by Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803 - 1849)
Old Adam, the carrion crow
Language: English
Old Adam, the carrion crow, The old crow of Cairo; He sat in the shower, and let it flow Under his tail and over his crest; And through every feather Leaked the wet weather; And the bough swung under his nest; For his beak it was heavy with marrow. Is that the wind dying? O no: It's only two devils, that blow Through a murderer's bones, to and fro, In the ghosts' moonshine. Ho! Eve, my grey carrion wife, When we have supped on the kings' marrow, Where shall we drink and make merry our life? Our nest it is queen Cleopatra's skull, 'Tis cloven and cracked, And battered and hacked, But with tears of blue eyes it is full: Let us drink then, my raven of Cairo. Is that the wind dying? O no: It's only two devils, that blow Through a murderer's bones, to and fro, In the ghosts' moonshine.
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Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803 - 1849), no title, appears in Death's Jest Book or The Fool's Tragedy, first published 1850 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Denis ApIvor (1916 - 2004), "The carrion crow", 1940 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Keith Warren Bissell (1912 - 1992), "Old Adam, the carrion crow ", published 1962 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], Waterloo : Waterloo [sung text not yet checked]
- by Stephen Dodgson (b. 1924), "The old crow of Cairo", first performed 1957 [ high voice and piano ], from Three Songs to Words by T. L. Beddoes [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Elwyn Fiske (b. 1910), "Old Adam, the carrion crow", published 1952 [ vocal duet with piano ], London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Brian Holmes (b. 1946), "Old Adam, the Carrion Crow" [ high voice, string quartet ], from Death's Jest-Book, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Leslie Walters (1902 - 1998), "Old Adam, the carrion crow", 1937, first performed 1952 [ baritone or tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Brian Holmes
This text was added to the website: 2004-03-26
Line count: 24
Word count: 152