by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956)
Old King Caraway
Language: English
Old King Caraway Supped on cake, And a cup of sack His thirst to slake; Bird in arras And hound in hall Watched very softly Or not at all; Fire in the middle, Stone all round Changed not, heeded not, Made no sound; All by himself At the Table High He'd nibble and sip While his dreams slipped by; And when he had finished, He'd nod and say, 'Cake and sack For King Caraway!'
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Text Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Cake and Sack", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 1. Up and Down, no. 16, first published 1913 [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 Theodore Ward Chanler (1902 - 1961), "Cake and Sack", published 1948 [ medium voice and piano ], from Four Rhymes from Peacock Pie, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "Cake and Sack", 1989, first performed 1995 [ tenor and piano ], from Peacock Pie -- 20 songs for Tenor and Piano, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Anthony Francis Dominic Milner (b. 1925), "Old King Caraway", published 1959 [ unison chorus and piano ], from Peacock Pie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Freda Mary Swain (1902 - 1985), "King Caraway", 1949-50 [ baritone and piano ensemble ], from From "Peacock Pie" [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Gillies Whittaker (1876 - 1944), "Old King Caraway", published 1919 [ 2 part treble chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2004-06-08
Line count: 20
Word count: 74