by James Stephens (1882 - 1950)
The rivals
Language: English
I heard a bird at dawn Singing sweetly on a tree, That the dew was on the lawn, And the wind was on the lea; But I didn't listen to him, For he didn't sing to me. I didn't listen to him, For he didn't sing to me That the dew was on the lawn And the wind was on the lea; I was singing at the time Just as prettily as he. I was singing all the time, Just a prettily as he, About the dew upon the lawn And the wind upon the lea; So I didn't listen to him As he sang upon a tree.
Text Authorship:
- by James Stephens (1882 - 1950), "The rivals", appears in Songs from the Clay, first published 1915 [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 Seymour Barab (1921 - 2014), "The rivals", from The Rivals, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by M. Bowles , "The rivals", published <<1959 [ voice and piano ], from Five Songs on Poems by James Stephens [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Duff , "The rivals", published 1937 [ voice, unaccompanied ], in Broadside, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Walter Byron Mourant (1910 - 1995), "The rivals" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Joseph) Deems Taylor (1885 - 1966), "The rivals", 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Three songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roy Teed (b. 1928), "The rivals", c1963 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by L. J. White , "The rivals", published 1952 [ SS chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-09
Line count: 18
Word count: 108