Driver, drive faster and make a good run 
Down the Springfield Line under the shining sun.

Fly like the aeroplane, don't pull up short 
Till you brake [for Grand]1 Central Station, New York.

For there in the middle of that waiting hall 
Should be standing the one that I love best of all.

If he's not there to meet me when I get to town, 
I'll stand on the [pavement]2 with tears rolling down.

For he is the one that I love to look on, 
The acme of kindness and perfection.

He presses my hand and he says he loves me
Which I find an admirable peculiarity.

The woods are bright green on both sides of the line; 
The trees have their loves though they're different from mine.

But the poor fat old banker in the sun-parlour car 
Has no one to love him except his cigar.

If I were the head of the Church or the State 
I'd powder my nose and just tell them to wait.

For love's more important and powerful than 
Even a priest or a politician.

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Britten: "for the Grand"
² Musto: "side-walk"

Text Authorship:

• by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Calypso", appears in Another Time, first published 1940 [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Calypso", 1939, published 1980 [ voice and piano ], from Cabaret Songs, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Musto (b. 1954), "Calypso", 1996 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 181