by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953)
There was a man was half a clown
Language: English
There was a man was half a clown (It's so my father tells of it). He saw the church in [Claremont]1 town And laughed to hear the bells of it. He laughed to hear the bells that ring In [Claremont]1 Church and round of it; He heard the verger's daughter sing, And loved her for the sound of it. The verger's daughter said him nay; She had the right of choice in it. He left the town at break of day; He hadn't had a voice in it. The road went up, the road went down, And there the matter ended it. He broke his heart in [Claremont]1 town. At Pontgibaud they mended it.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Goodhart: "Clermont"
Text Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), "Auvergnat", appears in Verses and Sonnets, first published 1896 [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 (Harold) Temple Abady (1903 - 1970), "He broke his heart in Clermont town", published 1926 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, Sir (1891 - 1975), "Auvergnat", 1943, published 1944 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert James Berkeley Fleming (1921 - 1976), "Auvergnat", 1948 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Murray Goodhart (1866 - 1941), "The Bells of Clermont town", published <<1957 [ voice, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Robert McCauley , "Auvergnat", 2019, from Poems of Hilaire Belloc, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Archie James Potter (b. 1918), "Auvergnat", published 1952 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Songs of Hilaire Belloc [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Auvergnat", op. 108 (1946) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 114