats?", published 1910 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Teresa del Riego (c1876 - 1968), "Where go the boats?", published 1909 [ voice and piano ], from Children's pictures [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Eleanor Smith , "Where go the boats?", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from Song Pictures [sung text not yet checked]
by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "Where go the boats?", published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from The Twins' Tune Book, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "Where go the boats?" [sung text not yet checked]
by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "Where go the boats?", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
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]
by Vally Weigl, née Pick (c1894 - 1982), "Where go the boats?" [ medium voice, recorder, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Patrick Williams (1905 - 1985), "Where go the boats?", published 1963 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
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]

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