by Edward Lear (1812 - 1888)
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear
Language: English
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear, Who has written such volumes of stuff. Some think him ill-tempered and queer, But a few find him pleasant enough. His mind is concrete and fastidious, His nose is remarkably big; His visage is more or less hideous, His beard it resembles a wig. He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers, (Leastways if you reckon two thumbs); He used to be one of the singers, But now he is one of the dumbs. He sits in a beautiful parlour, With hundreds of books on the wall; He drinks a great deal of marsala, But never gets tipsy at all. He has many friends, laymen and clerical, Old Foss is the name of his cat; His body is perfectly spherical, He weareth a runcible hat. When he walks in waterproof white, The children run after him so! Calling out, "He's gone out in his night- Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!" He weeps by the side of the ocean, He weeps on the top of the hill; He purchases pancakes and lotion, And chocolate shrimps from the mill. He reads, but he does not speak, Spanish, He cannot abide ginger beer; Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish, How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!
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Text Authorship:
- by Edward Lear (1812 - 1888), "By Way of Preface", appears in Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets, first published 1888 [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), "How pleasant to know Mr. Lear", 2008 [ medium voice or high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Martin Best , "By Way of Preface", <<1976 [ voice and guitar ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "Homage", 1970, rev. 1974 [ 2-part chorus of treble voices, strings, descant recorder, trumpet, percussion, and piano ], from "There was..." (A Little Festival of Lear Limericks) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edwin Roxburgh (b. 1937), "How pleasant to know Mr. Lear", published 1972 [ narrator ], from How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-03-06
Line count: 32
Word count: 211