The fiddler of Dooney | When I play on my fiddle in Dooney

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

The fiddler of Dooney

Language: English

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With "Here is the fiddler of Dooney!"
And dance like a wave of the sea.

Text Authorship:

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The fiddler of Dooney", from Bookman, first published 1892 [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), "The fiddler of Dooney", <<1939 [sung text not yet checked]
by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "The fiddler of Dooney", 1907 [ voice and piano ], from Six Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by William Denis Browne (1888 - 1915), "The fiddler of Dooney", 1909 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Walter Butler , "The fiddler of Dooney", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from Four Irish Lyrics [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1877 - 1946), "The fiddler of Dooney", published 1905 [ voice and piano ], from The wind among the reeds, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard B. Evans , "The fiddler of Dooney", from In the deep heart's core [sung text not yet checked]
by Francis Frank , "The fiddler of Dooney", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "The fiddler of Dooney", 1917, published 1959 [ voice and piano ], first setting [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "The fiddler of Dooney", 1925 [ voice and piano ], second setting [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Hageman (1881 - 1966), "The fiddler of Dooney", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
by (Herbert) Hamilton Harty, Sir (1879 - 1941), "The fiddler of Dooney", published <<1938, from Five Irish Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Sidney Homer (1864 - 1953), "The fiddler of Dooney", op. 20, published 1909 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861 - 1935), "The fiddler of Dooney", published 1935 [ voice and orchestra ], from Five Irish Fantasies, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Nicholas Marshall (b. 1942), "The fiddler of Dooney" [ voice, treble recorder, violoncello, harpsichord ], from The falling of the leaves [sung text not yet checked]
by Robin Humphrey Milford (1903 - 1959), "The fiddler of Dooney", published 1925 [ baritone or unison chorus and piano ], from A Book of Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Vittorio Rieti (1898 - 1994), "The fiddler of Dooney", published 1964 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Two Songs Between Two Waltzes, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "The fiddler of Dooney" [ soprano, flute, harp, viola ], from To a child dancing in the wind, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by William (Southcombe) Lloyd Webber (1914 - 1982), "The fiddler of Dooney", published 1964 [ 2-part chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 133