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by Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Old Noah he had an ostrich farm and...
Language: English 
Old Noah he had an ostrich farm and fowls on the largest scale,
He ate his egg with a ladle in a egg-cup big as a pail,
And the soup he took was Elephant Soup and fish he took was Whale,
But they all were small to the cellar he took when he set out to sail,
And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
"I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine."

The cataract of the cliff of heaven fell blinding off the brink
As if it would wash the stars away as suds go down a sink,
The seven heavens came roaring down for the throats of hell to drink,
And Noah he cocked his eye and said, "It looks like rain, I think,
The water has drowned the Matterhorn as deep as a Mendip mine,
But I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine."

But Noah he sinned, and we have sinned; on tipsy feet we trod,
Till a great big black teetotaller was sent to us for a rod,
And you can't get wine at a P. S. A., or chapel, or Eisteddfod,
For the Curse of Water has come again because of the wrath of God,
And water is on the Bishop's board and the Higher Thinker's shrine,
But I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine.

About the headline (FAQ)

First published under the title "The Song of the Second Deluge" in New Witness, February 1913, revised 1914

Text Authorship:

  • by Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936), "Wine and water", appears in The Flying Inn, first published 1914 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Wine and water", 2005 [ baritone and piano ], from Drolleries and Wisdom, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Joseph Batton , "Old Noah", published 1954 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hubert Sydney Brown (1898 - 1949), "Wine and water", published 1932 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Wine and water" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Norman Gilbert (b. 1912), "Wine and water", published 1961 [ chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Michael Mulliner (1896? - 1973), "Wine and water", published 1959 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "Wine and water", published 1963 [ SAB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-05-02
Line count: 18
Word count: 246

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