Buffalo Bill 's
defunct
        who used to
        ride a watersmooth-silver
                                  stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
                                                   Jesus

he was a handsome man
                      and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with E. E. Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys, New York: Liveright, 1976, page 85.

First published as "III" in Seven Poems, in The Dial, Vol. 68 no. 1, January 1920

Text Authorship:

• by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in Tulips and Chimneys, in 1. Tulips, in 7. Portraits, no. 8, first published 1920 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Buffalo Bill's", 1991, published 1998 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Winfield Clark , "Buffalo Bill's Defunct", 2004 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Derek Healey (b. 1936), "Buffalo Bill", op. 14 no. 1 (1961) [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Six American Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ellen Mandel , "Buffalo Bill's defunct" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rick Sowash (b. 1950), "Buffalo Bills defunct", 1968 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by James Yannatos (1929 - 2011), "Buffalo Bill's", published 1972 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], from Three Settings of E. E. Cummings [sung text not yet checked]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2004-10-01
Line count: 11
Word count: 37